Der Spiegel doesn't like George W Bush's America

Via the always readable Medienkritik blog, I discovered this collection of covers from Der Spiegel:

Der Spiegel's latest cover is the subject of this Medienkritik post.

Comments

[Tony Makara]

Very interesting, the 'World-power unable to defend itsef' cover with the burning towers is interesting, almost gloating.

A geart number of those pulling the strings in the German media today are later day products of the Marxist Frankfurt Schule of intellectuals. The left in Europe practiced wide-scale entryism during the sixties and have infested most media. The covers certainly have a sensationalist style to them which tells us that the actual magazine content is likely to be less than serious.

Many of the left-intellectuals were behind the recent unjust sacking of Eva Hermann, a German tele-journalist who dared to argue that children fare better when raised by a mother rather than in a state kindergarten.

[mamapajamas]

Funny. I heard something on the radio news over the weekend that doesn't seem to be making it into the MSM... Mass numbers of Europeans who have other business in the US have been doing ALL of their Christmas shopping HERE because of the differences in prices.

So we're getting Christmas business that Europe is missing out on.

If this trend continues, it is also going to become worthwhile for Europeans to spend their spring and summer holidays in the US instead of in Europe. The difference in the currencies could make the trip worth the effort.

I think I'm going to go buy stock in Disney World...

Just goes to show... when left alone, the market corrects by itself ;).

[Ami]

Doesn't it make you wonder why one country would spend so much time obsessing about America? Germany has an abnormal preoccupation with what happens over here, and it must make them crazy to know that the object of their obsession rarely, if ever, gives them a second thought.

And Britain, I find you almost as bad as Germany with your endless criticisms and vicious commentary on everything we do. Even a worst enemy finds at least one occasion to say something kind once in a while. You are incapable of it.

[atheling]

Ami, I had to smile at your comment:

"Germany has an abnormal preoccupation with what happens over here, and it must make them crazy to know that the object of their obsession rarely, if ever, gives them a second thought."

I have said that very thing in response to some anti American comments I heard from a group of British students who seem to obsess over America... and we don't give them a second thought...

Makes me think of Melville's Moby Dick and Captain Ahab...

[Ami]

LOL! Atheling, I love your comparison. I am often amazed at how much time Europe seems to spend on us. I guess it would be flattering if it wasn't so creepy. It's like having a stalker, but not nearly as pleasant. I think there was a time when America tried to earn Europe's approval, but now we have moved so far apart, and America isn't really Euro-centric any longer that it doesn't matter anymore.

I sometimes pass anti-American articles on to friends. I am surprised how indifferent they are. Their response is usually, "It's Europe, they have always hated us, who cares?"

[Steevo]

"Mass numbers of Europeans who have other business in the US have been doing ALL of their Christmas shopping HERE because of the differences in prices."

I hope they take advantage of it big time. We all profit.

[Anna]

I sometimes pass anti-American articles on to friends. I am surprised how indifferent they are. Their response is usually, "It's Europe, they have always hated us, who cares?"

Posted by: Ami | November 27, 2007 at 03:14 AM

At some point I think Americans actually did care, however that time is well past. It is rather alarming when one considers the amount of time Europeans and Brits spend engaging in Yank bashing. One wonders that they have nothing better to do with their time.

Britain is much the same as Germany in their obssessive hatred of the US. Even the Daily Telegraph and UK Times find it necessary to indulge their readers in a regular dose of Whack-a-Yank. Here are a couple of samples: " US is ‘worst’ imperialist: archbishop", http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2937068.ece

And, of course, the DT couldn't pass it up in the "Your View" section: "Has America lost the moral high ground?"; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=F11&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2007/11/25/view25a.xml

Ami's friends are like many of us. We don't hate the French, the Brits or anyone else. It's worse, actually. We simply don't care.

[billm99uk]

Not to deny there's a lot of badly thought out Anti-Americanism in Europe at the moment, but I find all this "we don't care what Europeans think of us" slightly disengenuous. After all, if you don't care what Brits think of the US what are you doing visiting, let alone posting on, a site called "Britain and America". You may well be right that not caring is the correct attitude to take, but it appears to me that you haven't quite achieved it yet ;)

[atheling]

billm99uk:

There's a difference between "caring" whether one is liked and being informed about what's going on outside one's own stomping grounds, so to speak...

