Why do they hate us?
I can't explain this. Transferance from their powerlessness to deal with corrupt, US-backed regimes, perhaps.
Like many non-Americans, I appreciate America for what it has given the world. Things like fusion of African and European culture (blues, jazz, rock, funk etc.), individual freedoms, female emancipation, and perhaps the most important thing, rewarding non-conformity (creativity). We'll forget about Tang for the moment...
However (there always is this bit), what America seems to have difficulty with is understanding that the projection of their power around the world causes resentment. Let me give you a very small example from Canada. It is almost impossible for a Canadian produced film (not the cross-border US-film-shot-in-Toronto type) to gain distribution in Canada. Why? Because the distributors and cinemas are American-owned and prefer to deal exclusively (or nearly so) with Hollywood productions. Unless you are an Atom Egoyan or David Cronenberg, you won't be seen in the box office.
This is only a small example and it is being dealt with by "levelling the playing field" cultural subsidies. It doesn't cause widespread resentment because it doesn't affect many people's political/economic rights. I suspect that when the projection of America's power does interfere with the political or economic rights or opportunities of the individual, this is when they begin to hate America and Americans.
All that being said, I can't bring myself to take Chretien's position that it is poverty alone that causes terrorism. I think it is powerlessness. There are a lot of countries with rampant poverty and minimal if any terrorism.
Perhaps the countries you mentioned, Canuckistan, Kiwi and Oz were lucky we were run by the Poms for so long. Where are the British colonial administrators when you need them? Maybe they could sort out Iraq if they were given a second chance.
Enough for now.
HA |
