Oh my. Where to begin? LuvtheBeach! LuvtheBeach! LuvtheBeach! (it works like Beetlejuice, don’t it?)

Sometimes governments hate America’s governmental policies.
Sometimes individuals hate American governmental policies and actions.
Occasionally individuals hate the stereotype of the ugly American — maybe because they’ve met one or maybe because they don’t know enough to not believe stereotypes.
Few individual people actually hate individual Americans. This is because most people understand that an individual American citizen wasn’t responsible for the invasion of Iraq or whatever policy they may hate, so they don’t hate individual Americans.

No one who makes their living catering to tourists can afford to look like they hate Americans even if they do.

Americans in Ireland, and in most of the world, will not be treated any differently than other foreigners. You won’t be treated any differently than Japanese tourists, or Canadian tourists, or Brazilian tourists.

Now as an American, you do carry baggage when you travel abroad. But to “hate America” is such a loaded phrase that doesn’t accurately decribe global opinion of the United States. Part of this stems our own failures in American public discourse to adequately explore the issue of anti-Americanism, which can mean different things.

Lots of pundits, columnists, and politicians who have spent very little time abroad or who are trying to endorse a political aegnda, have deciphered global anti-Americanism way off the mark. I’m sure you’ve heard them: they hate us for our freedom, they’re jealous of us, bla bla bla. These explanations are untrue, but many Americans unfortunately believe them.

What is very real is a well-grounded global distrust and contempt of our government and foreign policy. I’m going to try and keep this post concise, but we have [militarily, politically, and financially] supported countless dictators around the world while lecturing the world on democracy; we have armed paramilitary death squads in Central America’s civil wars; we pursue our geopolitical interests under the guise of democracy/human rights/anti-terrorism/anti-communism/name a noble cause; our foreign policy establishment (White House, Congress, Pentagon, military, CIA, arms industry) has dispatched countless instances of malaise which we don’t hear about in our own media, but that the world is well-aware of (particularly in countries that have been directly affected).

None of this means that ordinary Americans and American culture are disliked, nor that the United States is the only one held accountable for these things. In fact, you’ll find that American films and music (from jazz to Lady Gaga) are immensely popular worldwide, and in most of the world, ordinary American tourists are made to feel welcome. Many Americans see this as a paradox, but there’s nothing paradoxical about it because most of the world makes a distinction between America’s power structure and ordinary Americans. Just as many Americans distrust China, but Americans love Chinese food (or what they think is Chinese food), and they don’t have anything personal against Chinese people, it’s the same way here.

So, when you go to Ireland, you won’t receive any negative treatment at all, and you’ll find a general familiarity with our pop culture. But if you dig deep and fish for people’s views of American government: you’ll notice a widespread distrust of our foreign policy.

Hope this makes things clear.