Personally, I don't care if we're liked; I do care if we are feared.

[Joanna]

...And there's often an implicit assumption that Britain isn't _quite_ Europe.

[Ami]

Billm99uk,

Bill, if there was any real interest in what happens in Europe this board and many others would be flooded with Americans, they are not. I don't know of anyone who isn't connected to the web and could easily access this site, they choose not to.

There are a handful of us who are curious. I am of English descent (1/4), and originally began paying attention in an effort to make some sort of connection with, dare I say it, "my roots." What I have found are a people who I want no connection with at all. I came out of curiousity, but I stay out of contempt. Even then, I rarely stay for longer than a few posts because so much of what I read is pure anti-American spite based on incredible ignorance. That hardly is a basis for affection. I believe that I was better off not knowing the hate that is spewed our way from Britain and Europe, but the cat is out of the bag now, and I do know. Some days I am angry, but most days I just shake my head and move on.

Americans have this little thing that we do. It's called "What are you?" At some point in our conversation the inevitable question "What are you? is asked. Usually there is a list of various nationalities such as my own heritage of English, German, Irish and French. Now when I am asked, I say I am an American, and funny, that's all I seem to need, as I don't feel any pride claiming any heritage/ethnicity other than this one.

Anna, I read the "Your View" section of the Telegraph and specifically look for the obiligatory anti-American threads. Have you noticed that they are usually the ones which get the most response? Try reading Toby Harnden's blog. As one American poster put it, Toby just gave America another "anal exam." I didn't have the patience to read all the articles as they were the usual stuff. He searched for the disgruntled, the illiterate, and the American anti-American and wrote articles about "the real America." As if that hasn't been done before, duh! But for a real treat go over to The Sun discussion board. Americans get such a "warm welcome" over there, LOL! Take some Maalox first, it's great stuff.

atheling, fear or indifference? I will take either one. :)

[Kevin Sampson]

“You may well be right that not caring is the correct attitude to take, but it appears to me that you haven't quite achieved it yet ;)”

Unfortunately, we are still tied to Europe by a plethora of military, economic, and political structures (NATO, etc.) That makes it absolutely necessary that we pay attention to what goes on there, unpleasant as that may be.

[Noemi Murphy]

I agree that there appears to be an inordinate amount of misrepresentation and ill feeling, but I would like to pose this question to any Americans reading this post - why do you personally believe there is so much anti-American sentiment out there? This is not a hostile question, I am merely curious to see what people think.

[Joanna]

That's a pretty big question, Noemi. Lots of reasons. Some of it probably is just about American foreign policy. Some of it is simply envy, and a lot of it is fear--the kind of economic, cultural and military power the U.S. has is going to generate opposition whatever we do. A lot of it, though, has to do with a real difference in values. Even Europe has been moving to a very different way of looking at the world. America is still loyal to an older conception of democracy--a belief that freedom, not equality, is the most important part of democracy; a waning but still strong belief in natural law rather than positive law; and a (frankly) more robust sense of self-respect and patriotism than Europe, for example. The resulting self-sufficiency--American "certainty"--can be very irritating.

[Kevin Sampson]

Why? Comment is Free at The Guardian, Have Your Say at the BBC, pretty much everything at Der Spiegel English language page. I could go on.

[Carlos]

This site is a joke! Just some old clowns saying bullshit and nonsense stuff. I mean, you are a bunch of old racist men with absurd ideas and by the way WITH NO ARGUMENTS.

hello from Mexico

You don`t deserve Obama...he is just SO DIFFERENT AS "AMERICANS" (gringos, I think that is the correct word) he is an intellectul and honest man.

[John Wheeler]

Germans, if they shop in the US with their stronger Euro, will be doing their Xmas shopping in the US buying stuff mostly made in China - so they may benefit the retail sector, but the US manufacturing sector is moribund; that's the result of leaving the "free market" to correct itself. And they'll need to take out health insurance to make sure they're covered in case they happen to get sick while they're there, which they wouldn't need to do if they stayed in Europe where their health care is covered.

It's time we stopped being so tribal and began to see the global situation.

[Rakeback Tracker]

John Wheeler - You're right!

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