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From: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame
Subject: Re: America-bashing
Message-ID: <1360@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Jul-85 17:31:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: mnetor.1360
Posted: Wed Jul 17 17:31:15 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Jul-85 19:17:20 EDT
References: <3140@drutx.UUCP> <847@teddy.UUCP> <356@sbcs.UUCP>
Reply-To: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 39
Xref: utcs net.politics:9782 net.flame:10885
Summary: 

In article <356@sbcs.UUCP> debray@sbcs.UUCP (Saumya Debray) writes:

>My impression -- in the four years I've been in this country -- is that
>the "average" American has little knowledge of, and even less interest
>in, what goes on abroad.  Surveys seem to bear this out: I remember
>reading about one last year where most of the people interviewed didn't
>know which side the USA was backing in El Salvador.  I'm amazed
>that this should be the state of affairs here given the tremendous
>amount of information people have free access to, and my conclusion
>has been that most people just don't give a damn about what's
>happening beyond their own backyards.

All countries have this to a certain extent.  It's just seems lot more
blatant in the US.  For a country who has an official stance of
"Saviour/Protector of the Free World", they don't practice what they
preach too well.  Examples abound.  One primary example is WW II:  It
wasn't until 1941 when Germany declared war on the US (eight days after
Pearl Harbour) that the US decided to enter the European and Atlantic
war.  Prior to that, most of the aid that was provided to Britain and
the other allies was under-the-table (Roosevelt was afraid of being
impeached, since some VERY powerful US citizens and lobbying groups
backed the Germans - I won't name any names for fear of getting nuked
by their fans.  Lend-lease was considerably after the war started.).
In spite of this fact, that's not what US history books say (or so I
have been told by some expatriate Americans who've been reading some
non-US originated history).  Many Europeans still haven't forgiven the
US for leaving them in the lurch (and being hypocritical about it) for
so long.  The US has been practicing "Isolationism" for most of this
century.

The last 50 years should make it pretty plain that (with a few notable
exceptions like Korea) the US (primarily citizenry) doesn't get
particularly interested unless US lives have been lost or threatened.
(eg: Iran, the recent TWA flight, Pearl Harbour, the Gulf of Tonkin
incident (a 'nother story to be sure!) etc.)
-- 
Chris Lewis,
UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis
BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321