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Author Topic: Rushdie on American Double Standards
audra trower williams
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2

posted 02 September 2002 04:54 PM      Profile for audra trower williams   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
On Sept. 5 and 6 the State Department will host a high-powered conference on anti-Americanism, an unusual step indicating the depth of American concern about this increasingly globalized phenomenon.

The rest of it


From: And I'm a look you in the eye for every bar of the chorus | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
meades
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 625

posted 02 September 2002 08:40 PM      Profile for meades     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I have a few issues with this.

First, I think the line

quote:
More seriously,
anti-Americanism can be contradictory: When the United States failed to
intervene in Bosnia, that was considered wrong, but when it did subsequently
intervene in Kosovo, that was wrong too.

Demonstrates a certain shortsightedness in Rushdie's thinking. It's not a matter of intervention or no intervention, it's a matter of when, where, and how to intervene. I'm often tempted to ask people who view politics in these simplistic black and white contexts, and refuse to recognize certain nuances, to join me in high school.

quote:
Anti-Americanism can be
hypocritical: wearing blue jeans or Donna Karan, eating fast food or Alice
Waters-style cuisine, their heads full of American music, movies, poetry and
literature, the apparatchiks of the international cultural commissariat decry the
baleful influence of the American culture that nobody is forcing them to
consume.

I find this smug and ignorant. He's refusing to recognize that the massive corporate structure and money backing American "culture" does have an influence and leads to the errosion of other cultures. This is undeniable. Because of the huge amount of money backing up this consumer culture (which is clearly American dominated), land and advertising space is bought up, and it's shoved in everyone's face (billboards, television advertising, magazine supplements, even urinals for heavan's sake!). This leads to the mainstreming of this American consumer culture in other nations, because it has much more exposure than anything else- and like it or not, most people try to carve out a niche in the mainstreme, not because they "love America", just because it's more common, not to forget it's a lot less effort in most cases. So saying no one's "forcing" us to consume it does not recognize the complexity of the issue. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed by Rushdie, considering all the wonderful things I've heard about him.

quote:
It can be misguided; the logical implication of the Western-liberal
opposition to America's Afghan war is that it would be better if the Taliban
were still in power.

I'd like to question Rushdie's "logic". What a load of crap.

Thank heavan's it got better- I might have been upset with how my time had been wasted. Luckily not.

quote:
In the year's major crisis zones, the Bushies have been getting things badly
wrong. According to a Security Council source, the reason for the United
Nations' lamentable inaction during the recent Kashmir crisis was that the
United States (with Russian backing) blocked all attempts by member states
to mandate the United Nations to act. But if the United Nations is not to be
allowed to intervene in a bitter dispute between two member states, both
nuclear powers of growing political volatility, in an attempt to defuse the
danger of nuclear war, then what on Earth is it for? Many observers of the
problems of the region will also be wondering how long Pakistani-backed
terrorism in Kashmir will be winked at by America because of Pakistan's
support for the "war against terror" on its other frontier. Many Kashmiris will
be angry that their long-standing desire for an autonomous state is being
ignored for the sake of U.S. realpolitik. And as the Pakistani dictator Pervez
Musharraf seizes more and more power and does more and more damage to
his country's constitution, the U.S. government's decision to go on hailing him
as a champion of democracy does more damage to America's already
shredded regional credibility.

I think that's an excellent point with respect to the UN, and the Pakistani administration (though I certainly don't think Pakistan is wholely responsible for Kashmiri conflict- India bears a certain responsability there as well, for starters, being over 50 years late on that promise of a referendum)

quote:
Nor is Kashmir the only South Asian grievance. The massacres in the Indian
state of Gujarat, mostly of Indian Muslims by fundamentalist Hindu mobs,
have been shown to be the result of planned attacks led by Hindu political
organizations. But in spite of testimony presented to a congressional
commission, the U.S. administration has done nothing to investigate
U.S.-based organizations that are funding these groups, such as the World
Hindu Council.

I found this a bit frightening, considering the effort that's been put into loosening civil liberties restraints, and the sour attitude faced by legitimate humanitarian organizations just for conducting operations in certain countries, all so that "America" could "attack those that fund terror". I can't help but wonder if the American administration, from President Bush's cabinet, all the way to Congress, is just downright ignorant, if not incompatent.

quote:
Apparently Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are terrorists who matter; Hindu fanatics and Kashmiri killers aren't. This double standard makes enemies.

Just thought I'd quote this so everyone can see it- I think it's a very important point that a lot of people here have been trying to make, while being ignored or misunderstood.

quote:
In the heat of the dispute over Iraq strategy, South Asia has become a
sideshow. (America's short attention span creates enemies, too.)

heehee

quote:
The entire Arab world would be radicalized and destabilized. What a
disastrous twist of fate it would be if the feared Islamic jihad were brought
into being not by the al Qaeda gang but by the president of the United States
and his close advisers.

Not so funny.

[ September 02, 2002: Message edited by: meades ]


From: Sault Ste. Marie | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
meades
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 625

posted 05 September 2002 11:08 PM      Profile for meades     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
There is a genuine
sense of confusion
amongst many people
here in the US about
why there should be
so much anti-American
feeling worldwide.

The belief, particularly on the right of US
politics, is that the American dream is
something most of the world would aspire to if
they were only free to do so.

That has led to a sustained attempt by the
Bush administration to promote American ideals
and values around the world.


More on the "Anti-Americanism" conference


From: Sault Ste. Marie | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

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