More from Lileks
Posted by John Moser
At the risk of turning this blog into a James Lileks fan club, I call your attention to his most recent web column. One quote struck me as particularly interesting:
"Sometimes I think the reason America is so despised in some quarters is that we fail to live up to other peoples’ worst expectations."
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At the risk of sounding as though Im picking on Mr. Moser, the woeful ignorance of the Lileks quote compels me to respond.
In a single smarmy statement, Mr. Lileks manages to dismiss the failures of U.S. Foreign Policy, the double standards that the US applies to other nations, our cultural arrogance and our one-sided support for Israel. Instead, according to Mr. Lileks, all of those silly little Muslims (and everyone else, for that matter) must hate us because we arent the monsters they want us to be. Yeah, right...
Even after the reprehensible crime that was 9-11, most Americans (Mr. Lileks included) STILL dont get it. Instead of using that event as an opportunity to reevaluate our role in the world, most Americans dismissed the attacks as "senseless" or "mindless." In doing so, they lost sight of the context out of which such hatred could flow.
Folks, all of the bombing or Iraqi regime changes in the world is not going to change a thing when it comes to the contempt that much of the world has for the U.S. Unfortunately, attitudes expressed by folks like Mr. Lileks only insure that things are going to become much, much worse. As an American who loves his country, this makes me incredibly sad.