Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins
Forum Rules and Guidelines

Against anti-Europeanism

Winslowalrob

By Winslowalrob
in The Tailgate

Recommended Posts

Winslowalrob

Winslowalrob

Posted
Posted

Lexington

Against anti-Europeanism

Apr 26th 2007

From The Economist print edition

Anti-Europeanism is a bad response to anti-Americanism

Peter Schrank

APRIL 26th found the Oxford Union debating the motion that “This House regrets the founding of the United States of America”. A silly motion supported by unrepresentative people: the proponents were to include a member of the Communist Party and a member of the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir. But anti-Americans do not possess a monopoly on idiocy. You don't have to spend much time with American conservatives to find them discussing the coming collapse of Europe, sometimes with glee. One of the opponents of the Oxford motion, Jonah Goldberg, did much to popularise “The Simpsons'” labelling of the French as “cheese-eating surrender-monkeys” in the run-up to the Iraq war.

America's anti-Europeans have three big complaints about the Old Continent. The first is that Europe is committing demographic and economic suicide: the European birth rate is well below replacement level, and the economy is hog-tied by regulations and overburdened by welfare commitments. The second is that, unlike America, Europe is a post-Christian society. George Weigel, a Catholic conservative and loving biographer of Pope John Paul II, deftly links Europe's “demographic suicide” with its collapse of faith in his “The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics without God”, a theo-conservative bible on what has gone wrong with Europe.

The third complaint is that Muslims are filling Europe's demographic and spiritual void. Bernard Lewis, the White House's favourite Islamic scholar, thinks that Europe will turn Muslim by the end of the century, becoming part of the Arab West. Bruce Bawer, a gay American who fled his country to escape from “the foolishness of fundamentalism”, found Islamists far more frightening than Christian conservatives.

Anti-Europeans think these kinds of arguments have big implications for American diplomacy. They suggest, at the very least, that Europe will never be a vigorous ally against Islamic extremism. It is too diffident about its own traditions, too over-burdened by welfare commitments, too frightened of its Muslim populations. And it might even suggest something more than that. Tony Blankley, a journalist who once worked for Newt Gingrich, has decided that “the threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940s.”

How much does this matter, though? It is tempting to dismiss it as nothing more than a mirror image of anti-Americanism—advanced by malcontents, fuelled by anger and based on prejudice. Europe-bashing is a passion of the right and the right is hardly in the political ascendant these days. The argument is based on a familiar sleight of hand: the bunching of worst-case scenarios. Do Europe's empty churches really mean that Europeans have abandoned their faith? Three-quarters of Europeans still claim to be Christians, and European sociologists talk of “believing without belonging”. Are European Muslims really poised to take over Europe? They constitute only 4% of the population and come from very diverse backgrounds. Have European countries really lost the will to assimilate newcomers? Several countries have introduced citizenship tests and ceremonies that are modelled on the American variety.

But anti-Europeanism is influential nonetheless. The end of the cold war has removed the glue that held the Western alliance together. The Iraq war has left a legacy of bitterness that extends beyond the Bushies. And the anti-Europeans have an important resource on their side: their disproportionate interest in matters European and their disproportionate willingness to publish books on them. American anti-Europeans have produced a steady stream of books with titles like “America Alone”, “Our Oldest Enemy”, “While Europe Slept”, “The West's Last Chance”. The foreign-policy specialists to whom one might look for a corrective are much more involved with other challenges, like the Middle East and Asia.

Let's stick together

Yet the case for learning to live with each other again is overwhelming. America and the European Union are still the world's two biggest trading entities. The Atlantic relationship has been the foundation stone of world peace from 1945 onwards. The EU, for its part, has at least as much interest in defusing Muslim terrorism as the United States, because of its large Muslim populations and proximity to Turkey and the Middle East.

And the current French election gives the lie to anti-Europeanism. France is the great Satan for American anti-Europeans—remember “freedom fries”? Yet the first round of the French presidential election went to a man who boasts of his admiration for American dynamism and popular culture. Nicolas Sarkozy is a frequent visitor to the United States and hob-nobber with American journalists and policymakers. He propounds American-sounding solutions to France's economic problems, such as tax cuts and ending the 35-hour week. His critics have dubbed him a “neoconservative with a French passport”.

The rise of Mr Sarkozy coincides with a growing determination in America to defuse global anti-Americanism. Even George Bush has tried to do this a little in his second term. But post-Bush politicians—particularly Democratic ones—will put this at the top of their priorities. Hillary Clinton has promised to make her husband an “ambassador to the world, because we have a lot of work to do to get our country back in the standing it should be”. Barack Obama, the other Democratic front-runner, stresses his ability to rebrand America, as a son of Kansas and Kenya whose father was born a Muslim. Curing global anti-Americanism primarily means repairing America's relations with the rest of the world; but it also means uprooting the anti-European weeds that have flourished in America in the past few years.

