USA: Land of the Free, Home of the Evil?
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
SEATTLE — Evil — a word usually reserved for the likes of Adolph Hitler or Usama bin Laden — is now being used by more than a third of Canadian teens to describe the United States.
In a recent poll, 40 percent of Canadian teens said the United States is a force for evil in the world, with 50 percent saying it’s a force for good and 10 percent reporting they were undecided on the subject. French-Canadians (search) were even harsher, with 64 percent of them calling America a force for evil.
“What they’re reacting to is a sense that the U.S. is belligerent,” said the pollster who conducted the phone survey, Greg Lyle. “The U.S. is sort of bellicose, warmongering [and has] this sort of cowboy diplomacy.”
But former Canadian diplomat Martin Collacot (search) says the teens are responding to cues from their government, the media and their teachers.
The anti-Americanism from the United States' northern neighbors seemed to peak when the Iraq war started.
In one incident, hockey fans in Montreal booed during the playing of the American national anthem. Then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s spokesman was caught on mike calling President Bush a moron. And while the streets of Quebec (search) were filled with war protesters, a member of Parliament from the ruling Liberal Party was quoted as saying: “Damn Americans. I hate those bastards.”