THE TRUTH ABOUT LIBERAL AMERICA-HATRED

From CounterPunch:

The incomparable Ms. Roy says: "What does the term 'anti-American' mean? Does it mean you are anti-jazz or that you're opposed to freedom of speech? That you don't delight in Toni Morrison or John Updike? That you have a quarrel with giant sequoias?" (I'm a tree hugger remember? I don't argue with sequoias.)

When pressed, I sometimes reply: "I don't hate America. In fact, think it's one of the best countries anyone ever stole." But, after the laughter dies down, I have a confession to make: If by "America" they mean the elected/appointed officials and the corporations that own them, well, I guess I do hate that America-with justification.

Among many reasons, I hate America for the near-extermination and subsequent oppression of its indigenous population. I hate it for its role in the African slave trade and for dropping atomic bombs on civilians. I hate its control of institutions like the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization. I hate it for propping up brutal dictators like Suharto, Pinochet, Duvalier, Hussein, Marcos, and the Shah of Iran. I hate America for its unconditional support for Israel. I hate its bogus two-party system, its one-size-fits-all culture, and its income gap. I could go on for pages but I'll sum up with this: I hate America for being a hypocritical white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

Click here for the rest, which includes a fantastic Paul Robeson quote.

This line of thinking has been so obvious to me for so long that I was extraordinarily disturbed for the couple of years after 9/11 that criticism of US foreign policy became "anti-American." Unlike so many of my contemporaries, as far as I can tell, I took my civics lessons in public school seriously. That is, when I first learned about the self-destructive detour of vile McCarthyism in the late 40s and early 50s, I became fascinated and obsessed with the concept of freedom of speech and its absolute necessity for our democracy--it was probably because I was a middle child and always felt like I wasn't getting a fair shake, but, ultimately, that doesn't really matter; long ago, I understood that "anti-American" was code for "shut the hell up." It continues to bother me that people who sat through the same classes I did never took the lessons to heart.

Things have gotten much better in terms of open criticism recently, but the "you hate America" tactic continues to be a fixture in US public discourse. I suppose that's because, even after countless Bush failures, "you hate America" maintains some level of effectiveness. When some moronic right-winger throws out such an accusation, it automatically puts the person on the receiving end on the defensive: almost reflexively the first response is something along the lines of "No, I don't hate America." Suddenly, the accused accepts the burden of illustrating that he does not, in fact, hate America. Because it's virtually impossible to prove what is or isn't inside one's own heart, the right wing automatically wins. It's brilliant in its brutal simplicity.

As Noam Chomsky has observed, if one goes to Italy and starts speaking about how liberals are anti-Italian, the response is bound to be laughter. I mean, it is pretty absurd when you get right down to it, and that's how liberals in the US should respond, as well. Just don't play the game, especially because it's rigged: the best response to charges of being "anti-American" is scorn and ridicule, maybe even a turn-around, explaining how such talk only exists to stifle the market place of ideas, without which our democracy is meaningless.

Of course, as the Republican Party continues to fall apart, and as the Bush administration continues to fuck up, such a point may end up being entirely moot rather soon.

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