Moving from "the best to the worst" (Canada>Israel)
Going from the best to the worst
Recently, the BBC conducted and released its survey asking 28,000 respondents from 27 different countries which countries, from a list of twelve, had the most positive and negative influence in the world.
When I read the results, I was surprised to notice my personal connection to it. I have personally moved from the very top of the list to the very bottom. That is, I moved from Canada, the most positive country in the world, to Israel, the most negative. What a surprise!
If I were to view life according to this ridiculous survey, I would ask myself, why would I do such a stupid thing- move from the very best, the “crème de la crèmeâ€, to the very worst? The BBC conducts this survey often, and usually Israel finds itself at the bottom- the negative end- along with such other notable countries like the United States, Iran, and North Korea. The one thing I can partially accept about this survey is that, as one the officials behind it mentioned, the negative countries were the ones perceived to either use the most military force (Israel and the United States) or pursue the most deadly of weapons (Iran and North Korea). On the other end of the scale, we find Canada, which in this case hardly uses any military force nor show itself to be militant (despite the fact that Canada is leading the anti-insurgency NATO mission in Afghanistan). And further to its confusion, behind Canada as the most positive are Japan and France- both countries with just wonderful histories of war and violence.
But back to the “going from the best to the worstâ€. Let me say that I absolutely do not see it that way at all. For the record I absolutely love Canada- it honestly is up there, next to Israel, as my favorite country in the world. I lived there most my life and I can say, life there is grand. And Israel, has its own special place for me, and it too is a country I am in love with.
So is Canada the most positive influence in the world? To make things easy for me, I’ll just accept that it is- go Canada! But I say that because my focus is more on the other end of the scale, the negative end. Does Israel give the most negative influence on the world? Absolutely not! A democratic country of nearly seven million, Muslims and Jews and Christians, multi-cultural, rich in flavor and life, to me is not negative at all. A country that has produced some of the world best technological advances, and continues to do so, is not negative at all. A country that despite it all, continues to survive and flourish, is no negative country whatsoever.
What about those countries that kill its own citizens? Those countries that deny their own people any human rights? What about those countries that embezzle their own people’s money for the elite few? And so on…really, what about them? Are they in any way ‘positive’?
So go ahead, BBC. I like you news regardless, but this survey is just a joke. If you ask such a ridiculous question, you’ll get some ridiculous answers.
Join the Conversation
Obviously you didn’t get the whole picture, it’s a survey measuring other’s people reactions to some countries’ influence on OTHERS, it has nothing to do with fact that life in Israel feels good to you, or that it’s a multi-cultural heaven (which is not!), it has to do with the fact that in the last year Israel devastated a whole country, that’s the negative part that those ridiculous people saw.
dare I say you’re referring to Arab countries?
two things, first, no one said they’re anywhere near “positive”, in fact, if you google around for 5 minutes you’ll see where they rank, second, they don’t have a negative influence on others, they don’t have any influence at all! When they had (e.g. Iraq), Bush wiped it off the map!
The whole picture? The survey makes no such mention, at the least nothing explicit about that. The question stem is very plain and simple, asking about the most negative and/or positive influential country in the world. My point being made here is what people’s perceptions are of certain countries are not the realities of what is inside those countries.
True, Israel has made war only very recently (as did Hizballah), and I accept that that is the reason why it’s viewed negatively. Again, point is, what is important in my view is also the internal dynamics of such countries.
I am not referring to Arab countries in particular, but despotic countries in general.
I guess an overarching point I am trying to make here is, with the availability of information at an all time global high, very often organizations come out with surveys that, in my opinion, are just ridiculous. Either their sampling is flawed, their question stem is confusing or not provoking enough, or their choices are not large enough. In this particular survey, not only was the question stem plain and straightforward, with little option of being middle-of-the-road, but the selection of countries was quite arbitrary (twelve in all).
Canada, Japan, and France. All countries that rely on the United States for their security, although Canada at least has some military capability, Japan has almost none.
“Does Israel give the most negative influence on the world? Absolutely not! A democratic country of nearly seven million, Muslims and Jews and Christians, multi-cultural, rich in flavor and life, to me is not negative at all. A country that has produced some of the world best technological advances, and continues to do so, is not negative at all. A country that despite it all, continues to survive and flourish, is no negative country whatsoever. ”
Jonny
Well the survey is about how others FEEL about Israel, i would surely accept what you think of an X or Y country, but dont you think you should accept what others think of X or y country.
I would like to ask all of what ” why Israel has the most negative influence on the world”? is it a propaganda thing?
Bashar-
You actually seem to prefer truth to propoganda. Something wrong with you?
Well think about it, it has to do with the negative connotations attached to the word “Israel.” I mean, what do Arab-Muslims generally know about Israel other than political struggle? Absolutely nothing. Not their culture, not their lifestyles, not their language, not their religion. Yet most HATE it! So like Bashar says, it’s about how others feel about Israel, and obviously due to media coverage people are going to think very negative things about both Israel and Palestine. Israel has been at war since the day it’s been established, do you think people are going to refer to a country that has always been at war as something “positive?” No way, they want proof of stability and lack of corruption first.
