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re: "Anti-Americanism is major side effect of global historical-illiteracy"
SDAI-Tech1 — (archived)

It is, Lindy.

I wasn't specifically talking about folks here, or even the American left which hate Bush. I was speaking of large segments of the world of which countless millions are completely historically illiterate. Many do not even know there WAS a WWII or what nations took part in it.

The youth of America, as poorly educated as they are, still shine like a beacon when compared to many parts of the world where the only thing the youth know about the US is that it is some sort of global superpower/bully/monopolizer.

Without knowledge it is hard to make informed decisions. It is easier to succumb to propaganda and anti-Americanism.

We really don't see how much history is lost and no longer a factor in the minds of billions of youths around the world under 25 years of age.

It is the responsibility of the old to educate the young. When history falls to the wayside all you have is contemporary input. A whole new generation have been brought up since the Berlin wall fell in 1989. No one in Europe was doing cartwheels for the US then regardless of our role in defeating Soviet and eastern bloc communism, but even fewer kids today even care or know about it. Kids 15 and younger weren't even born while the wall was still up! The 18-22 year old European activists were toddlers back then and had no idea what was going on or what had gone on.

In America too, the driving force behind the opposition to our removal of Saddam and operations in Iraq are either young or old folks who see Iraq as the new cause - a new Vietnam to protest. In many ways such protest makes them feel young, purposeful and defiant, the same feelings they sought when they were 18-24. In this sense, Iraq brings the ME generation of today with the ME generation of yesterday. Jane Fonda and folks like Cindy Sheehan are exploitive political soulmates a few generations apart.

The crusaders aren't the US military. The crusaders are those folks who are working the protests and standing on soapboxes. And again, the bottom line is that, in almost any nation, protests are usually composed of 80% historically illiterate uninformed youth and 20% older crusaders.

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