There are two kinds of overseas critics when it comes to the United States. First, there are the people from abroad who have genuine concerns about America’s aggressive foreign policy and the intended and unintended consequences of how it affects other nations. These people are usually basing their criticisms of the US on fairness as well as a genuine sense of morality. However there’s also the angry far left overseas critics who just have an obsession with whining about the US on every single solitary issue because it helps them compensate for their own insecurities of living in second or third rate nations and perhaps because they themselves live miserable & lonely lives.
So rather than talk about American dominance I will instead try to put myself in the shoes of the second group that I mentioned above; the shoes of the angry American critic from abroad. I’m going to imagine living in one of any number of second, third or even fifth rate countries and all of my life I’ve had to live with the irrefutable fact that America is the dominating nation in the world and that my own country will never even come close to the same kind of success that they’ve enjoyed. Yes, there was once another country a long time ago called the Soviet Union but they ultimately collapsed economically thereby leaving America alone as undoubtedly the world’s leading superpower.
Adding to this, I know that America controls almost one fourth of the total world economy which gives them great power, influence and leverage throughout the world in dealing with other nations; power and leverage which my own government and many other governments often willingly bendover to. I know that the US military is incredibly powerful and if the US ever wanted to win a war of attrition they could easily mow my own country down in a matter of days. On top of this America is a technological leader and a disproportional amount of the advances in science, medicine and computer technology emanate from the US as they have more Nobel prize winners by far than any other nation. Throughout my life I’ve repeatedly had to hear about the US space program as America continued to reach for the stars. I’ve repeatedly had to hear about US politics on my country’s new outlets because America is just so powerful that their decisions often affect the rest of the world. It’s often annoying to watch the Olympics because the US usually dominates there as well and worst of all I’ve had to be constantly barraged with American movies and music which are quite popular in my nation.
Anyway, now that I’m walking in the shoes of the angry American critic from abroad I finally understand the backlash. No wonder so many of you are so enraged. If I were in your place I too would want to lash out at the country that dominates me in so many ways. I too would be constantly making ridiculous and ignorant generalizations about America while pretending to be an enlightened progressive. I too would be seizing upon any bad news regarding the US in the hopes of convincing myself that it means the decline of America. I too would be cheerleading for China to replace America as the world’s only superpower (despite propping myself up as a human rights advocate.) I too would be hoping for a full scale civil war in Iraq and Afghanistan (while pretending to care about the welfare of Iraqis and Afghans) in the hopes that a US military defeat would lessen America’s influence throughout the world. And most importantly I too would be constantly trying to convince Americans how “ashamed” they should be of their country and how they should all bow at the “moral altar” of phony sanctimony and self-righteouness that I exude from my own nation.
My point here is, I now understand your pulsating, throbbing fury and from this point on instead of being antagonistic towards the “helpful and informative” criticism that you endlessly spew at the US I will instead try to be more sympathetic. Rather than aggressively engage America’s critics I will instead provide a broad superpower shoulder for you to cry on which will thereby allow you to vent all of your overseas woes.
Thank you