US hated?

[Jim Baldauf]

Jon, as so many before him, wondered:
>Can't we say "you are what you do"?<

I am, of course, reminded...
To do is to be.        -Kant
To be is to do.        -Marx
Do-be-do-be-do.   -Sinatra

jb


----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Ford <jonmfordster@hotmail.com>
To: <telebob98@hotmail.com>
Cc: <austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2001 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: US hated?


> Bob sez--
> >and I disagree with your assessment that the USA is hated the world over.
> >I agree we have enemies...but it is not so much, and again I repeat, not
so
> >much for what we do...but (where it exists) because of who we are....and
> >for that, I think we should make no excuses.
> >
> >
>
> Bob-- I'm not a big flag waver, but I am always happy to return to my home
> in Silicon Valley after my travels abroad, where I am often surrounded by
> beggars and starving people (unlike in the US, where we keep these people
> hidden!).Of course, I would like to see my country protected from attacks
> like the WTC. I somehow don't see that much distinction between what we do
> and who we are. Can't we say "you are what you do"? Are the things the US
> does in the world really that laudable? Some are, and some aren't.
>
> I saw an interesting program on 60 minutes last night featuring lower and
> upper class Pakistanis and their offspring, all of whom are eager to get
> into Harvard or Yale. The lower class Pakistani kids were beating stuffed
> dummies of Bush and Cheney with big sticks; clearly they weren't too
bullish
> on the USA. The upper class Pakistani elders all claimed to love the US
and
> its open,material, consumerist culture-- some had studied here and were
> eager to have their kids study here. Some were truly international, seeing
> the US as a second home. Their kids (at least the ones interviewed) were
> critical of the US and stated that they had a "soft spot for Bin
> Laden"--ie., they see that he does have a few points in relation to US
> Policy--even though he is a vicious terrorist. Go figure! Even some of the
> affluent adults admitted to being pissed off at the US foreign policy,
which
> started off training the Taliban to be warriors against Communism and then
> abandoned the playing field, now coming back hard and heavy-- but a few
> years too late. So I thought this was a kind of a world picture in
> miniature-- affluent people around the world admire the US, hoping to get
> into some of the wealth and success we have going for us ( hey, I could go
> for some of that stuff myself!), and, depending on how liberal their
values,
> they marvel at our freedom from the kind of stultifying,lethal,
reactionary
> morality you see in Afghanistan. Younger people and especially the poor
> don't admire the US as much as they once did (although the situation may
be
> different in Panama and Costa Rica--those places are fairly dependent on
the
> US).But I would say generally it's what we do in the world theater, ie,
our
> foreign policy, that makes us disliked among many people in many parts of
> the world. The war on terrorism, I would say, is not going to do much to
> turn that around-- in fact, it may lose us many of the friends we have in
> the Third World. Is that the Machievelian way? Well, perhaps-- but I doubt
> if it's going to be very successful in the long run. After we've killed
Bin
> Laden and blown away the Taliban, what next?
>
> Jon
>
>
>
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