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i've been over both oceans for at least month's time time each since GWB has become President... this is what struck me about the perceptions of US politics:
except in rare circumstances, those people who i discussed US politics with were fairly ignorant. not in an unintelligent way, just in an uninformed way. granted, they were probably better educated on our politics than i was in most of theirs... but the opinions i heard were taken straight from their local news source.
and this is the problem: foreign news agencies are just aweful in their reporting of US events. the strain of anti-americanism may not be rooted in media reporting, but is certainly exacerbated by it. i remember sitting in a kyoto hostel watching cnn international (among the most american friendly international news outlets) thinking: if this is how foreign persons get their information about my country... no wonder they think the way they do! i can't comment on the quality of reporting on their own national issues, but i do know my country's politics and i know that they aren't being represented in with a balanced perspective abroad. if we expect to gain any international support for anything, no matter the cause, this issue must be addressed.
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If you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
~ Winston Churchill
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