Category: Collaboration Zones

The roots of global anti-Americanism

Revelations of Korean rapper Psy's anti-American past are emblematic of a global resentment caused by US militarism.

Al Jazeera, 11 December 2012

The incongruity of it seemed to be nothing short of a betrayal. After lightheartedly dancing his way into the hearts of Americans and gaining entrance to the inner sanctum of their cherished cult of celebrity, the Korean rapper, Psy, whose song “Gangam Style” became the most watched video in the history of YouTube and made him a pop culture sensation, has been revealed to have a politically active past which places him directly at odds with the American mainstream worldview and which violently decries its most basic articles of faith.

The man whom they enjoyed as an unthreatening, comically light-hearted foreigner dancing for their enjoyment was revealed to have only years earlier been a vociferous public critic of American policies and the country's role in the world.

In a 2004 performance, the rapper famous for his “invisible horse dance” denounced the United States in a song called “Hey American”:

“Kill those f—ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives
Kill those f—ing Yankees who ordered them to torture
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers
Kill them all slowly and painfully”

For an American public conditioned to the type of unquestionable worship of the military embodied in the phrase “Support the Troops”, Psy's words represent nothing less than sacrilege. This song however was not his only offence.

In a previous performance, he had come on stage to protest the presence of 37,000 US troops in South Korea and smashed a miniature American tank in protest over the killing of two South Korean schoolgirls by American forces stationed in the country.

As it turned out, the Asian pop-star whom Americans had enthusiastically embraced, arguably the first entertainer to bridge the continental divide so successfully, brought with him not just a culturally unique style of song and dance, but also a worldview which is threateningly alien to most Americans.

If even an innocuous pop singer from a country perceived as benign could espouse views the typical American would attribute to menacing terrorists such as al-Qaeda, it begs serious questions about the pervasiveness of global anti-Americanism as well as to what informs it.

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Phi Beta Iota:  The ignorance of most Americans — including many in the US Government that have never left the USA, interacted with “real” foreigners, or studied broadly — is quite frightening to any intelligence professional.  It is not possible to plan, program, budget, and execute (PPBS/E) with any degree of effectiveness if one is completely unwitting of the legitimate grievances recognized by most people with any degree of engagement — it is also foolish to contemplate for one instant a US “human intelligence” professional going unnoticed anywhere in the world, unless one is acutely conscious of reality.,

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Reference: Legitimate Grievances by Robert Steele