Are Americans More Dangerous Than the Ayatollahs?
What Germans believe has had major historical consequences. What they know, as opposed to what they believe, is not the point. Right now, a new poll says, many Germans believe America is more dangerous than the Iranian ayatollahs. This is not good, for America or Europe. Here are the opening paragraphs of a current article in Der Spiegel:
The Germans have believed in many things in the course of their recent history. They've believed in colonies in Africa and in the Kaiser. They even believed in the Kaiser when he told them that there would be no more political parties, only soldiers on the front.
Not too long afterwards, they believed that Jews should be placed into ghettos and concentration camps because they were the enemies of the people. Then they believed in the autobahn and that the Third Reich would ultimately be victorious. A few years later, they believed in the Deutsche mark. They believed that the Berlin Wall would be there forever and that their pensions were safe. They believed in recycling as well as in cheap jet travel. They even believed in a German victory at the soccer World Cup.
Now they believe that the United States is a greater threat to world peace than Iran. This was the by-no-means-surprising result of a Forsa opinion poll commissioned by Stern magazine. Young Germans in particular -- 57 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds, to be precise -- said they considered the United States more dangerous than the religious regime in Iran.
The article has a good analysis of German anti-Americanism. Be sure to read the whole article.
