Tuesday, January 22, 2008

It's Time to Get in the Game

I recently had this op-ed article published in the Sunday Edition of the Birmingham News:
I was disappointed to read in the Birmingham News that Yasmin Elhady, a law student from Huntsville, was subjected to hate mail because of her decision to question Republican presidential candidates about what they would do to repair U.S. relations with the Muslim world. If Ms. Elhady’s question had a flaw worth criticizing, which I doubt, it was that she should have broadened her inquiry and asked how the candidates would repair our image in the entire world, including here at home.

According to a BBC World Service Poll of over 26,000 people from over 25 different countries, 52% of the world believes the U.S. is playing a “mainly negative” role in world affairs, up from 46% just two years ago. If that statistic is not disheartening, consider that the same poll found that only 29% of the world believes the U.S. is a “mainly positive” force in the world, down from 40% two years ago. While international opinion regarding the U.S.’s role in the world was relatively balanced only two years ago, the gap has rapidly widened to reveal a pervasive contempt for American policies world-wide.

Some Americans rightfully question why we even care about international opinion? I am sure many Americans responded to Ms. Elhady’s question with an apathetic shrug and remarked “what can we do to change their minds?”, “it’s not our fault they hate America, it’s their problem!”, or “if the rest of the world cannot see we are a positive force for peace, who needs them anyways?”

It's not just "them" though. The BBC study also found that only 57% of Americans believe the U.S. is a “mainly positive force” in the world, while 71% had taken that stance as recently as 2005. Thus, Americans’ positive views of the U.S. are diminishing even more abruptly than those of our international brethren. The question isn’t why we suddenly think less of ourselves though. Anyone who follows U.S. foreign affairs can give you innumerable answers to that question. Rather, the pertinent question in need of asking is, why does this negative self-image seem to not concern us? Why do we react to the image of America as world villain with indifference instead of aspiring to make the U.S. better?

The answer to this question is simple: we are indifferent about our current image because we do not take individual responsibility for the chaos our country creates. Like most Americans, I have long viewed this country through “red, white and blue” glasses that reveal only “our” victories, while obscuring “the Bush Administration’s” failures, which we would like to forget. By adopting this filter, we simultaneously embrace and take credit for “our” nation’s successes, while distancing ourselves from “the Government’s” missteps. Anyone who obsessively supports a college football team is familiar with this subconscious psychological ruse because it is the same one that compels us to chant “We’re #1” after a victory, as if we had been on the field, while lamenting “the idiot coach blew the game” after a disheartening loss.

The difference, of course, between nations and football teams is nations get to pick their coaches. In the political arena, there is no owner or athletic director to blame, only ourselves. No amount of taunting from the stands can ultimately change the plays the coach will call, so it is crucial that the right coach is selected. America can be a proud nation once again, but in order to do so, we must take responsibility for our failures, and not simply lament (or applaud) the failure of our leaders. It’s time to actually get on the field.

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