Why Do People Hate America?

Why Do People Hate America?, Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies, The Disinformation Company Ltd., 2002

This book attempts to answer what has become a very important question since that day in September 2001.

To say that they hate our freedom and diversity is overly simplistic. To say that they hate America's one-sided support for Israel, or our support for regimes not democratically elected, like in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, is closer to the truth, but still an easy answer.

They hate the destruction of their economies through the American-controlled International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Before any money is loaned, a country must agree to a long list of changes to their economy. For instance, they must eliminate subsidies for domestic agriculture, eliminate tariffs on imports, sell state industries to the highest bidder, cut public spending and crush independent labor unions. To take one example, eliminating tariffs on agricultural imports will cause the country to be flooded with cheaper (usually American) agricultural products, driving local farmers out of business, and forcing them to the already overcrowded cities in search of work.

America talks a lot about "free trade" and "open markets," but the trade is free in only one direction. While foreign markets are open to American products, sometimes by force, America can put up all the barriers it wants to prevent foreign products from reaching the domestic market.

They hate the destruction of their culture by Hollywood. American shows are dumped, in package deals, on other countries at very cheap prices. The production values make local TV look amateurish by comparison. Multi-national companies, like Coca-Cola or Philip Morris, are going to advertise on American shows, so those shows will be aired instead of locally produced shows. Hollywood movies flood other countries to the point where local productions have a hard time reaching the local public. When is the last time that any foreign movies or TV (except Britain) were widely available in America?

Among other things that they hate about America is that it thinks and acts like it's the center of the universe, and that the average American makes absolutely no attempt to understand other cultures.

This book easily reaches the level of Wow. It's very clearly written and even I learned a lot from it. Why do people hate America? This does an excellent job at answering that very question.