Comments on: Euro-Snobs Slight American Literature

By: Release

Release — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:00:19 +0000

Remarkably well written blog

By: Brit

Brit — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:25:00 +0000

Hmm. But what I don’t understand is why you all seem to care so much. We’ve got used to the fact that nobody much cares for us around the world (just ask someone with British and Irish passports which one they actually use). When I heard this report it went in one ear and out of the other, the whole idea of a prize for literature is a bit nuts, and not very American I would have thought. I’m still happy to read Thomas Pynchon and Joseph Heller (and Chinau Achebe and Haruki Murakami).

By: Dave Surls

Dave Surls — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:33:59 +0000

“I cannot say it any better then Kipling:”

You said it just fine. That’s exactly what Euro-anti-Americanism is all about.

They don’t need us to fight fascists or guard against communists any more, yet our armed forces are still over there, not to mention the fact that our foreign polices are, in their eyes, making them vulnerable to terror attacks by America’s Muslim enemies, because most of the Euro nations are nominally American allies.

It was the same thing during the Vietnam War. Since we were fighting against people who were no threat to the Euros (the PAVN and NLF weren’t likely to land in the Bay of Biscay) anti-American protests were as common as dirt in Europe.

A few years earlier, however, when we were fighting to free them from Nazi tyranny, there were no big anti-American demonstrations, or little ones for that matter (well, the Germans might have organized anti-American demonstrations, but they were a little too busy dodging bombs to take to the streets in protest).

Euro-anti-Americanism is about naked self-interest, and nothing more.

By: Per Andreas

Per Andreas — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:19:28 +0000

Last time I checked you had a vice presidential candidate seperating your country into “pro-America” areas, and a congresswoman who wants to investigate here collegues for “anti-american sentiments”.
No wonder you guys are insecure on Europe.

The fact of the matter is that the Nobel Literature Price has been ridiculed for years even in Sweden. This guy don´t represent all Swedes.

And Europeans are not somehow gentically wired to “hate” you. Get over it. True, democratic presidents are always more popular. Roosevelt was a hero of giant proportions in Europe – here in Norway every city has got a street named after him. He´s one of very few people who are honored with a statue in our capital city. Wilson was very popular, as was Kennedy. And I´m sure you noticed that 200 000 met to see Obama speak in Berlin. Contrary to what you believe, that was not because they hope that he will destroy the USA. It´s because they believe and hope that Obama can help bringing USA and Europe closer together again. And that shouldn´t be that difficult a job for him – Bush has already done much to reverse the damage caused by his first term.

By: Yo Blair

Yo Blair — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:41:17 +0000

This article is meaningless. It’s another case of uninformed over-generalization about Europe. Europeans do not hate America. They love America, everybody who has traveled there or has read research about the US/Europe relationship (see the Pew opinion polls) knows that. There has been some tensions during the Bush administration but, frankly, everybody will agree that the Europeans are not the only ones to blame.

Now, dear conservative Americans, it is time to wake up and realize that the US alone is not going to make it in the 21st century. The same holds true about Europe. It’s time to work together. That will mean painful compromising and accepting differences. But that’s the price of survival I guess. I can elaborate on this if you wish, but it seems pretty obvious.

Last comment: I was glad that, for once, the author of the paper broadened the attacks beyond the usual French-bashing and included other countries (because, if there is one pro-American country in Europe it’s… France).

By: John Donohue

John Donohue — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:36:47 +0000

Correct on the oil and add: we allowed Imperialism on us in 1952 when Eisenhour did nothing to stop the Arab nations from nationalizing the assets of US firms, especially oil. And….ongoing since then.

I actually do not support the defense of absolute property rights of American buisness assets overseas; companies should NOT count on the US Government to recover stolen property out there. By protest and diplomacy, maybe; but by war and subtrefuge…that is not appropriate.

John Donohue
Pasadena, CA

By: Wolf Pangloss

Wolf Pangloss — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:30:43 +0000

John Donahue, good point about the US declining to annex the world after WW2. Cinncinnatus wasn't only the model for Washington's refusal to consider the crown of an American King, but for America's refusal to become a worldwide imperial power after WW2, or indeed to actually seize any oil out of Iraq after the first or second Iraq War.

By: Wolf Pangloss

Wolf Pangloss — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:52:40 +0000

The Nobel Prize committee loves American Fiction when it is disguised as Environmental Alarmism or Economics. They just don’t love American Fiction when the author and audience knows it’s not real.

By: mwl

mwl — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:59:06 +0000

How well do Nobel Prize winners do in the marketplace?

American novelists like Stephen King may never win a Nobel Prize, but they’re still laughing all the way to the bank.

By: A Clay

A Clay — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:38:29 +0000

Let’s not forget that 50% of France and 50% of the Netherlands want to immigrate here. There are 30,000+ Frenchmen in the Bay Area alone, all here to escape the scleroticism of Europe. The elites (particularly media elites) don’t speak for the middle classes of Europe, they speak for the Democrats in the US.