I can see some commenters above are having trouble getting their mind around it, but what Richard says in his post is literally true.

Life is much simpler for affluent westerners if they buy into the ‘America is evil’ riff, because in so doing they can place themselves permanently on the superior side in terms of morality, and still do what they really want, i.e. hang out with their friends and engage in very part-time ‘activism’ (the two usually amount to the same thing).

In the Third World anti-Americanism is about something different. The tiny elites who run those countries have to come up with a justification for why they should be permanently in charge, and for why at the same time their countries are continually such a mess. If you think about it, there aren’t many options available to fill this need. Anti-Americanism is the global standby means of propping up bungling domestic elites simply because it’s convenient.