Posted by agent858 on March 13, 2006, at 18:42:39
In reply to Re: To Tamar, posted by AuntieMel on March 13, 2006, at 9:59:44
> "I guess I wonder if it’s possible for someone outside the US to criticize US foreign policy without seeming to be anti-American."
> Sure - your post did *exactly* that.
ah.... so.... gently does it.
> You talked about Kyoto, Iraq, civil rights - all legitimate issues. And you did it without sounding accusing - without saying "Americans" or "you people" or anything that sounds (to me) as if you are talking about the people and not the policies.ah... very gently does it.
sorry i've been 'up in arms' a bit...
pwpd... but also... getting a bit wound up in general i guess.
> As far as policy goes - I probably agree with you more than I do most of our elected officials. In fact, that probably contributes to *why* I get riled when someone sounds like they are anti-American.i find the 'anti american' thing probably about as hard to take as you take my 'peoples' or 'americans' comments...
> Because I am me, Mel, not my country's policies. Sometimes I agree with our 'official' policies, many times I don't. I think of my country the same way I think of my kids - I love it dearly, but sometimes it does things I don't like very much.i hear you there. i feel the same way about my country.
> And if someone said my kid did something wrong, I might very well agree with him. But if he said I had a bad kid, I'd feel compelled to argue.i understand the distinction there too.
and i guess if you are used to hearing people tell you what a bad kid you have...
you are more likely to be primed to interpret criticism of the US policy / ideal etc as talking about bad kids instead of bad behaviours (or policies or ideals or whatever).
that makes sense.
> Maybe if I didn't live in "the great Satan" I wouldn't be quite so sensitive about it.you know... i haven't heard that one in a while...
it is hard
(((((auntiemel)))))
poster:agent858
thread:619739
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060304/msgs/619901.html