Now, I won�t go into another of my tirades about how America stretches from the Arctic to the Antarctic Oceans and it�s only because the most powerful nation on earth can�t seem to see past it�s own borders that all of us don�t call ourselves Americans. Frank Lloyd Wright coined the term �Usonian� for people of the USA. Doesn�t sound all that cool but it�s more accurate somehow.

I wasn�t going to go into that, was I.

So why do people from outside the US hate Americans? I really don�t think they do, actually. I think you�ve got to look at US government, US industry, and US led pop culture and media for answers to that. People hate how their cultures are being eroded by commercialism and the blandness of corporate product based culture. Food, music, theatre, sports are big business and bare very little relationship to most cultures on this planet.

American industry manipulates and takes over whole industries all over the world. Then we�re told that the world has to structure its economies by American rules. Why?

The US government likes to push its weight around with invasions and aerial bombings. I suppose it�s sometimes warranted but blowing up a section of Panama City (the poorest part, bye the way) to get to Manuel Noriega wasn�t. Even when the US isn�t engaged in military action, there are always the activities of the CIA, which takes an active part in supporting corrupt and abusive governments around the world.

What makes the US a great nation isn�t its government and industry. What makes the US great is its people. I�m sitting here in Pittsburgh and have not met one person that I don�t like intensely. There�s such a sense of energy, life, and generosity from these people � even in Pittsburgh � that I want to hug them all. You can�t help but fall in love with these people. They exude happiness, even the grumpy ones.

I know this to be true because I�ve been to this country many times and have always had the same experience.

So if anyone�s attacking people from the USA, chances are, they�re confusing US institutions with its people.

Arc