Does
America
Deserve to Be Hated?
By Stephen Dinan
In
our cocoon of flag-waving patriotism, it is easy to protect ourselves from
the harsher truth of the moment:
America
has too much power in the world and it is not wielding it with wisdom. We
are playing God with other countries, wrecking havoc environmentally, and
siphoning as many resources as possible from the developing world. We
have the largest military budget to protect our "assets," while we
spend the lowest per capita on development aid of any advanced nation.
We have over 700 military bases in more than 100 countries. We are
aggressively self-interested.
We are, in short, an empire. And not a particularly benevolent one.
I know it's hard to stomach this. It's much easier to wave the
flag, sing patriotic tunes, and wax poetic about the American dream.
Everyone wants to be the good guy. But, at the moment on the world stage,
we are not.
America HAS been an extraordinary catalyst for the world at times. We
have led boldly. We've played the heroic savior, such as during
World War II. I don't want to deny positive credit for what our
country has done, from laying foundations for democracy to advancing
women's rights to propelling technological revolutions. We do
deserve kudos and there are ALWAYS individual Americans who carry the
torch of greatness with grace.
But we cannot look only to the past or to individual heroism. We
must look at the big picture of the moment and the scene is not pretty.
We are running the world like a petty tyrant, demanding allegiance
and obedience, punishing those who disagree with us, and conquering in the
name of greed. Our leaders lie often and egregiously. Our populace
is fattened with gluttony and sedated by hours of TV. Our political
system has become increasingly corrupt and our cherished rights
undermined. Our media is increasingly a tool for propaganda.
As a country, we have outpaced the rest of the world in terms of power.
This essentially makes us the world's dictator - we can dictate
what happens and when. Benevolent dictators are a rare breed and
America
is showing that even a nation founded on noble principles can, upon
assuming the reins of unchecked power, become addicted to that power,
addled by it, and march towards tyranny.
Inasmuch as
America
is becoming a tyrannical empire, perhaps we do deserve some of the
world's hatred of us.
Hate is a reflection of positive life force being thwarted. It is
like fire, directed at whatever holds back the next stage of growth.
For the planet as a whole,
America
is now the single biggest barrier to world peace and healthy development.
It's the single biggest threat to the environment. Put simply,
America
is the greatest threat to life on this planet. And we are showing
few signs of using our power for collective benefit.
We now wield the power of the patriarch in the family, but operate with
the moral code of the teenager. Our power has grown faster
than our sense of compassion and this disconnect creates suffering. As
a country, we take as much money as possible from the rest of the world,
spend it lavishly on ourselves, and use our military, CIA, and FBI to
quash dissent both internally and externally, even using torture, while
also engaging in wars of unilateral aggression.
Most foreigners are too generous with
America
right now, preferring to blame our government and not our people. Of
course, some go to the extreme of turning hate into actual violence, which
I do not support or advocate. But I do think outrage, disgust, and
disapproval towards the American people is warranted, if only as a spur
for us to wake up. It seems to be the only thing that can burst our
self-congratulatory bubble.
If we really feel the hate of the world, we are gradually forced to shift
our understanding of ourselves: in what ways are we no longer the
world's hero but the world's exploiter? How have we become a
tyrant among nations? Are we leading the way in addressing the most
serious problems or are we making them worse?
These are important questions for us to ask in order to grow into true
adulthood as a country and fulfill the promise of our noble ideals. The
world cannot passively wait for us to make this shift: the stakes are too
high for us to be the petulant king on the hill.
The true king rules in service to the kingdom, not himself. A true king
lays down clear tracks towards democratic governance. A true father
in a family makes the first and greatest sacrifices.
Right now,
America
does none of these.
America
needs to go through a profound maturation and the only way to do so is by
facing the truth - the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It
means seeing through the lies of our government. It means demanding
democracy. It means dismantling power structures that have been
corrupted. It means taking the reins of power from those who cannot
wield them with wisdom. It means repealing the Patriot Act and dismantling
the war machine. It means creating an empowered citizenry and doing so
fast.
If it takes the rest of the world's outrage to turn up the fire that
propels us into adulthood, I welcome it. I want
America
to become the glorious leader we are capable of becoming. But the
stench of rotted ideals and corrupted power is strong at the moment and
the forces of self-serving empire grow more entrenched every day. We
need a cleansing that goes far deeper than removing Bush from power.
We need a full transformation.
Nothing less than a humble acknowledgment of our misdeeds, a committed
effort to make reparations, and a generous use of our power for the
collective good will suffice. That will not happen with Bush at the
helm. But it will also not happen with a mere changing of the guard.
The American people themselves need to go through a second
revolution, a revolution of heart and truth resulting in a more mature
relationship with power. We do have the potential, unlike past empires, to
grow beyond decadence and corruption into a nobler destiny. Or, we may
crumble, perhaps financially under massive debt. Or morally. Or
militarily. Empires are brittle and the cracks are already showing in the
armor. The choice is ours about how to proceed.
I believe that
America
needs to use its vast power in the service of leading the world towards
the next stage of peace, sustainability, and prosperity. When we stand in
integrity and loving service in that role, THAT is when
America
will earn the love of the rest of the world. Until then, I suspect
we need to keep turning up the heat.
read other articles by Stephen Dinan in his article archive
