why is this never talked about in major media interviews...

[toddzilla]

Even the most outspoken critics of the BFEE never seem to mention the root causes of terrorism, or how we could possibly change foriegn policy to stop creating animosity towards the US. I know kucinich touches on this a little, but i want to hear some hard-hitting stuff about all the shit we've done and how 9-11 etc. is blowback from decades of treating the world like shit in general.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. It's never talked about because. . . .

. . . .any criticism of America is TREASON in these current times.

Any criticism of American policy, American actions, American corporations, American business, American anything, is not tolerated.

America never does anything wrong. America is perfect.

They hate us for our freedom, don'tcha know? :puke:


Tansy Gold, who apologizes for her bitter sarcasm.

[Ohio Dem]

2. Yeah. Al Franken nailed this in his book.

Conservatives, says Franken, love America like a 4-year-old loves her mommy. Mommy can't do anything wrong in the eyes of the 4-year-old, and anybody who says "bad things" about her are bad.

Liberals love America like an adult loves another adult. We realize that nobody is perfect and work to fix things that are wrong in the "relationship."

If there is a problem (won't put the toilet seat down or constantly pissing off the rest of the world, resulting in things like 9-11), then we want to address it. Conservatives, on the other hand, read any remarks that don't portray their mother (the USA) as perfect as treasonous.

So, to recap: They think like 4-year-olds, and we're all grown up.

[radiclib]

3. Franken deals with this

in his new book. Basically, as soon as you ask "Why do they hate us?" or try to get at "root causes", you'll be shouted down as "taking their side" or "making excuses" or knee-jerk crap of that ilk.
This is why a vital voice like Noam Chomsky goes largely unheard. He's seen as king of the "Blame America First" crowd, and even otherwise brilliant purveyors of sanity like Joe Conason find him "irritating."
America's refusal to look in a mirror is insanely childish and tragic.

[fabius]

10. I don't find Chomsky the least bit irritating.

It's infuriating to read his work because of what it reveals. But that's not his fault. The truth hurts.

[Sperk]

4. Oh it is talked about....

they are BAD
we are GOOD
they HATE us because we are FREE
they are religious FANATICS
white hats
black hats
etc., etc.

does that just about clear things up?

[ewagner]

5. I was shouted down

as a "blame America firster (thank you Rush Limbaugh for arming these morans with that phrase) when I mentioned in the days immediately after 9/11 that there should be a two-pronged attack on terror:

1. Find and punish whoever planned and assisted in the hijackings, and;
2 Find the root cause for hatred and deal with it in an honest and diplomatic way.

Bushies version of (2) above was to hire a PR firm to produce those god-awful commercials of Islam in the United States....

[ClintonTyree]

6. Pax Americana....................

The entire world has to be just like US. No other opinions, religions or forms of government will be tolerated. The entire world is our plaything and are subserviant to US. Get out of line, deviate from the program and you're inviting a shitstorm of woe on yourself.

[toddzilla]

8. chomsky and howard zinn

Its amazing how far removed from rational thought we have become.

[laura888]

13. why not give these guys a news/talk show...

... like O'Reilly?

This would REALLY educate America!

I LOVE Howard Zinn!

[sandnsea]

7. They hate us for our freedoms

You couldn't possibly have missed the cause of terrorism, could you?

They hate, they've been indoctrinated to hate us and there isn't anything we can do about it. That's the propaganda of the day and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[fabius]

9. This problem has been around for years.

The current media whores and the Repuglians are just the extrapolation of the worst tendencies of the last 50 years.

In the 1960's it was Cuba and then Vietnam.

In the 1970's it was Cambodia, Chile, and Commies all over the world.

In the 1980's it was more Commies, Grenada, fearsome Nicaraguans, and evil Panamanians.

In the 1990's Iraq the new arch-enemy.

And Serbs which at least Clinton didn't try to represent as getting ready to invade the US at least.

Isn't it interesting how there's always an enemy available when you need one.

The release of classified documents from 30 and more years ago is starting to shed light on the darkness of our overseas machinations. And it isn't a pretty sight. Those of us who have known about this stuff for a long time can at least rejoice that it's going to get some publicity.

[Clete]

11. There is the American exploitation of third world nations

in the entire last century and diplomatically nothing has changed. The big flaw of American diplomacy is that we must only act in America's interest no matter, what even if our actions devastate other nations. We never apologize. We never make amends unless there is an ulterior motive behind it.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. It just doesn't fly here.

The honest truth is that most Americans just don't care what anyone else thinks about us. Whatever happens, it must be their fault, because we're here, and they're not.

They are jealous of us, and hate us because we are rich and free. How dare anyone suggest that we might be just a wee bit arrogant and inconsiderate of their insignificant feelings.

Those of us relatively few Merkins who have actually travelled outside the borders and met those greasy furriners have found that they are remarkably like us, generally appreciate the favorable image of the US that they have, and are very pleasant to be around. This is, amazingly enough, also true of most Arabs, and even the French.

It is invariably the actions of indvidual Americans doing something incomparably rude, or the government doing something vicious that gives them pause over their usual good will toward us.

But, try to convince someone who hasn't been any further than Atlantic City of that.

[spooky3]

14. I think that part of the problem

is that most people don't know what the government has done overseas or feel that they have any control over it.