Simple deception
Why do they “hate” us? Because they’re ignorant of the truth, mostly:
A poll of nearly 2,000 Britons by YouGov/PHI found that 70 per cent of respondents incorrectly said it was true that the US had done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000. More than 50 per cent presumed that polygamy was legal in the US, when it is illegal in all 50 states.
…Tim Montgomerie, its director, said factual inaccuracies and mistaken assumptions have contributed to Britons and Europeans taking a hostile stance towards their most powerful ally, which often acted against national interests.
The survey showed that a majority agreed with the false statement that since the Second World War the US had more often sided with non-Muslims when they had come into conflict with Muslims. In fact in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the US has sided with the former group. Those conflicts included Turkey and Greece, Bosnia and Yugoslavia, and and Kosovo and Yugoslavia.
Asked if it was true that “from 1973 to 1990 the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons,” 80 per cent of British respondents said yes. However the US sold just 0.46 per cent of Saddam’s arsenal to him, compared to Russia’s 57 per cent, France’s 13 per cent and China’s 12 per cent.
Glenn calls them “sadly ill-informed,” but I think it’s more than just sad; there’s a reason for the shallowness and inaccuracy of their understanding, and it’s an insidious and revolting one, as one of his readers notes:
And the British public gets its information from where? The BBC. This poll says more about the BBC than it does about the poor fish who learn about the world from it.
Indeed it does. And the same could be said of the benighted, misled souls here in the US who rely on propaganda outfits like the NYT and so much of the rest of the liberal media for news and information. It’s sad, all right, but it’s much more than just that. Glenn winds up with this: “Screw that. I like the idea of going on the offensive. Why let lies and idiocy prosper?” Nothing to add to that from here, except: Heh. Indeed.
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