I heard on Adam Curry’s podcast from yesterday a mention about how the UK newspaper The Guardian was teaming up their willing readers with voters in Ohio, one of the major swing states in this year’s election for US president. I was interested this morning to see this piece from the Guardian on some of the feedback they’ve been getting in the form of letters from people from Ohio and elsewhere. Some people need chill out… seriously.
International opinion and it’s role in American politics is a very interesting topic and something of a mixed bag. I’ve always been somewhat of the opinion that most Americans– even educated ones– have far, far too little exposure to or understanding of those who inhabit this little world of ours. This applies in terms of language, culture, politics and economics. Perhaps I’m biased in this assumption, since I was an international affaires major and this is what I studied.
I’m far from believing that what the international community wants, expects or believes about Americans to be either true or in our (or maybe even their) best interests. I’ve encountered any number of world citizens in my travels who held patently and absurdly false beliefs about America. A perfect example is a colleague from the UK who was CONVINCED (notice the all caps– I could not persuade him otherwise) that “You can walk into an American’s house with an Uzi and nobody will think anything of it.” While that’s clearly an extreme (and moronic) example, it demonstrates the international perception that all Americans believe the same way on what are, domestically, highly controversial issues: gun control, the death penalty, the war in Iraq, abortion and the war on drugs being the most prevelant examples I’ve seen. So, the world doesn’t always understand– that’s one issue. The second and possibly more important side of things is that the global community does not always have America’s best interests in mind. As Americans, we most certainly SHOULD have our own best interests in mind. To the exclusion of everything else? No– because the world doesn’t truly operate on a zero-sum model for prosperity or happiness. However, clearly we must take international opinion with a large grain of salt.
I also have to say that I do take some issue with those on the domestic front who would look to create a perception of international opinion to further their own domestic causes with little to no true regard for the international scene. I think this is actually a mistake that many Kerry supporters have made. “We should support Kerry because the rest of the world doesn’t like George Bush.” Even if that’s true, that in and of itself just isn’t going to cut it. First of all, to me, many advocates of this stance can’t demonstrate their own grasp of the world situation, which I think is a requirement for this opinion to carry any weight. Second, since the world opinion doesn’t keep American interests as a top priority, why should we care? Third, it ignores the domestic issues which present a much better reason for why John Kerry (in my opinion) should be our next president.
