Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Anchoress

Home
Catholic
You mean…(sniff)…they never really loved us?

You mean…(sniff)…they never really loved us?

Last updated on: March 16, 2017 at 10:58 pm by Elizabeth Scalia

You mean…(sniff)…they never really loved us? 2017-03-16T22:58:06+00:00 Elizabeth Scalia

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Jonah Goldberg has a particulary good essay up at National Review Online. Particularly good because more often than not he hits a double, but this one might be a home run!

(I’m sorry but since Judge Roberts began with the baseball metaphors, I’m hooked…I’m like Rafe Palmiero on ‘roids!)

Anyhow, in this essay Jonah points out, once and for all, that quite contrary to all we are told in the media and by the folks on the left, America was not “the beloved country” before George W. Bush came into the White House:

…Anti-American books tore up the best-seller list in France throughout the Clinton presidency. The staged anti-globalization riots during the 1990s were not love letters to America or the Democratic party. In 1999, Bill Clinton needed 10,000 policemen to protect him from Greek activists who aimed to firebomb him. Protesters in Athens continually pulled down a statue of Harry Truman….al-Qaeda got its operation up and running throughout the sunny days of Bill Clinton and the dotcom bubble.

In the 1980s, anti-Americanism was also a big problem, but fortunately the elites of Europe generally understood…it was better to have America as a friend than the Soviet Union as a ruler.
…
But much of Europe seems lost to us. There are many reasons for this, but two stick out. First, they’re free riders. They know that America is the only country left with the means and the will to maintain international order. Our economy keeps their economy afloat. We keep the sea lanes open….

Second, because we’re behind the wheel, they can indulge their vanity by playing backseat drivers…

A columnist for the British Sun wrote this week, “America may have given the world the space shuttle and, er, condensed milk, but behind the veneer of civilization most Americans barely have the brains to walk on their back legs.” Then he got offensive…
…
Tony Blair, a stalwart ally in Iraq, has recently been caving to Islamic radicals for domestic political considerations…This hardly bodes well for Britain to stay the course in the battle against Islamic fundamentalism.

What bodes even worse is that Britain is the only country in Europe with a military capable of projecting significant military force abroad for a sustained period of time. Even if the next president, or the one after that, succeeded in winning European friends where Bush has failed, it seems unlikely those friendships will be of enormous use.…We are in for some lonely days.

I suspect that if President Hillary is elected in 2008 Europe will fall all over itself to kiss her feet and declare that their friendship with America can now be restored because “the first Lady of the World,” (hey, I didn’t call her that, The Hague did, a few years ago) will “unite the world in the blahblah and pursuit of blahblah…”

It will all be lies and BS, just as it was when President Bush visted Europe shortly after his election and – before ever seeing him – the left and the press over there were calling him the moronic cowboy idiot tyrant.

I’ll tell you what worries me, though. The idea that Americans – who deep down want to be respected and loved, because (on the whole) they are themselves respectful and (mostly) loving – will grow weary of being disliked by Europe and will vote-in a Hillary – or someone like her, who is palatable to Europe – just to be loved, again.

Europe can’t offer us much – flyover space to the Middle East – moral support, once in a while – but there are some who, I suspect, would give up a great deal for their minimal offerings, if France and Germany and Brussels would only LOVE us.

But it seems they never really have. Loved us, I mean. I have a friend who is divorced. The catalyst for the divorce was a disagreement during which his wife admitted to him that she “never loved” him – that she’d married him only because she assumed he would “take care” of her. With that acknowledgement, the “marriage” was revealed to be a sham and could not continue.

Everyone wants to be loved. And yes, Americans are generous, good-hearted folks who would like to be loved. But healthy love does not demand that you give up who you are for it – healthy love does not forfeit self. It gives and receives but does not “need.” An outsized need to be loved can sometimes cause tremendous damage.

Think about it. Think about the people you know, or the people you read about in the news, who need to be loved, and what that driving need has done to them. It is amazing how destructive wanting to be loved can be.

I pray my nation doesn’t fall prey to that need.

UPDATE: By happy synchronicity, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred are examining this question also:

…our host asked if I understood why Europeans were so anti American…we (replied) that when you get right down to it, most Americans don’t really care, media navel contemplating notwithstanding.

