· Chapter
2 : WHY DO PEOPLE HATE AMERICA ?
America's rules of the World affects directly and indirectly the
lives of every individual, community and nation.
In order to understand why people hate America,
let us consider the USA's way of life, economic system, military interventions
and at last its policy.
· A)The
American way of life
George Ritzer11(*), argues that American culture has acquired too much
power in the process of replicating itself in the rest of the World. He even
compares American culture to a virus. In fact there is hardly a place in the
World where one can not get a hamburger12(*). The hamburger is a particular source of hatred of
America. It has spread standardisation throughout the world, and places USA's
own values on a global pedestal. America even relates to the rest of the World
in terms of double standards, hence the reason why America is hated.
American fast-food, music, films infect the
culture of other nations, that focus their efforts on imitating the USA's
films. This pattern of replication stifles native creativity. The
« virus » of American culture and lifestyle replicates so
readily because it is founded on a promise of abundance. And given the fact
that so many people like their lifestyle, it is no surprise that Americans feel
that their way is the best and the only way. People are so blinded by the
American that they do not even realize they have lost their free will, they
only adapt. Some nations are so bombarded with Americans films, that to survive
their film industry starts to ape Hollywood, and their industry almost dies.
Our world which is dominated by « free market » is also a
world under tutelage of American culture. Some countries like France are
determined to protect their culture. In fact, as Claude Ossard13(*) said « it will
be suicidal for France not to protect its cultural products ».
But if France has enough power to protect its culture, some countries can
not. In a way American-led globalisation seeks to replace other culture with
theirs. Of course, there are always exceptions to general rules. The Iranian
film industry has thrived largely because Hollywood products are not allowed
into the country. In agriculture, José Bové14(*) is opposed to the practice of
feedings hormones to cattle to artificially speed up their growth. The
Americans use this practice and flood France as well as other countries with
their law price meat. So it cause the bankcruptcy of local agriculture, in fact
local produces become marginalised at worst totally suppressed. In general,
given the dominance of the USA, local cultures acquire the image of
inferiority. In other words, the production of indigenous culture acquires the
sense of backwardness. American-led globalisation decimates the cultures of the
World, however they resolutely refuse to open their doors to anything foreign.
Continued evasion can only result in more hatred abroad and more retaliation at
home.
According to Steeve Fuller15(*), it will be wrong to think American-led globalisation
as a form of cultural imperialism. The idea of cultural imperialism implies a
much more planned and directed impact on the native culture16(*). It would mean that people are
told or forced to give up their traditional customs and adopt Western ones.
However it is not at all that happens, because the people themselves play an
important role in the spreading of American culture. To make it clear, Fuller
compares the « Mc Donaldisation » of the World to their
military strength. In fact their military strength is used to deter foe
countries to fight them, while they never forced no one to adopt their way of
life. However, Fuller does not acknowledge the proliferation of burgers has had
all the same devastating effect on the World. The natives adopt the practices
of American culture.
* 11 Professor of sociology
and the author of The Mc Donaldization of society.
* 12 The hamburger so Mc
Donald is a metaphor for American way of life and corrosive influence in the
world.
Like the hamburger, the idea of A merica has a number of
ingredients : there is the most powerful government on Earth and the
influence of its policy on countries and people beyond America ; there is
the enormous power of US corporations that their invests outside ; the
American view that put forward individualism.
* 13 Producer of the
Oscar-nominated « Amelie Poulin »
* 14 co-author of The
world is not for sale.
* 15 An A merican Academic who
occupies the chair of sociology at the University of Warwick.
* 16 Ideological
warfare.
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