HELL YEAH LEXINGTON. I cannot fist pump hard enough to show my support. Anti-Europeanism has been irking me for quite some time so I glad someone who is more eloquent than I can show just why its stupid. The Economist Rulez.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
alexey

alexey

Posted
Posted

I suspect anti-EU notions by and large stem from insecurities ;)

There are also things like Education and Healthcare, i.e. things that EU managed to implement much better than we have. It seems those solutions are not always in agreement with party lines, which creates interest in stifling the free exchange of ideas and sharing of experience. Demonising sources of those solutions is a great way of doing so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PleaseBlitz

PleaseBlitz

Posted
Posted
I suspect anti-EU notions by and large stem from insecurities ;)

There are also things like Education and Healthcare, i.e. things that EU managed to implement much better than we have. It seems those solutions are not always in agreement with party lines, which creates interest in stifling the free exchange of ideas and sharing of experience. Demonising sources of those solutions is a great way of doing so.

Yes, thanks to a 68% tax rate. No thanks, i like disposable income.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Predicto

Predicto

Posted
Posted
Oh sure, we got the point. It's cool and popular to bash the United States, but po wittle Europe is off limits. I understand the concept, I just stick my American middle finger in its eye.

Do you really think that the Economist stands for bashing the United States?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zoony

zoony

Posted
Posted
The first is that Europe is committing demographic and economic suicide: the European birth rate is well below replacement level, and the economy is hog-tied by regulations and overburdened by welfare commitments. The second is that, unlike America, Europe is a post-Christian society. George Weigel, a Catholic conservative and loving biographer of Pope John Paul II, deftly links Europe's “demographic suicide” with its collapse of faith in his “The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics without God”, a theo-conservative bible on what has gone wrong with Europe.

The third complaint is that Muslims are filling Europe's demographic and spiritual void. Bernard Lewis, the White House's favourite Islamic scholar, thinks that Europe will turn Muslim by the end of the century, becoming part of the Arab West. Bruce Bawer, a gay American who fled his country to escape from “the foolishness of fundamentalism”, found Islamists far more frightening than Christian conservatives.

ummm... are we supposed to be disagreeing? I'm confused :paranoid:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Johnny Punani

Johnny Punani

Posted
Posted

This article is a joke. Mr Sarkozy recent election victories have ZERO to do with the French all of the sudden becoming less anti-American. It is the final realization that large scale socialism has failed and can't work in the global market place.

Peter Schrank needs to go read some papers in Europe because a lot of those reasons he lists for anti-europeanism are from europeans themselves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DCsportsfan53

DCsportsfan53

Posted
Posted
:applause:

Can you imagine getting you're paycheck?

Gross Pay - $2000

Taxes - $1995

Net - $5

but we got good healthcare!!

Have you added up your health insurance bills and copays recently? It's pretty damn high and I'm perfectly healthy. God forbid you should need some type of specialty care. A lot of the disposable income is not as disposable as you think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

Posted
Posted
Have you added up your health insurance bills and copays recently? It's pretty damn high and I'm perfectly healthy. God forbid you should need some type of specialty care. A lot of the disposable income is not as disposable as you think.

Really? Now I know healthcare is a big cluster**** (I worked in the industry the past year) but come on, at age 23 how much do you pay?

Mine is 23 dollars a month premium with a 30 dollar copay

Even when I was self employed only I was paying 116 a month for healthcare

Relating to this article, there are some things Europe does right. The public transportation infrastructure as well as a very walkable continent makes getting around an ease. That along with smaller portions and you have healthier people (weight wise, they do smoke reds like they are going out of style)

However the article is generally right, the socialistic policies of Europe are sinking it, the Euro cannot survive as an economic entitiy because of the various discrepincies in the economies which make it up, and uneducated Muslims are basically invading the continent and not assimilating, which is going to cause major problems in 20-30 years. I don't see how any of this is not realized by the European decision makers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Johnny Punani

Johnny Punani

Posted
Posted
Really? Now I know healthcare is a big cluster**** (I worked in the industry the past year) but come on, at age 23 how much do you pay?

Mine is 23 dollars a month premium with a 30 dollar copay

Even when I was self employed only I was paying 116 a month for healthcare

Lucky you,

I pay about $450 a month for Blue Cross/Blue Shield family coverage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...