ABSTRACT
The previous chapters have focused on Greek perceptions of the role of the United States in Greek affairs, its attitude towards Greek ‘national issues’ and a certain amount of scapegoating as the principal causes behind the recurrent surges of anti-Americanism in Greece. Students of the phenomenon agree that, besides its contingency upon specific issues which in the Greek case were of paramount importance, anti-Americanism also reflects a cultural bias.1 Following a trip to the United States, Theotokas observed that ‘there are those who cannot tolerate the American phenomenon, who stubbornly brush it aside before they even come to know it’.2 The liberal author recognized the power of stereotyping, a process whereby people reduce a complex reality into manageable proportions. Any information that does not fit ‘what our culture has already defined for us’ tends to be rejected, turning the whole process into a self-fulfilling prophecy.3 The outcome may be reassuring for a particular collectivity but it hardly promotes its understanding of and association with other human groups. Greek perceptions of the American ‘other’ were not immune to this process and apparently influenced the way US policies were perceived. Certain stereotypes, such as the image of the United States as the land of the free and champion of democratic values, were positive but no more realistic than the prejudices entertained by a large section of opinion.
