When has any European rejected their history? You'll find that it is our bloody history that makes us so "pacifist" in the first place.
Which is followed up by some global event. This "pacifist" mood always preceded Europe's major conflicts an unrests in history. It's a false mood that only serves to fool the masses into thinking that they have finally stopped repeating their own history or that they are better than everyone else. It goes back to the Renaissance period when the elitists decided that an attitude of betterment meant they could pretend a new peaceful Europe despite reality smacking them in the face. Multiple religious inquisitions, brutal colonialisms, multiple genocides, multiple ethnic cleansings, two World Wars, and a very recent genocide of the '90s later, Europeans still pretend the "pacifist" mood. (I read a lot.)
But....according to PeteEU and the like, a few (3?) "torture" cases made public over the last 8 years makes America the moral inferior. Or in other arguments....their equal. Europe can slaughter tens of millions of people, but if America kills 1, we are supposed to share the category with it.
No we don't ignore our past. And if we point out America's evil past deeds, the excuses come flying out of you guys. I have yet to hear a German give an excuse on WW2.
Maybe it comes down to an America that doesn't need a Europe pointing fingers as much as Europe feels it needs to point fingers. Allow me to make a point. Any great exaggerated threads about the riots and childish behaviors throughout Europe in regards to this economy issue? No. But the moment some possible unrest occurs in America, the European clique will be sure to point out our troubles and preach to us about what we need to do. The very moment even the hint of a small riot occurs in America will mean that Europe's riots now have an
equal. Maximus Zebra is fond of preaching about a future American civil war or economic melt down and disaster in America.......but who's rioting?
You see, when Europeans go out of their way to point out America's imperfections, it always comes with an attitude that we are like you. That some how, tens of millions that have been slaughtered or displaced across Europe in recent centuries equates to any insignificant small stumble of America. And because the finger pointing always is accompanied with exaggeration, I am convinced that many Europeans look for America to stumble to feel better.
At least you are seperated by the English Channel. Don't forget...continental Europe didn't consider you a part of Europe post WWII. And De Gaul politics continue to shape the continent's self-righteous mood. Don't think I hadn't noticed how quickly the continent was to ostracize the English speaking nations that saved it almost immediately after WWII and have given more and more credit to Russians with every decade despite cheering America on to fight the Cold War against Russia when it needed it. That's gratitude.