F' "MANY":

Is America the 'good guy'? Many now say, 'No.' (Peter Ford, September 11, 2002, The Christian Science Monitor)

South Korea today offers one of the sharpest, and most surprising, examples of anger at the US role in the world since Sept. 11. The current campaign grew out of the girls' deaths - and a widespread sense that the US authorities handled the case clumsily. But there's more to it than that. It seems to feed on old grudges and a deep dismay at a newly unilateral America, touting a "with us or against us" approach.

A year ago, in the wake of Sept. 11, even some of Washington's fiercest critics proclaimed in sympathy, "We are all Americans." But those sentiments began to fade after the inadvertent US bombing of civilians in Afghanistan. Today, even some of the country's firmest friends are alarmed by America's apparent unwillingness to take into account the views of other nations on issues ranging from the environment to dealing with Iraq.

It would of course be great if everyone on the planet thought America was the best thing since canned beer, but it's unclear why we should care what some people in other nations, often rivals or even enemies, think of us, so long as we continue to do what we think is right. Like Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations: "I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others." Posted by Orrin Judd at September 14, 2002 1:19 PM