ANTI-AMERICANISM--GREAT TUNE, BUT YOU CAN'T DANCE TO IT:

Love you, love you not. A world trying to hate the US (Ben Macintyre, December 07, 2002, Times of London)

Regrettably, the Romans never conducted a poll of world public opinion during the Roman Imperium. But had they done so, the collective view of the various subjugated and neighbouring tribes might have been summarised: "We can't bear those arrogant Romans, with their flashy chariots, aggressive foreign policy and brash modern militarism. We will tweak their snooty Roman noses at every opportunity. On the other hand, we just love that Roman culture and technology: the roads are splendid, the wine's delicious and the baths are heaven. We quite like learning to read and write, too."

That is also, broadly speaking, the global attitude towards the modern hegemon, the United States...

Mark Hertsgaard, in an otherwise awful book, accidentally summed up what's at work here with one quote, not surprisingly from a Frenchman, Laurent Joffrin, editor of Le Nouvel Observateur: One prefers to be the savior, not the saved. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 7, 2002 8:17 AM