Friday, October 15, 2004
I just received the new print edition of National Review (10/25/04), and, from my initial perusal, there are a couple of things in it worth noting. First, there is a review of the book ‘Understanding Anti-Americanism: Its Origins at Home and Abroad’, ed. by Paul Hollander (pub. by Ivan R. Dee) by Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson (and apparently the contributors to the book) do away early on with the facile notion that hatred of America is new and primarily driven by George W. Bush’s foreign policy. The phenomenon has been around for a long time abroad (the recent outbursts are attributed especially, and not surprisingly, to the effects of Islamic fundamentalism), and its corollary of self-loathing has been present in the U.S. for decades as well. For example, I have recently come across it in some of Sherwood Anderson’s letters from over 70 years ago. Hanson points out that many lament American decadence while ripping off wholesale the very things they deride, placing would-be scorners in a precariously self-contradictory position.
Often, of course, the problems with America, and what we can perhaps call 'Americanism', stem from irrelevancy and lack of anything better to do on the part of the scoffers. Thus, Hanson can quote Jean-Francois Revel thus: ‘If you remove anti-Americanism, nothing remains in French political thought today, either on the left or on the right.’ He continues:
The second item of special interest (to me, anyway) is a poem by my favorite contemporary poet, Dana Gioia, and I will try to post it later on.
Often, of course, the problems with America, and what we can perhaps call 'Americanism', stem from irrelevancy and lack of anything better to do on the part of the scoffers. Thus, Hanson can quote Jean-Francois Revel thus: ‘If you remove anti-Americanism, nothing remains in French political thought today, either on the left or on the right.’ He continues:
Anthony Daniels pursues this line in a more detailed analysis of the French, reminding us that we need not seek either deep explanations for or concrete examples of their true grievance. It is simpler than all that: A once-glorious culture has been saved by one deemed crass, and now finds its values steamrolled worldwide by its erstwhile liberator. And because America is both relatively self-absorbed and forgiving, the French simply go on hating America without repercussions, explaining why, for example, their complicity in the Rwandan holocaust draws no rebuke while America is blamed both for allowing and for removing Milosevic.
The second item of special interest (to me, anyway) is a poem by my favorite contemporary poet, Dana Gioia, and I will try to post it later on.
