Noam Chomsky, bête noire of the right, has long argued that the notion of anti-Americanism itself seeks to excuse the crimes of US elites and "identify state policy with the society, the people, the culture". It is an important point. I condemn the actions of the US government in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, without attacking my American friends in Houston, LA or New York.
“I am willing to love all mankind," Samuel Johnson said, "except an American." I cannot agree. I may be considered anti-American, in that I abhor many US foreign policies, but the person I love most happens to be an American. America is not the American government. Nor is it the US border patrol.
I'm wondering whether America is the only country in the world, which isn't allowed to defend its national interests and which is always viewed no matter what it does as a bully because it is first and therefore people assume that it shouldn't be always victorious. I'm reminded of the tennis matches between Serena Williams and Justine Henin. During those matches, commentators , even when they are American, root for Henin because she is smaller, more skilled and tacitly argues that she is smarter and the better player while deploring that Williams is solely physically stronger and implying that she is lazy and bully.
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