Why They Hate Us and the Ugly American Abroad
Approaching the World Without Blind Egalitarianism
Jun 9, 2009
At the turn of the century in 1900, Anti-Imperialists like Mark Twain were speaking out against the perceived injustices associated with America’s “March of the Flag.” “I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land,” Twain wrote. In 1958, Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer published The Ugly American. Although fictional, the work represented what Senator J. William Fulbright would call the “arrogance of power” in later years.
American Egalitarianism in the 20th Century
After the horrific 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the deaths of thousands of innocent people, the question often asked was “why do they hate us?” After all, the United States was an egalitarian nation, the best example of Western Democracy that wanted to ensure social justice for the entire world’s oppressed.
The United States entered the First World War to “save the world for Democracy,” according to an April 2, 1917 speech by President Woodrow Wilson. In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt identified “four freedoms” during his State of the Union Address: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from want, and Freedom from fear.
After December 7, 1941, the United States focused entirely on defeating the regimes of Japan and Nazi Germany. This defeat included the complete destruction of political systems that were anathema to democracy and social justice. The victory in 1945, however, ushered in a long period of “Cold War” and presented new challenges.
Conflicting Goals and International Perceptions
Too often American foreign policy was seen by the world as elitist and self-serving. As The Ugly American demonstrated, agents and envoys of the United States were pompous and demeaning. Despite injecting billions of US dollars into post-colonial economies, far too many peoples embraced Communism and saw the United States as an imperial power eager to exploit their resources.
The presidency of Jimmy Carter attempted to correct this by severing ties and support for regimes that relied on secret police, torture, and other practices deemed incompatible with human rights concerns. Nicaragua and Iran were abandoned. Under President Ronald Reagan, Cold Warriors again reasserted an all-out effort to root out Communism and support, through covert action, assisting forces thought to be friendly to democratic ideals.
Why Do They Hate Us?
9/11 was the defining moment of America’s mea culpa. This supreme act of terrorism, a blood lust unthinkable, became the symbol of American reaction to the world’s cry of “Ugly American.” Many answers were posited: U.S. support of Israel; American ignorance of Islam; American corporate exploitation of developing economies.
For Muslims, even secular Muslims as in Turkey, the core concern was American unconditional support of Israel. The plight of the Palestinians, far more reported in the Middle East than in the United States, galvanized support against the “ugly Americans.” President George W. Bush’s Iraqi war merely confirmed these conclusions.
At the same time, most Americans knew very little about Islam. To the credit of President Bush, his administration worked tirelessly after 9/11 to diffuse any backlash against the substantial Islamic population in the U.S. It was also a “teaching moment” on college campuses and in high school classrooms.
The Ugly American Still Exists
The “Ugly American” is every traveler who lands on a foreign shore and disdains the local culture. A Quantas check in representative in Sydney, responding to a respectful and polite North American couple, stated, “you must be Canadians.” How Americans represent the United States in foreign lands translates into the over-used phrase, “good-will Ambassador.”
To win the hearts and minds of millions of people, the U.S. must first answer the question of “why they hate us,” and then proceed to build relationships that supplant decades of mistrust and animosity.
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