Activists...

[niky]

Being a UP boy... and an American Citizen (my mother is an American... Mom and Dad met up and got married in New York)... I've seen both sides of the coin.

The reason for the hatred against the Americans is the perceived and actual meddling of the US government in local politics... first by their annexing of the Philippines from Spain and denial of outright independence, and then by the support they poured into the (oft-times corrupt) government as part of their general "anti-communist" drive.

It's those actions in the 60s-80s that has generated the most anti-American sentiment worldwide. In order to supress what they viewed as the rising tide of communism in the third world, the US government lent its support to a lot of corrupt, dictatorial leaders. Marcos, for one...

Yes, at that time, and even up till now, Philippine politics is affected greatly by US foreign policy. Strange, though, that people would chant "Cory, Tuta ng Kano" since she earned the ire of the US government because of the reconciliatory stance she had towards rebels.

But what this has to do with our current situation? Absolutely jack-sh*t. Nothing. While some of the blame for the current oil crisis may be laid at the feet of George Dubya, he wasn't the one who started the war between Islamic radicalism and the US... Osama bin Laden is.

Pero activists can't see that. They think that the world is black and white... that if there's a problem, there has to be a culprit. And can the culprit be the communists, islamic fanatics or the terrorists? No, it's got to be the "establishment". Trying to talk sense with these guys is like talking to a brain-dead parrot. Which is a shame. Many of these kids are otherwise very intelligent people.

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But when they grow older, they grow up. Realize that the world isn't simply black and white, and learn to live in the real world. Remember, Bill Clinton was an activist in college... and yet he became President of the United States.