The reason why the terrorists hate the US? In 1953, the CIA decided that the prime minister of Iran, a dude named Mossadegh, was getting too friendly with the Soviets. So they, the CIA in general and in particular a guy with the odd name of Kermit Roosevelt (yes, he was related), went in there and killed him, and installed the Shah as their puppet dictator. Well, the Shah later tried to Westernize Iran, and went too far, and got toppled, and the guy who ended up running things was one of the revolutionary leaders (the Shah had exiled anybody who didn't like him, and communists were there as well as religious parties) was the Ayatollah, who vowed to create a one world Islamic state and destroy America once and for all. As Iranian radicals go, probably the only guys who were weirder than him were the ones who wanted a Stalinist state in Iran. So the Ayatollah financed Islamic radicalism everywhere in the world, and set to work radicalizing the world's Muslims to further world Islamic revolution. Now the beast is out of anyone's control, and threatens to devour Iran too.
Anyway, America has made assorted boneheaded foreign policy decisions like that ever since WW2, and gotten tons of people mad at us. For many years the CIA was a state within a state, and not even the President had effective control over them, the CIA Cowboys did as they wished and it was the President's job to agree. The true reality of this has been buried for so long over here that most Americans have zero clue that in their name the CIA toppled anybody who they didn't like and installed far right wing dictators in their places.
An especially ridiculous coup came in 1954, when the democratic leader of Guatemala was killed because he'd had the guts to tell the US-run fruit company that controlled the place to take a hike, and the CEO called in the CIA attack dog and ordered his CIA buddies to get rid of the guy giving them static. 50 years of games like this eventually led Cuba into the arms of Fidel Castro, and the old guard still hasn't forgiven the Cubans for dumping them, not even Obama dares to lift the embargo.
As an American, I tend to find Americans rather egotistical and jingoistic, perhaps the result of 60 years of anticommunist indoctrination and self-esteem training. They tend to be rather insular, and have little knowledge of the outside world. Few Americans own shortwave radios, and few bother to check the websites of foreign news outlets like the BBC regularly, even I don't. Shortwave radios are not widely available here. The media is strictly controlled, and as I said most Americans don't check foreign sources.
The main source of "news" in the US is fast becoming opinion blogs, with a blog to reinforce every viewpoint, resulting in people regurgitating extreme viewpoints that are taken as fact without question because it was seen on the net. Many young Americans watch fake comedic "newscasts" such as The Daily Show as well, and often can't tell the difference between jokes and reality. Other than that, the news departments of TV stations take a backseat to entertainment and talk programs beamed in via satellite, and what is there is mostly shock value programming, car chases and gruesome murders. Newspapers are closing because nobody reads them. There's virtually no news in the US beyond that.
Major cities have all news stations, which rely heavily on blood and splash programming. Everywhere else has a little radio news mixed in with syndicated talk, mainly far right wing hosts who love to hear themselves babble and who hang up on anyone who doesn't agree with them. All other radio stations play music. There are no state run networks. Most magazines focus on gossip or housekeeping techniques. Current events books are written by talk hosts, and bookstores are going out of business because nobody buys books. Americans have little clue what goes on in the world beyond syndicated opinions and rumor mills. It's very much like the old Soviet Union, except without an underground press.
25 Jan 2009, 1:51 pm