One can’t help but admire Israel for all its achievements, but don’t forget what made that possible: good leadership for the most part, domestically that is, and TONS of financial and military assistance from the U.S as well as high migration rates. The foreign affairs and what Israel does in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon is not entirely acceptable. But like one of the Israeli prime ministers once wrote in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict …
Determination will get you anywhere. And determination is what the state of Israel has.
But it’s the politics and media coverage that hurts the overall reputation. And trust me, the victim mentality doesn’t make it better, either. It’s the willingness to work together that will help Israel’s reputation, not over-defensiveness and nationalism which is what we see from a lot of Israelis. Public opinion does wonders to a country’s reputation.
Esra’a and Bashar-
You have made my day and I mean NO sarcasm…what even handed, fair and kind things to say.
As God is my witness I wish I could take you on a tour of Israel…
Look…after the day is done…after all this firing back and froth…it is just a country of people. Most are not fire-breathing settlers in Hebron (Pop. 500 Jews)…any more than the majority of Kuwaitis or Baharani’s are running around with suicide vests. Most people run around worrying about health, taxes, kids drinking and drugging, sex, car repairs, what’s on TV etc etc.
Of course there is an enormous problem with the Palestinian issue and both sides have made enormous mistakes and miscalculations and if not resolved, that problem could have been greatly calmed long ago.
Israel is made up of saints and sinners, crooks and cops..decent and indecent people.
But isn’t this essentially the tragedy of much of the world?
Yes…I can see how Israel can be precieved and misprecieved. But geez I wish you all could see the inside of Israel without the lense of all the distortions…It IS mostly a liberal and open society…there ARE Arabs/Muslims that live normal day-to-day lives, have businesses, drive cars, serve in parliement, shop in stores and don’t get hassled and even the Bedouin and Druse that serve in the army. I HAVE been to Arab villages in Israel where folks have lovely homes and thriving livlihoods…Kfar Yasif comes to mind where I visited and did business many times.
Jewish hearts LITERALLY beat inside the chests of Palestinian children when these families often come into places like Hadasah Hospital for transplants…There are Arab newspapers, Palestinian newspapers and regular on-going OPEN debates. I could go on and on and on.
Once again…though I know many of you will not accept it…the general mood in Israel is NOT hatred towards Arabs…it is fear, distrust and yes there is a seige mentality…hell just look at a map to get some understanding how we might feel this way.
Determination is not the only reason for success nor gifts from America. An open democracy with a value system of equality, human rights, freedom of speech, HIGH emphasis on education, equal access, charity also help a great deal. If it was just about money…hell a place like Saudia should rule the ME if not the world…but without a system of accountability…well I could go on.
But thank you again Esra’a and Bashar for your decent words. We might fight about some of the details, but this blog attracts me so much because most who come and stay have an openess and humility to learn.
Bashar-
I would like to take a shot at answering your question though I will likely come up short:
Israel has shifted from being precieved by the Left as having moved from the underdog to the oppressor
Israel has a very open and free press and society so you get reporters from all over the world flashing everything from terror victims to tanks rolling towards kids throwing rocks.
I give the Palestininas a lot of credit for getting their viewpoint a lot of coverage, particularly in the print media.
Let’s take a look at some bad guy countries; Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Saudia…who lives to tell the stories of goes on in those places. How come the whole world isn’t just NUTS about what is happening in Darfur? I mean where would you bloggers feel safer about criticizing the government…in Saudia or Yemen or China or Israel? But I digressed.
Anti-semitism still exists in the world (I use that generically though…meaning a whole lot of people hate Arabs too)
I also do not know how those questions were asked and of whom…so you take these things with a grain of salt…but I think likely the first thing I mentioned would be the #1 factor.
Howie, thanks but don’t overlook the bad things that happen. You say -
“Where would bloggers feel safer about criticizing the governments…”
Hmm and where would people get imprisoned or in trouble merely for not serving in the army? Israel.
It has its disadvantages, mandatory service in the army can lead to serious trauma amongst youth. I don’t think it’s fair for you to rule them out and claim that Israel is perfect and entirely guiltless and stable. Sorry, but it’s not, and many Israelis who are currently living in Israel will tell tell you that without a problem.
As for what’s going on in Darfur, that’s just outrageous that it’s not being cared for or covered, but it’s all mainstream media outlets ignoring them including the media in Israel despite the refugees. It’s everyone’s fault. But I am working with some people from the American Islamic Congress who are targeting this, and we are working on launching an Arabic version of our Darfur Awareness website which we launched a few months ago.
I will also stress one other thing – what about the Kurds? Millions of people, whose identities have been taken away from them, who faced torture and abuse from various different governments and have faced both foreign and domestic terrorism. No media coverage, why don’t people go insane here about the rights that they still lack?
Israel is the least of our problems, yet many people barely understand that. Some asshole wrote in an article that no one should pay attention to Kareem because we have “more important things to care about in Palestine.” What a fool. So we ignore all our issues and focus on Palestine while we kill each other in our back yards and watch our government lock up our friends and family? No thanks, Palestine is important, but we got other problems and they’re affecting our lives significantly as well. If we ignore them further, we’re going to be living in our own Palestine soon. We better get our heads out of our asses and start thinking straight before it’s too late.
