Planet Earth Unites in Disdain for American Power

The New Zealand Herald [Auckland] ^ | July 12, 2004 | Paul Thomas

[quidnunc]

If a cunningly disguised reconnaissance team from a far-flung galaxy fanned out across the globe, monitoring local media and expressions of public opinion ranging from polls to riots with a view to identifying Planet Earth's unifying creed or cause, they would surely conclude that Earthlings are united only in their disdain for the United States.

Anti-Americanism is now the only "ism" you can get away with in civilised company. Indeed, insofar as civilised company is synonymous with the educated middle class, anti-Americanism is virtually de rigueur.

There are two elements to it: opposition to the political, economic and military juggernaut that is America Inc, and distaste for American popular culture and the American way of life.

The latter often descends to racial stereotyping that portrays Americans as hog-fat, gun-waving simpletons whose wilful ignorance of the outside world is matched only by their bullying arrogance towards it, and whose pious sentimentality co-exists with a reverence for violence.

An irony here is that one of anti-Americanism's gurus, the film-maker and polemicist Michael Moore, is himself a prime example of Slobbus Americanus.

And if he turned his cynical gaze upon himself, Moore would note that his don't-let-the-facts-spoil-the-story assaults on his country and countrymen (his countrywomen are largely spared) have made him, in the American way, extremely rich.

Many of America's critics, whether visceral or intellectual, subscribe to both views, and the strands converge in the accusation of cultural imperialism: that America uses its economic predominance, particularly over the mass media, to impose its debased culture — fast food, pornography, cinematic violence and Britney Spears, on the rest of us.

-snip-

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I think that's absolutely true.

[geopyg]

LOL! You must be my neighbor at the end of the street with the other American Flag on the block.

(Although not on my street - this is true of my town probably. For SURE the county that I live in.)

[broadsword]

Ha haaa! Planet earth unites in sniveling turd-world jealousy.


Eat our American dust, losers!

[Poodlebrain]

"...that America uses its economic predominance, particularly over the mass media, to impose its debased culture — fast food, pornography, cinematic violence and Britney Spears, on the rest of us."

What amazes me is that it is the most liberal faction in America controls the entertainment industry yet somehow conservatives in America are blamed for our so-called cultural imperialism. Even the casual observer should be able to recognize the schism between the entertainment industry and the foreign policy of the United States. Somehow they just skip over this inconsistency when criticizing the U.S.

[television is just wrong]

That's just it. Everybody just takes taking our dollars, but they don't want us. Everybody wants our lifestyle, but not us. Without us, where would they be?

[Beenliedto]

That's just it. Everybody just takes taking our dollars, but they don't want us. Everybody wants our lifestyle, but not us. Without us, where would they be?

That's a very interesting question. Why don't we start by asking the people of Iraq? Perhaps the answers we got would enlighten us.