From Protector to Predator?
Many European observers see a transformation in the United States lately "from protector to predator." But remarks like this are part of a long European tradition of anti-Americanism. James Ceaser shows us the genealogy of this tradition in the lead piece from the latest Public Interest.
This piece is an adaptation of Ceaser's book of a few years ago,
Reconstructing America, which could hardly be more relevant today. That book traced European anti-Americanism from the 18th century French naturalist, Buffon, to Heidegger, Sartre, and Baudrillard.
However thoughtless and lazy anti-Americanism may be (and nobody's better or funnier than Ceaser in showing this), Ceaser concludes this piece with a warning for American conservative intellectuals not to embrace a thoughtless "anti-Europeanism" as an excuse for ignoring all criticisms of their country.
Update 6/25 -- Lee Bockhorn endorses Ceaser today in the Weekly Standard.
Many European observers see a transformation in the United States lately "from protector to predator." But remarks like this are part of a long European tradition of anti-Americanism. James Ceaser shows us the genealogy of this tradition in the lead piece from the latest Public Interest.
This piece is an adaptation of Ceaser's book of a few years ago,
Reconstructing America, which could hardly be more relevant today. That book traced European anti-Americanism from the 18th century French naturalist, Buffon, to Heidegger, Sartre, and Baudrillard.
However thoughtless and lazy anti-Americanism may be (and nobody's better or funnier than Ceaser in showing this), Ceaser concludes this piece with a warning for American conservative intellectuals not to embrace a thoughtless "anti-Europeanism" as an excuse for ignoring all criticisms of their country.
Update 6/25 -- Lee Bockhorn endorses Ceaser today in the Weekly Standard.
posted by John Coumarianos at 6/24/2003 06:33:00 AM
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