Posted by
Always To The Right on Sunday, September 21, 2008 10:17:08 PM
The Irrationality of Anti-Americanism
IF WE NEEDED more evidence that the anti-American vitriol from Europe
and the Middle East is largely the product of manipulated imaginations,
we have it. A new World Public Opinion poll of 17 nations reveals
significant support for the claim that the United States staged the
9/11 terrorist attacks--presumably for its own malicious and
imperialistic designs.
The poll, conducted between July 15 and August 31 and involving over
16,000 respondents, suggests that America's European and NATO "allies"
are in fact infested with legions of anti-American conspiracy
theorists. A slight majority of Britons blame al Qaeda for the attacks
(57 percent), but another 26 percent say they don't know who the
perpetrators were. The numbers were roughly the same for the French and
the Italians, many of whom (8 percent and 13 percent, respectively)
think the United States authored the act. Among Germans, nearly a
fourth of all respondents (23 percent) finger the United States. Yes,
one in four.
Likewise, the poll response among Muslim-majority nations signals
that the battle for "hearts and minds" in the Islamic world is not
going well. In Turkey, where anti-Americanism has spiked in recent
years, an astonishing 36 percent of respondents blame the United States
for the attacks. In the comparatively moderate state of Indonesia, less
than a fourth of all respondents (23 percent) think al Qaeda
orchestrated 9/11, while the majority (57 percent) claims they have no
idea.
The poll results also demonstrate the insidious link between anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism.