One of the joys of traveling to foreign lands is taking in the wide scope, breadth, and depth of anti-Americanism out there these days. I'm not talking about the garden variety that you see on the domestic front espoused by the likes of Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore. No sir, this is real deal "America is the greatest threat in the world" type of stuff.
Usually I can get more than my fill by watching CNN International and the BBC. Occasionally I'll come across it in the most unlikely of places. Last night, I was watching a travel show on a Singapore arts and entertainment channel. It featured a couple of young Aussies (or perhaps Kiwis) who were making their way through Laos, which doesn't exactly have a reputation as a tourist haven.
The man and woman were traveling together but were not romantically linked. In fact, they didn't really seem to even like each other all that much as evidenced by their bickering and backbiting behavior. Which made for decent viewing as conflict is often at the heart of good entertainment.
At one point in the show, they each went their separate ways, which for the man meant a village that had been ruthlessly bombed by the imperialist Americans during the Vietnam War and was still suffering as a result to this day. To back up his claims, he interviewed a villager who showed him bomb fragments, craters, and even some unexploded ordinance that was still easy to find (or at least that's the appearance we were given). The villager was not an expert in military matters by any means and much of what he said was simply ludicrous. Of course, the Aussie host took it all in at face value and solemnly nodded in agreement with the villager's assertion that (cue finger wagging) "America is very very bad country."
Since no one can give Uncle Sam the shiv quite like one of his own, the host also dredged up a self-described Vietnam War draft dodger who happened to be traveling through the area. This son of liberty explained that he was loathe to admit his nationality since "everyone knows that Americans are assholes" which was followed by laughter and more knowing nods from the host. But don't you dare question his patriotism. He also stated that America dropped more tons of bombs on Laos than were dropped by both sides in the Second World War combined. I've heard this same claim made about Cambodia and I imagine that there is some validity to it. But I highly doubt that we dropped more bombs on EACH country than the total in WW2.
At this point in the program, I was getting a little peeved and wishing that someone would provide some much needed historical perspective on the matter. The host must have also realized that he needed more than merely the anecdotal information so far provided. And so he reached out to an authority on the matter. A well known American university professor and author. A straight shooter who could weigh in with an objective viewpoint.
Noam Chomsky. That's right. Noam F'in Chomsky came on to further detail the atrocities committed by Amerika in the Vietnam War. I really wish there was a transcript available to do justice to the outrageous BS flowing from Chomsky's pie hole. Essentially he said that there was absolutely no reason for the United States to bomb Laos during the war and that we did it because "The U.S. had all these bombers in the area with nothing to do." Yeah, we just thought it'd be fun to kill a bunch of the yellow men for the hell of it. It's not like there was any military reason for it. It wasn't like Laos was part of a sophisticated logistics system that fueled the war in South Vietnam was it Noam?
It always amuses me when Americans take on a superior air and proudly tell you how they get all there news from the international media, because they're telling you the real story unlike the jingoistic cheerleaders at Fox News. Guess what? When you travel around a bit and see this vaunted international media in action first hand you realize that a good deal of it is utter crap. I'm far from an apologist for the American media, but if you think you're getting the "real story" by watching a documentary on global warming from Germany (which I also did last night) or the latest news from Iraq as reported on Mexican television, you're living in a dreamland.
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