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Wednesday, September 15, 2004 A view from out in the world Bob Harris recently came back from Greece (for the Olympics) with stopovers in Turkey and Egypt and he has a story to share. An hour earlier [in Egypt] I was accosted by a tall and angry fellow shouting "I hate America!" over and over, in a tone half-accusing, half-demanding-an-explanation. But he wasn't a mugger or anything; actually, he was well-dressed and clean-shaven and looked more like an accountant out for a stroll who was just pissed off about the news and took it out on the white guy. I nodded and gestured for him to join me as I was walking, letting him vent. Which he did. (Hoo-boy.) I think he assumed I was German, since that's the language we wound up butchering the most for a while. I didn't stop him for a good stretch. When it was my turn, I struggled with the words, so I eventually pointed at the sole of my shoe (the dirtiest part of the body) while saying the word "Bush," then mentioned Iraq and mimed my own broken heart. (Both of these gestures were entirely accurate, I think.) And then, feeling safer once he understood I wasn't his enemy, I reaffirmed that I was an American. You should have seen this guy's face -- a blank look for a moment, a cursor while his hard drive spun... and then the anger was completely gone, replaced with curiosity and a little, I dunno... hope, even. It was apparently news to him -- good news -- that Americans don't all support Bush, and all he wanted to know was how many more of us there were. (Yes, the media there sucks even worse than it does here.) Oh, man. Suddenly he didn't hate "America" anymore. He certainly didn't hate me. He freakin' wanted to buy me a meal, people, just to hear more. I could go on, (and I intend to, in a book I'm trying to find time to write, called Almost Seven Wonders about this last trip). But the point is, we have many, many, many friends in this world who are reluctantly -- reluctantly, I tell you -- becoming enemies, and furious enemies at that. It's not just about Bush, although he is almost universally disliked and/or little-respected, my hand to God, not just in the Islamic world, but damn near everywhere, once you leave these borders. (I think it's fair to guess that Bush has become the most widely-despised president in all of U.S. history, and probably by a wide margin. I certainly can't think of a precedent that comes close.) Bush got us into this mess, and he deserves all the scorn he gets. But what happens next is up to us. People are people; when you actually sit down and talk openly and honestly with people and hash out your differences, you can come to a basic understanding and even friendship, across all sorts of cultural, relgious and ethnic barriers. Unfortunately, our current foreign policy is a really bad advertisement for the United States and it's not setting that sort of conciliatory tone that could soothe over alot of the bad vibes. It's up to us to elect a President who will reach out to the world with an open hand instead of a clenched authoritative fist. posted by chris at 4:06 PM   ------------------

    

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