Why people hate America

¶ … People Hate America?

At the heart of this book seems to be not so much why people actually hate America, but how the American people are not as in tune with the reality of life in other countries as they claim to be. The book joins others of its kind that are an indication of how the American people must start demanding access to more reliable information about the world that exists outside of their country's borders. Many of these kinds of books address issues such as the alleged abuse of secrecy that is taking place in the government and the disgrace that is the current media in America today. There are several important points made by the book that must be addressed and understood by the American public, the authors say, if the country is to restore freedom of the press, true democracy, and American values in the foreign policy, which many believe has been basically hijacked by allegedly-conservative interests on a corporate level.

In 1775, Dr. Samuel Johnson said that 'patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.' He made this statement right before the United States revolted against the tyranny of the British. The authors point out a similar issue, and state that when patriotism is used for the 'wrong' reasons, such as suppressing dissent, committing war crimes in the name of the country, and demanding blind obedience, then the meaning of patriotism has been completely lost.

According to what the authors of the book have to say, others that suggest that other countries hate us for our rich cultural heritage, the freedoms that we have, and the success of our economy, are completely wrong. Instead, they argue, most people in America today actually do not have any idea how much difference there is between the American perception of its goodness and the rest of the world's perception of America's badness.

The authors also state that a language dies every couple of weeks. There are, of course, many differing figures regarding how many active languages are still in existence today, but it is generally assumed that there are between 3,000 and 5,500. Regardless of how many languages are left, however, the point that the authors make, if true, is very significant. Language is designed to be the most important representation of a unique and distinctive culture which is suited ideally to its environment. It has generally flourished in that environment for hundreds of years, and then issues begin to come up that causes it to flourish no longer.

There are several things that can cause this, such as English-speaking people moving in and displacing the language, city planning and development moving in and displacing everything in its path, including indigenous people and their languages, and other concerns such as various American policies that eliminate choices that people can make about what language they speak, read, and write in. Many individuals that speak these dying languages do not read, and they do not have their languages written down anywhere. Because of this, the language dies with the people as it is spoken less and the population of that indigenous group dwindles down to nothing.

The authors of the book also indicate that they believe America to be out of control in that those that pay taxes and vote are actually uninformed. They are very articulate in expressing this opinion and showing how those that give their hard-earned money to take care of this country actually know surprisingly little about what goes on in it. This is unfortunate, but it appears to be the status quo and has been for some time, making it difficult to change things now. One of the best quotes from the book comes when the authors are discussing this lack of true information that Americans receive. The authors say, "And the power of the American media, as we repeatedly argue, works to keep American people closed to experience and ideas from the rest of the world and thereby increases the insularity, self-absorption, and ignorance that is the overriding problem the rest of the world has with America."

The authors also indicate that there is a strong overseas impact from America and the way that the country is operated. Some call it the 'hamburger virus' and consider it to be a pathological virus that comes as a package. This alleged 'hamburger culture' is unfortunately working to eradicate many of the indigenous cultures that are all over the globe. Often, decades later, it is realized that those now-eradicated cultures had thrived because they were very well-suited to their environment. It is argued that the 'hamburger culture' believes that everyone can afford cars to drive once big cities are built and roads are paved, that all electricity will lead to air conditioning and comfort, and when that does not happen, ethnic problems and poverty become commonplace.

Another important point that these authors make is that the United States is a manifestation of the 'eighth crusade.' They see the 'seventh crusade' as Christopher Columbus and how the American Indians were destroyed. They also address the Catholic edicts that have been handed down from the Pope as well as various Kings and Queens, who declared that anyone that was incapable of speaking their language was a savage and could/should be enslaved. While Americans generally think that their country is the best, the rest of the world often does not see it that way. Much of the world views America as culturally oppressive and a force that is working to enslave local economies and local governments so that the wealthy elite that live in that country can benefit from that. By doing this, the culture also demotes, demeans, and destroys the balance with nature and the balance of power that is so very important to other individuals that were caught unaware by the American culture.

In short, the authors state that: The American people are uninformed about the rest of the world, they are actually not in charge of their foreign policy, and things done in the name of every American are having a detrimental effect throughout the rest of the world, which will eventually come back to haunt America. How much of the authors' claims are true, however, is up for debate. There are certainly those that would agree 100% with the authors, and those that would think they had no idea what they were talking about. Many Americans, upon reading this book, would likely say that they fell somewhere in the middle of those beliefs, provided that they approached the book with an open mind. Some, though, would see the book as unpatriotic and therefore 'wrong,' no matter what the evidence shows.

Despite the fact there are some factual errors in the book and political-correctness runs rampant through some of the ideas that are presented in it, the book is still very illuminating if individuals that read it are open to what it has to say. Since the book is written from outside the general sphere of American influence, it is much different than what might have been written by the 'typical American.' Most Americans did not even understand the concept that anyone could hate America until 9/11 took place, but the animosity that caused the attacks on that day has been building up in other countries for many decades. Most Americans just did not realize that, because they, overall, have a lack of knowledge regarding the 'outside world' that has bred a belief that all is well. That belief is shaken when the truth is realized and they discover that there are many countries that wish America did not exist.

