One American's response to Are people against America?
David,
I wholeheartedly agree with your feelings of being "against wholesale violence used by violent institutions of America." Whether these sentiments make someone "anti-American" depends on one's definition of "America". If one surmises "America" to mean the militarily unbounded, capitalist imposing, elite sector of government and corporate rule, then, yes, you may be considered "anti-American."
Throughout the history of American civilization (a history that probably needs no instruction), people in power (power meaning money and/or weapons) have used their power to create a society in which they prosper at the expense of the majority. One must only think to the genocidal beginnings of this nation to see the pattern emerging. Indigenous peoples massacred, Africans kidnapped and forced to build up the American infrastructure of money and industry, and the eventual, brutal expansion of American power to places like the Philippines, Vietnam, etc. should be staring everyone in the face as episodes to be abhorred. And this kind of expansion, although now cloaked in terms like "humanitarian intervention" and programs like neo-liberal privatization, continue through the present and, sadly, into the future.
However, if by "America," one means the ideals of democracy, freedom, and equality (things that truly don't exist here, or only to a very minimal extent), then I would say you are "pro-American." Criticisms of American actions certainly do not constitute "anti-Americanism" in any reasonable sense of the term (if there is indeed anything reasonable with a term like "anti-American"). While Bush's fascist, absolute axiom ("with us, or against us") may lure people into narrow constricts of thought, those of us who care about the aforementioned ideals should not buy in. The absurdity and totalitarian foundation of Bush's binary statement should add to the many illustrations that the perceived ideals of America do not necessarily constitute its reality.
And while Paul is right that other nation-states also behave in similar ways (and therefore should be studied and criticized as well), your correct deduction that America is "the most powerful country and therefore the most violent" demonstrates the reason that vigilance towards America's actions are especially warranted.
Add to this the fact that we have access to information that many people in other countries don't--perhaps our greatest freedom here, but still not an absolute one--and one then begins to see a responsibility emerging: a responsibility to use the tools we have to make a better world, even if that means restructuring our own part of it.
Created By: Matthew Darcy