I think in due time Israelis are going to help and appreciate us, and vice versa. I met enough Israelis to know that they are amazing people with big hearts. There are some idiots who are brutal and just nasty (mostly racist soldiers) but the nation itself is great and they really know how to hold on to their values. You got my respect for that. There is no way we can generalize over them because it’s so intellectually diverse with a lot of different opinions represented, and let’s not forget the fact that, like Howie said, they are at least allowed to have their opinions expressed publicly and be able to criticize their government officials without serious consequences in return.
Howie, how abooot that ehh? Canada is better than Jew land or KKK land.
w000t!!!
To be honest…I would rather live in Western Canada than Israel…Israel is often hot, humid, full of traffic..people on the streets are wound, drivers kill far more people than terrorits and it has to be one of the loudest places in the world…no salmon fishing…hell…no rivers (one lake).
But the seals live pretty long lives.
Hey,
Well this kinda turned into a discussion on Israel itself and not really on the survey, which was kinda the point, but thats cool!
Just to reiterate my point here: surveys are always subject to criticism, from all angles. This particular survey, in my opinion, is flawed in several ways, as I wrote earlier.
Western Canada: gorgeous, never been there myself, but I will soon enough. Toronto is my ‘hood, and, well, it’s got humidity too, believe me!
Actually,according to Gallup poll in Feb 2007,support amongst ordinary Americans for Israel is VERY good !!
Total Favorable American views for Israel is 63% … with Americans more pro-Israeli in their views today than they were 10 and 20 years ago.78% of Americans have a Total Unfavorable view of Palestinian Authority.(Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,007 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb. 1-4, 2007)
Yeah Western Canada is a great place,but personally I wouldn’t want to live in a freezing climate for good part of the year.And if a person is Jewish remember what one says on Pesach in a few days time:L’shana ha’ba-ah b’Yerushalayim
Howie,
I would never claim what is it like to actually live in Israel because i havent … I would really like to go there once …
Im sure that Israelis worry about taxes, thier children , their quality of life and just like all the word.
I would like to thank you for enlighting us about how things are in Israel…
yes, I would certianly agree that other countries should be at that survey.. such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan..etc … ….. which brings me to a question ,.,.,,, what is it to be objectivity?
Esraa,
as for the kurds, Please dont start there …. the kurds feel that the world owe them everything…. and they simply do not want to do anything for their own ….
Yes, Saddam may have killed lots of them … but do you know that Talbani did almost the same …. he killed his own ppl …. there is a thin line between him being a great leader and a terrorist …..
Do you know that the kurds are heavily involved in the Armenian Massacre or even a Genocide….. and the worst part of it .. is that they (kurds) deny it? saying that No its not true … we didnt study that at school …!!! of course you didnt … in school it is always going to be the bright things that you have done !!
I see myself in the obligation to release some bits for the defense of my country.
France depends more likely of Andorra than of the US. You might know that it is a permanent member of the CoS and that satanizing French wine products doesn’t make France militarily speaking “dependant”.
As regards the remainder, you contradict yourself Jonny. You blame Japan, you blame France for Algeria and at the same time you refuse any amalgam with the policy of today’s Israel… which isn’t purely self-defensive – you might agree?
However, isn’t the Vatican a state with great “negative influence” when it’s prohibiting the use of condoms in AIDS-infected regions? Isn’t Greenland a state with huge threat in the form of melting ice masses? And isn’t “G-d’s own country” responsible for both of this, global warming and “moral-Crusades-who-unfortunately-turn-to-carnage”?
Isn’t China supporting the motherf**king Bitchbrigade in Khartoum?
Iblis-
China does not get picked on NEARLY enough…but this is an ME blog…but yes they are HUGE supporters of the Khartoum government and China’s human rights record is abysmal and if you want to bitch about somebody mistreating Muslims…take a look at Western China.
The Boycott Beijing campaign is going to get huge as we’re nearing the date of the Olympics.
2-3 months is not good part of the year. -.-
Or move to Vancouver, there is no snow there. Coldest it gets is around 5-10 degrees.
France is not depended on US for it’s military. Where the hell did you get this idea?
USofA made Japan depend on US’s military by putting a clause in the constitution banning the formation of an army. US shouldn’t complain about Japan not having a military because US made it that way. Then again Japan has the 5th largest budget with 44 billion dollar for their military or “self-defense” force as they call it. -.-
USofA better protect Canada, otherwise, it’s suicide for US. I love this so much… US whine all day long about how we don[‘t spend enough money on our military to learn that they are pumping money to protect us because if they don’t protect us, they are fucked also.
Here is another interesting point. Muslims go nuts over what happens in Kashmire. Do you know the 3rd part of the Kashmire is in China? Pakistan hand it over to them and during the Indo-Chinese War, they annexed the rest from India. I have yet to hear a Muslim speak about this.
Nice post! I link you here:
http://desde-sefarad.blogspot.com/2007/03/de-canad-israel.html
Regards!