Why do People Hate America?

Why do people hate America?  That's the question Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies try to answer in their book by that name.  This is by no means and easy question, unless you are George W Bush and think that people simply hate us for our freedom.  I don't expect that there aren't people who do hate us for our freedom, but I doubt that number is very big.

The book is not ground-breaking by any means.  I've heard many of the arguments before, in fact the book Banana contained plenty of reasons though it wasn't the purpose of the book.  The basic reasons deal with US intervention in global politics through CIA assassinations, wars, and other events to manipulate markets.  There's also the ever present American culture that has infiltrated almost every corner of the world via Mc Donald's and Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay films.  Together these two things build resentment for the US outside the country.  The citizens of other countries feel the cards are stacked against them politically and economically.  This political/economical war is put into action by a variety of ways.  Some of the most prominent are sanctions and war/assassination.

American culture pervades the world.  I haven't been outside the US, but I am aware I can find a McDonald's pretty much everywhere.  On top of that, there's our media that is exported.  This comes in the form of film and television.  Television is important to note, because all of the production costs are made in the sales to the US/Canadian markets, everything else is pure profit.  This allows the companies to sell American shows at a low rate undercutting the local programming.  Local shows have a more difficult time competing for airtime and ad revenue.  The locals slowly become americanized.

In the political/economic war that exists out the, the locals have virtually no control over what happens.  That's a tragedy, because in that state we all become pawns for other people.  When it comes to media and fast-food, I think it's a different story.  People become surrounded by a culture that is not their own and they begin to lose connection to the culture they were brought up in.  I think the first issue is certainly a no-brainer.  The second is a little more complicated.  Granted that people can't completely control the economic fortunes of their country and viewing shows from our country might be cheaper.  The simple fact is that nobody has really forced many of these nations to accept the Film/TV and fast-food and people can still vote with their dollars.  The exceptions would be places like Jamaica where our food is so subsidized that it's cheaper to import food from the US than to buy the local food.  The problem is that it weakens the local economy.

Overall I thought the book was interesting and not a waste of time.  I can't believe this is the best book on the subject.  I found that 211 pages is way too short to tackle the weighty issues that it attempts.  I found the facts lacking.  The authors share plenty of historical facts about our intervention in other nation's affairs.  I think that some statistics to support the claims about hatred regarding American media and the like would have been helpful.  I'd also like to see some data on the opinions held in the nations.  Without that data, the books amounts to what I call folk-wisdom.  I don't have the means to verify all the fact either, but it appears they got it wrong when it comes to Mohammed Modaddeq.  In the book the authors state he was killed by the CIA in the 1950's, but the man didn't die until 1967 at the age of 84.  I hope that the other facts are not as inaccurate, but this does affect some of the credibility of the authors somewhat.

Another issue I had with the book was that it used the TV show Alias and the famed wester Shane to serve as analogies for America.  The analogies may be fitting, but I've never seen a minute of Alias and I haven't seen Shane since I was ten (and I don't think I ever saw the whole movie either).  In a book of this nature and with the lofty goals, I'd rather have the facts and not toy with stupid TV shows and Films to advance the plot of the book.  I only think it's appropriate when the show directly correlates with the books mission.  I understood what the connection was supposed to be, but the execution was poor and provided insufficient meat.

The book does outline many of the issues well.  It fails to really present a better solution.  While identifying problems is important in working toward a solution, the book is barren when it comes to solutions.  I think it's even barren when it comes to the causes.  The authors the historical events well, but fail to provide the context very well.  On top of that, they fail to even attempt to offer any deeper insight into the "Whys".  I'd like to see more theories and analysis of why the US did something or acts a certain way in given situations.  With that there are no practical solutions either.  Granted the book is meant to be about why people hate us, but I think an alternative and a realistic way to get would be helpful and make the book more worthwhile.

Honestly, who's going to read this book besides me?  Nobody, at least not the people who should.  The title is not approachable and would likely turn off the folks who need to read it, or something like it.  I agree with the general premise that we in the US are responsible for much of the hostility we face from people of other nations.  I don't think this is the best book on the topic.  I don't know what else is out there, but I have to believe there's a better book that this one.