The President often argues that other countries hate America because of the freedoms that the American people enjoy. However, the authors and others argue that this is not the case. Instead, the countries that hate America do this for reasons that they consider legitimate and very important. There are still Americans that believe innocence was lost on 9/11, but the authors argue that the country did not have innocence to lose. There are diverse and deep roots that are involved with the worldwide animosity that is directed toward America, and the authors of the book are careful to be realistic and informative as they outline and discuss those roots, showing where the problems began and where they still lie.

For example, the authors state that America spends too much time and energy involving itself in military interventions in various parts of the world, including having a very closed-minded partisanship in the Middle East for 50 years. In addition, third-world nations have, in many cases, been reduced to a life of basic economic servitude through the IMF and the WTO, which the authors call puppets. The 'free' trade conditions that were established between America and these third-world countries actually only work to ensure that the American goods have free movement, but they do not take the other countries' goods and services into account from a free trade perspective.

The authors go on to say that America has also forced their extreme versions of free capitalism and true democracy on the rest of the world, including into many places where those concepts really do not work. The American corporations that move into those areas control what food is eaten as well as grown there, and the conglomerates in the media bury most of the native culture of these other places under a strong onslaught full of American entertainment.

The authors, Sardar and Davies, address all of these issues with insight and research. The chapters in which they address culture very strongly, however, become somewhat repetitive and almost whiny on occasion. However, the authors are not saying that everyone has to agree with everything that they say. Even without agreeing with them completely, it is very easy to see that there are good reasons why many people do not like America, despite the fact that a lot of other people do like the country and what it stands for.

For those people who love to 'bash' the United States, this book will quite likely be exactly what they are looking for. Some see the book as being only a rant against everything that most Americans hold dear, such as the television news media, capitalism, movies, McDonald's, the military, and countless other 'American' things. For those that love America, this book might be a bit harder to take. There are many people who believe that their country is perfect, and they turn a blind eye to anything that would indicate otherwise. This book must be read with an open mind if it is to be understood and valued for what it is.

For those that hate America, this book will likely make them hate it all the more. For those that love America and are very devoted to their country, there is little that could be said to change their minds, regardless of the facts and regardless of the persuasiveness of the argument that was made. There are many that still feel as though America is hated because it is powerful and rich, and other countries are not. People in many other countries live under the misguided opinion that all people in America are rich and can buy everything that they want and need. They fail to understand that there are poor people in every country, no matter what the government is like or how wonderful everything in that country seems to be.

Another argument against this type of book is that other countries do not like America because they cannot be like America. In other words they assume that, because all Americans are rich and powerful and buy whatever they want, they should be jealous of America. The government in America, because it is rich and powerful, often intimidates people and sometimes resorts to simply using brute force so that it can accomplish whatever it feels that it wants to do. Other countries wish that they could do that as well, and so that hate America out of a misguided sense of jealousy and resentment.

Those that believe in this argument would state that socialist countries are socialist because they have failed at capitalism, but yet they do not blame themselves. Instead, they blame America. They turn the idea of success into evidence of a crime and the idea of failure into a proof of virtue. The see that, because America is rich, the rest of the world must be poor, and that there would not be violence in the world if the American military would simply stop meddling in the affairs of other countries.

People that live in other countries, such as Korea for example, see America much differently than Americans do. In 1945, Korea was a colony of Japan, and the atomic bombs that America dropped made it into a free country, but only through brute force. Prior to that year, Japan required that Koreans change their names to Japanese names, stop using the Korean language, and require their young women to provide sexual services for the Japanese military. Today, America is both loved and hated by the Korean people. The reasons behind this are complex, though, and cannot simply be explained because of the bombings that took place many years ago.

It is also pointed out that the hatred that many people in other countries feel for America is not new, and in many cases it is not without some merit. The question, though, is whether books such as this one lend anything new to the argument of why America is hated by others and whether anything can - and ever will - be done to change that. Since the book was written in 2002, it has not been that long since the authors voiced their opinions. The longer the war in Iraq drags on, however, the more that America will be applauded by some and hated by others, depending on one's feelings toward the war.

Others that have authored books that are along the same lines as this one sometimes come to other conclusions as to why the country is hated by so many others around the world. For example, some feel as though the American strength, and hence its problem for many, is that the lifestyle and culture of America are extremely dominant throughout the world. When people are given the choice, they buy American clothes, watch American movies, listen to American music, and eat at restaurants like McDonalds.

While the book is interesting, it is also significant to point out that the authors really did not do that much research. They talk about many, many movies in the book and use them as comparison. Unfortunately, they do not really analyze what they do find that thoroughly, making some of their points difficult to verify. However, there is still value to this book, even with what appears to be a clearly anti-American bias. Some of the information that the authors offer is also contradictory. They talk of how Americans have no real understanding of other nations and other cultures, but then they also talk about how Americans have been generally very successful in exporting both items and ideas to these other cultures. Doing this would be next to impossible without at least some understanding of the culture.