He (asked me) why…Europeans were so anti American. Europeans, we said, dislike Americans because, in a short period of human history, went on to surpass Europe in being the center of global influence. (…even worse) that America was built by European ‘garbage…’

…a century ago, Europe was only too happy to rid itself of the ‘wretched refuse’ and ‘teeming masses’. The European elite and intellectuals thought that once rid of the annoying and newly demanding ‘unwashed’ peasant class, Europe would once again regain it’s rightful place as the center of the moral and political world…

Europe…never got over the fact that, unleashed, those ‘wretched refuse’ and ‘huddled masses…understood what the elite and intellectuals of Europe never understood for themselves– that given the opportunity, they were perfectly able to fend for themselves, succeed and even excel. Thus, the European ‘refuse’ become proud and worthy pillars in the community. Their worth and contributions to the American mosaic was far more than what the Europeans had exploited them for. Europe had made a mistake by sending off it’s most abundant natural resource, it’s own sons and daughters.
…
…everybody needs a cause– and what cause is safer than anti Americanism? Americans won’t come after you and will willingly share all those things that make America great– the ideas, art, technology and acceptance, even in the face of unrelenting criticism. We truly are the best enemy anyone can have as long as you keep it inbounds.

Why do behave in this way? Because this country was built by the ‘wretched refuse’. Because everyday, immigrants come to our shores to take their best shot, knowing they won’t be impeded or blocked by our ‘elite’… America is replete with success stories, of immigrants who came with nothing and within a generation or two, made it.

We’re told everyday how much were hated around the world. We also know that given the choice, we’d have to issue green cards to millions of those people who ‘hate’ us.
…
That gentleman that we had dinner with– the one who imperiously asked us if we understood why Europeans hated us– in the end, conceded that we were hated because of who we were and who they weren’t.

Of necessity, I had to edit both Jonah’s piece and SCA’s, but please do go read them…

UPDATE: a friend with a phenomenal memory sent this to me – on the same subject:

The July 2001 G8 meetings in Genoa provided the occasion, for instance, for a front-page offering of dubious taste by the paper’s lead cartoonist Plantu. It shows George W. Bush, protesters in the background, giving orders to seven figures, representing the other participating nations, who are variously depicted as bound, gagged, and blindfolded by American flags or impaled through a variety of orifices upon the flagpoles bearing them. “Tell these kids to stop the violence!” Bush demands. An article on the “anti-globalization” movement Attac in the edition of August 28 was accompanied by a cartoon by Plantu’s colleague Serguei. In it, the world is depicted as the body of a living piggy-bank sporting an Uncle Sam hat and a stubbly beard and with a fat cigar embossed by a dollar sign stuck between its teeth. A small dark figure, evidently the dispossessed of the earth, holds out its hand pathetically. Another offering by Serguei from August, this one accompanying an article on Henry Kissinger and Chile, depicts Uncle Sam with a death’s head, glowering at a globe dripping in blood. In his right hand, the Uncle Sam figure clutches the cigar with the dollar sign on it: the icon of American cupidity.

Hmmmph…imagine that. And all before 9/11.

H/T to MaxedOutMama for the SCA piece.

America

Why can't weeee be ...

Previous Post

September 14, 2005

Go Hillary! Get that commission formed!

