왜 미국을 싫어하는 거죠..?

음... NYT에서 나온 건데요.. 우... 미국인들의 생각인가 봅니다.
모든 미국인들이 그래 이렇게 해야해.. 라고 생각할지도..

그나저나 우상호씨가 운영하는 뉴스사이트는 뭐죠...??

그럼.

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January 15, 2002
Why Do They Hate Us?
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
SEOUL, South Korea

One of the things that we Americans are finally waking up to since Sept. 11 is the degree to which we are disliked and resented around the world.

Travel from Argentina to Japan, Russia to Senegal, and you run into huge numbers of people who snarl about America appointing itself the world's policeman, squandering the world's oil or undermining global treaties and institutions. We're accused of inflicting Big Macs, Microsoft Windows and Julia Roberts on the helpless masses. (These are crimes?)

Even in close allies like South Korea, there has long been a deep strain of anger among ordinary people at supposed American arrogance, bullying and high-handedness. Whenever I pass through Seoul's City Hall plaza, I'm transported back to 1987 and a pro-democracy demonstration where a group of radical students made a bonfire of an American flag. The crowd of more than 100,000 cheered thunderously. This in a country whose soil had been well fertilized by American blood in the Korean War.

Such anti-Americanism is a wellspring of terrorism in some countries, mostly Middle Eastern, and complicates our lives and foreign policy all over the world. To many foreigners, we Americans come across as bumbling goons who squash the globe while trotting about it, as we ask plaintively "Why don't people like us more?"

In any case, the better question is What can we do about it?

And that is where the Korean experience comes in. While anti-Americanism has risen in many parts of the world, it has declined here in South Korea, and a once-dangerous undercurrent of anger has partly dissipated. There are, I think, some lessons that we can usefully apply to our relations with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries.

To discuss those lessons I tried to look up an old friend, Woo Sang Ho, whom I had inadvertently helped send to prison in 1987. Mr. Woo was then a top student leader, and I quoted him as praising the burning of the American flag and blaming Washington for keeping the Korean Peninsula divided. Because of the article, he was sent to prison for six months.

Fortunately, Mr. Woo held no grudges. He became more moderate, dabbled in politics and helped run an online news site in Seoul. But on this trip to Korea, I at first had trouble finding him. So while still looking for Mr. Woo, I asked Thomas C. Hubbard, the American ambassador in Korea, about the decline in anti- Americanism.

"The antipathy declined as the U.S. was no longer seen as supporting repressive military regimes in Korea," he said, adding "Korea is an example of how democratic currents can dissipate heat and anger."

One lesson from Korea is simply the importance of public relations in diplomacy. American embassies have traditionally done a wretched job peddling the United States viewpoint to the overseas public, and there have not been enough ambassadors who speak the local language and regularly go on local television programs to explain ?in fluent Arabic, Korean or Chinese ?the American position on issues that people care about.

In the last few months the Bush administration has finally given a more prominent place to this "public diplomacy," even hiring an advertising executive named Charlotte Beers to lead an effort to get America's message across to foreigners.

Another lesson is that Washington needs to emphasize relations with entire countries, and not just the regimes that temporarily rule them. In Saudi Arabia we risk repeating a mistake of Korea and allowing ourselves to be perceived as on the side of the rulers ?and against the people. One reminder of the distinction is that the one country in the region where pro-Americanism seems to be most vocal on the streets is the one where we have the worst official relations Iran.

A third lesson of Korea is that we are best off encouraging democracy ?even the right to burn American flags. When Koreans were able to express their anger in the late 1980's and early 1990's, they let off steam and the frustration dissipated. In short, we may be best off if radical clerics in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan remain free to denounce us.

Oh, and finally I did track down my friend Mr. Woo, the former anti- American student radical. It turns out that he's gone away for a six-month study program ?to Denver.