Reply #15: I read both threads with interest...

[KitSileya]

What I immediately thought of was a quote by Alexis de Toqueville.

"I know of no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America... In America, the majority raises very formidable barriers to the liberty of opinions: within these barriers an author may write whatever he pleases, but he will repent it if he ever steps beyond them."

One barrier is the refusal to even consider America may be even slightly evil. Another is the belief that just because America believes it does something from the purest of motives, the recipients should be grateful even if it misfires. J. William Fulbright said something about that 40 years ago:

"The missionary instinct in foreign affairs may, in a curious way, reflect a deficiency rather than an excess of self-confidence. In America's case the evidence of the lack of self-confidence is in our apparent need for constant proof and reassurance, our nagging desire for popularity, our bitterness and confusion when foreigners fail to appreciate our generosity and good intentions. Lacking an appreciation of the dimensions of our own power, we fail to understand out enormous and disruptive impact on the world; we fail to understand that no matter how good our intentions - and they are, in most cases, decent enough - other nations are alarmed by the very existence of such great power, which, whatever its benevolence, cannot help but remind them of their own helplessness before it."

The rest of the world holds both a schadenfreude and a fear at the dissolution of America's empire, not to mention resentment. There is a schadenfreude because this superpower, which has reminded us of our helplessness for so long, is losing its power, but at the same time it is a fear of which nation will step into the power vacuum - most likely China. And there is where the resentment comes in - the US was good, it was on its way to becoming truly democratic - but they squandered their progress and sold their power for 30 pieces of silver to tyrannies.