Next Post

September 14, 2005 Oh...what a surprise...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Remaking" Ourselves 'Remaking' America 9/10 Mindset 9/11 trials Abortion ACORN Adoration Advent Advent 2008 Advent 2009 Advent 2010 Alternative Energy Alternative Media America American Catholic Church American Church American Genius Ameridolatry ANCHORESS BOOKSHELF Anglican-Roman Reconciliation Answers & Questions Anti_Semitism Archbishop Hilarion Ayn Rand Bad Mass Barack Obama Baseball Benedict Benedict & Islam Benedict in UK Benedict XVI Benedictine Bill Whittle Birth Control Blogs and Blogging Blogs and Blogging Bloodless Coup Bobby Jindal Bookchat Breitbart Bride at every wedding... Bride at every wedding... Buckley Bullies Bush Bad? Bush Good Buster Capitalism Catholic Fiction Catholic Vocations Catholicism Celibacy Chaput Charitable Stuff Chesterton Chile Chris Christie Christians in Exile Christine O' Donnell Christmas Christmas Gift Ideas Church Hates Science? Church hates women Communion of Saints Compline Conclave 2013 Confession Constitutional Stuff Conversion Crisis & Opportunity Critical Thinking Crooks and Liars Crucible of Faith Cuba Culture of Life Culture of Life/Death Culture of Treason? Dancing Death Dialogue re Islam Dick Meyer Divorce and Remarriage DOJ Domestic Terrorism Dominican Order Don't try me too high Dowd Dumb Democrat moves Dumb GOP moves Economic woe Education Egregious Harry Reid Elder Son Elder Son's Sweet Girlfriend Elderly Election '10 Election '12 Election '16 Election 2004 Election 2006 Election 2008 Election 2010 Election 2016 Elena Kagan Elitism Embryonic Stem Cell Research End Times? English language Enhanced Interrogation Erosion of Rights Eucharist Euthanasia Exorcism Extraordinary Synod Facebook Faith Faith and Reason Faith Friday Faith Perspective Faithful Friday Fascism Again Fascism in America Fatima FCC Feminism Film First Things Forgiveness Fr. James Martin Francis and Islam Francis in America Frassati Fred Thompson Free Speech? Freedom of Worship FutureChurch Global Pandemic GOP Congress Haiti Head Covering Health Care Here and Queer Hermits Heroes Hitchens Holy Spirit Holy Week '09 Holy Week '10 Hoo-Hah & BS Hoo-Hah & BS Icons Illegal Immigration In The Arena Interviews Interwebz Iran Uprising Iraqi Christians ISIL ISIS Islamic State Islamification/Islamofascism Islamification/Islamofascism Isra-El It's all about me! Me! ME! James Burke Jerry Lewis Jesus Christ Joblessness John Boehner John McCain John Paul II John XXIII Juan Williams Just Words Katrina/Rita King is a Fink Latin Mass Leadership Lectio Divina Lent Lent '08 Lent '09 Lent 2010 Lent 2011 Limbaugh Listen to Lizzie Litigious Society Liturgy Liturgy of the Hours Mainstream Media Manliness Marriage Mary Media Excess Medical Merton Michelle Obama Mighty John O' Connor Misc. Miss Ella Missionaries Mitt Romney Monasticism My brother S My Irish Aunties Mystic Monks Nanny Statism Nature NEA Neri New Media Newman Noonan Notre Dame NPR Stuff Nun News Obama Bad? Obama Good? Obama White House Oil Spill Online Retreat '08 Online Retreat Days Oratory Orthodoxy Our Hillary! Parenting Passionists Patheos Patheos Book Club Patrons Paul Ryan Penance Penn Jillette Philosophy PJTV Podcasts Poetry Politics-free zone Pop Culture Pope Emeritus Pope Francis Prayer Predictions Priesthood Pro-Life Public Sector Unions Purgatory Questions about Catholicism Quotes of the Day Quoting the News Race in America rants Recipes Remarried Catholics Reposts by request Retreat thoughts Rome Rudy Giuliani Russia Saints Sarah Palin Scandal Scott Brown SCOTUS Scriptural stuff Secularism Send in the clowns Serving up hot links Sexuality Sherrod Shroud of Turin Sisters and Nuns Social Entrepreneurship Social Media Social Security Socialism doesn't work Sports and Faith Stem Cells Strange Gods Suffering Synod Tea Parties Tea Party Terri Schiavo The 9/11 Commission The Catholic Answer The Constitution The Desert The Fourth Estate The Pelosi The Perpetual Adolescents The Rosary Third Party? Timothy Dolan Touch of evil TSA Tsunami TV/Pop Culture/Music TV/Pop Culture/Music Twitter Uncategorized Unemployment Unintended Consequences US Military Vaginal Musings Vatican Vespers video faves Vile Joe Biden Voter Fraud War by Litigation War on Terror War, What it good for? Why can't weeee be ... World Youth Days Year of Faith Year of the Priest

Select a Month August 2016 July 2016 April 2016 March 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Deborah's military commander?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jephthah Barak Samson Gideon