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I love the idea of your country. I respect you for wanting that idea to be the truth. But from the outside - and to many within who have taken the time to look hard and honestly - the US looks very different. I'm going to try to show you as gently as I can, but please recognise, I'm basically a confrontational person, so if I slip, you'll have to cope.
US movies, computers, books, television, drugs, science, etc. are as a whole entertaining, enlightenting, and improving the quality of life for a bunch of people all over the world.
Carrying with them US culture, and sometimes swamping local industries. Bringing, also, US incarnations of social problems, and US shapes of living which are alien and threatening. Understand, many of the things you refer to are mistrusted by huge groups within the US. Why should it be different elsewhere? But you cannot prevent those things from entering you country - the US is adamant about that. Penalties will apply.
Drug companies are not philanthropic organisations. The prices they set are often beyond poorer countries, and when their patents (long in profit) are violated, the US government swiftly steps in to prosecute. When they permit cheaper dispersal, it is often with outdated drugs. The third world has been used as a testing ground, too, for untested products. All this and more has been documented in recent months by US news agencies.
US movies, TV, and books, are not generally considered 'enlightening' within or without the US. Examples of the more gross US distortions of history are 'U-571' and 'Saving Private Ryan', both of which foster the US perception that the US was the major player in WWII, and the European nations were just sitting around waiting to be saved. Casualty estimates vary - but the following table gives an idea of why Europe finds that hard to swallow. Remember, many of the survivors are still alive. WWII Casualties
Don't get me started on such gems as 'Lethal Weapon 2', 'The Patriot', and 'Phantom Menace'....
Moving on...
The USA and NATO allies kept the USSR in check.
And in the process, we all did very, very bad things to the rest of the world, for which they quite understandably, hate us. Take, for example, Chile, where a moderate socialist government in the process of major reform was replaced by Pinochet, who tortured his way through much of the population to uphold his government. And who helped him? The boys from Langley, Virginia. And they are apparently quite unrepentent about it. The CIA World Factbook Entry for Chile gives a somewhat slanted summary of history. Read the two side by side, and understand why Chileans do not, as a rule, regard the US as their friend.
That's just one example. I'm afraid there are many, many more. So when you say 'we do not go around, for the most part, and take over anyone who peacefully disagrees with us', I'm afraid much of the world would argue with you.
The Bill of Rights is still the most progressive set of laws in existance, and allows freedoms that most democratic countries have failed to match.
All the more painful, then, that your continued support of oppressive monarchies in the Middle East denies such rights to others. Within the borders of the US, you jealously guard your freedoms. When dealing with other nations, however, the rights of their people are secondary to the US economic and strategic interest.
But more, your Bill of Rights is under seige from within. Check these stories. It is interpreted and re-interpreted to suit the prevailing prejudice.
I think that most of this ill feeling is plain jealousy, and that's sad.
This is the party line, you know. It's the oft-repeated truism which your public officials use to explain away bad feeling levelled at your country. The attacks in September were explained as the actions of a madly prejudiced and violent organisation with no legitimate grievance against a nation of peace. The attacks were ghastly, evil, and stunning. But they were not conducted randomly or out of envy. Chomsky's interview on September 11 is a good starting point for discussion. And whilst it's hard to imagine, from the point of view of someone who believes in the US, that any of the murky doubts about Bush's secondary motivations for the war in Afghanistan might have any truth, the rest of the world sees a nation, and a leader, with no respect for anything beyond the borders of the US.
And these little gems don't help:
From CNN: Bush declares war on the Environment
From ENN: Bush and the Environment
From The Guardian: Bush soft-pedals on allies' human rights violations
And from Human Rights Watch, regarding one of those allies: Chechnya.
Do you see?
There's so much more of this stuff, and none of it's better. There's a book called 'Rogue State' written by an ex-State Department official named Blum, which assesses the US on the terms it uses to look at other nations. The results are not favourable.
The US behaves as if it has a moral mandate. Other nations do not see it that way. Have I touched your certainty?
I hope so. |
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