Anti-Americanism in Korea (and Beyond)

''It isn't noisy protesters that should bother Americans. What should bother Americans are the quiet feelings of anger and disgust filling the hearts of people who normally would be your best friends. America is becoming such a bully and a boor -- deaf to every voice except its own. Demanding its own way, 'Now, now, now!', and suggesting that anyone who disagrees or argues is an enemy. That frightens me. I think it frightens many people."

- Lee Ji-Woo, a 21-year-old South Korean student of agricultural economics

''My first memory is of American soldiers bringing food and blankets," said Kim Seung-Yil, 55, a South Korean garment manufacturer, who was a baby when invading North Koreans destroyed his home village of Seotan-Mun before being repelled by US forces. ''I've always thought of Americans as saviors. Their blood is soaked so deeply in our soil. But now it feels as if the US is becoming the crusader only for its own values and interests. It wants America's rights and wrongs to be the world's rights and wrongs. This makes people uncomfortable."

-Kim Seung-Yil, 55, a South Korean garment manufacturer (both quoted in On world stage, critics of US grow louder

As much as I might think such views are gross oversimplifications based on emotion rather than reason, I must admit they have some validity. While it is true that everything did change with the events of September 11th, 2001, I can't help but look back with a sense of loss at what could have been if Presdident Bush had forgone the Wilsonian experiment in Iraq and stuck to the true conservative principles he had uttered eleven months before in the Second Presidential Debate with Al Gore on October 11th:

"Well, I think [people from other countries] ought to look at us as a country that understands freedom, where it doesn't matter who you are or how you're raised or where you're from, that you can succeed. I don't think they ought to look at us with envy. It really depends upon how (the) nation conducts itself in foreign policy. If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us. And our nation stands alone right now in the world in terms of power. And that's why we've got to be humble and yet project strength in a way that promotes freedom. So I don't think they ought to look at us in any way other than what we are. We're a freedom-loving nation. And if we're an arrogant nation, they'll view us that way, but if we're a humble nation, they'll respect us."