Anti-American

For some reason I keep running across this concept today. Here with regards to the proposed Freedom Tower and here with regards to the media.

What makes something Anti-American? It seems to me to be a very subjective measurement. I know that there are people out there who are truly anti-American, like Osama Bin Laden, and sometimes I wonder about Jaques Chirac.

For Terrorists I think their hatred of America is founded in jealousy, in a need for something to fight against in order to make their lives less miserable. These people are truly Anti-American because their hate is not based on rational thought but on a need for something to hate in order to ease the misery of their existance.

But to say that the press, or proposed displays at the freedom tower are Anti-American brings up a whole new dimension. If something reflects negatively on America, does that make it treasonous, or simply factual?

I loved history in highschool but when I got to college I found out reams of information that had never crossed my page before. Things like how Christopher Columbus who has his own holiday murdered and enslaved native peoples, and how Lyndon Johnson's explaination for the Vietnam war was to whip out his dick. These things do not reflect positively on America and they make me sad. But they also provide motivation to ensure that these mistakes are not repeated. If Americans cannot look at our history and see the flaws in it and then move forward and strive to save ourselves from making the same mistakes, then we cannot survive as a country.

I love America, I really do, but does that mean I should ignore all of the horrible things that Americans have done/are doing/will do? I think that maybe in America we've confused the ideas of Like and Love. If you like something you have positive feelings about it and are generally happy. But if you love something you have to be willing to accept it as it is, acknowledge its flaws and push it to become better. Love Hurts, but it is certainly not Anti-Anything.