What is Anti-Americanism?

Anti-Americanism is a form of bias against the institutions, nature or customs of the USA and, sometimes, against its people as well. It ranges in intensity from a mild and occasional dislike up to the willingness to condone or even conduct acts of violence against American interests, military personnel or civilians.

There are several principal reasons for anti-Americanism: ideological, aesthetic, historical and personal. The ideological reason results from the belief that American society is too much given to capitalism, to the lack of social solidarity and the propensity to put the interests of the rich over the interests of the poor. This motivation was particularly strong during the Cold War, when resources were devoted by ideological adversaries to the USA in order to persuade people that an alternative approach was desirable. The aesthetic reason deplores the nature of consumerism in the USA and the promotion of celebrity culture. It dislikes the way that American cultural artifacts (e.g. Hollywood movies, MTV music videos and MacDonald’s, for example) have spread so successfully around the world and taken over from local, cultural institutions. The historical reason focuses on American foreign policy since the expansion of the USA – to Hawaii, the Philippines and Latin America, for example. In many parts of the world, the violence used to support American foreign policy aims and the cruelty and inequity that followed are more widely known and discussed than they are in the USA itself (of course, the people of many countries are unwilling to accept the truth of the evil of what their predecessors did in the past). Very many people in Central and South America suffered from coups supported by US money and influence and death squads and suppression which followed. The final reason is the personal, which occurs when people have come into contact with the USA or what they perceive to be its interests in a negative way. This includes, for example, many people in Middle Eastern countries who have suffered from what they consider to be America’s support of an Israel which has struck against them, as well as people in East Asian countries who suffered from anti-democratic regimes supported by the USA (e.g. in South Korea) or whose lifestyle has suffered because of the spread of American influence (e.g. some religious leaders with ‘conservative’ or ‘old-fashioned’ beliefs). Personal motivations can be extremely powerful and so people or organisations who wish to enflame Anti-Americanism will seek to convince people that ideological or historical reasons are in fact personal ones.