We fall all over ourselves saying, "Why do the terrorists hate us?" Well, folks, it's worse than just the handful of terrorists. The entire Muslim world hates us. (Insert the requisite "Not all Muslims are terrorists" here.)

They hate us for the sexualization of little girls as described in this article; they hate Britney Spears; they hate McDonald's and Pizza Hut; they hate broken families; they hate kids bringing guns to school; they hate violent video games; they hate tattoos and body piercing; they hate Saw movies I, II and III; they hate Bay Watch; they hate casual cussing on television; they hate pornography going mainstream; they hate Girls Gone Wild videos; they hate drunken summer break orgies; they hate condoms in public schools; they hate divorce; they hate cheeky kids; they hate whole families and communities destroyed by drugs; they hate Paris Hilton; they hate rap music; they hate the Sopranos; they hate street gangs; they hate sex toy shops; they hate gay pride parades.

We need to understand that even the supposedly ultra-liberal Europeans hate all the above. They are horrified by us. Let alone the average Muslim. They see American society and culture as a disease which is working its way around the world and corrupting and destroying other societies. They fear that they will become soulless and corrupt and ugly.

I actually believe down deep that all of the polls saying that people "hate us," has a lot less to do with foreign policy than it does the sense that we are a cheap, shallow, destructive, ugly culture.

that Muslims and Republicans are on the same page. Interesting. Have you called the Shrub and let him know about that?

Europeans, et al, aren't keen on Americans because they can't get their heads around the fact that every place on the planet doesn't revolve around them. During the Second World War, the best thing the British had to say about Americans is "they're overpaid, they're oversexed, and they're over here."

I wish I had a nickel for every time some dippy Yank tried to give me U.S. dollars in Canada and swear that I should give them the exchange they wanted (Hello! Foreign country! Different money!)....and here I thought that's what banks were for.

I remember reading years ago an interview with a young Saudi girl about her impressions of American culture. Some well-meaning journalist asked some inane, ethnocentric thing like, "But don't you hate having to be covered up all the time? Wouldn't you rather be free like American girls to dress and behave how you want?" The Saudi girl was like, "How free are American girls when they're constantly pressured to dress and act like Britney Spears and have no dignity or self-respect? It doesn't sound very enlightened to me to have to be on display all the time to please men's eyes."

Excellent point, if you ask me.

This is the kind of bull crap that the GOP media machine wants us to believe. Muslims hate us for being free. They hate our freedom. They hate our debauchery.

The truth is that they hate it when we impose these on them. An average Arab is a hypocrite at best. I've lived there for sometime and they love most things American. Believe me when I say that some of them really would like to 'know' Britney Spears more. But they really hate it when their wives and daughters try to act like that. They really hate any kind freedom for women and think that US is a bad influence on them. On top of that when we try to export freedom to these places when they don't want any.

I'd appreciate it if you'd provide sources for your claims, from actual Arabs. My point: every source I've seen for "why they hate us" has been from a christian who actually is the one who hates those things. I'm not defending those aspects of American culture, but it's useless to claim that they hate us because of how our daughters dress. Those who hate us, hate us because we bomb their homes, support Israel, and aren't Muslims of the sect they belong to.

What I'm saying is that American culture has become pretty ugly, and it has spread around the world via capitalism in ways that make others feel very resentful of it. People in very conservative societies not only hate it, they fear being absorbed by it.

If you want to add to that a sense that Americans are too focused on themselves, go for it.

Sam, I think it's a silly statement when people like President Bush say, "They hate us for our freedoms," as if the mere fact of being free would bother other countries.

No, I think that in the Muslim world in particular, they hate what we have chosen to do with our freedoms. The level of ugliness, debauchery, cheapness, celebrity idolization, Britney Spears and all that rest. But they are particularly perturbed because by virtue of global media and capitalism (two things I am very much for by the way), we have bled into their communities.

I would not say we have "forced" ourselves into their societies or imposed anything on them. We have seduced them. Like you mention, they can't take their eyes off of it. They are both thrilled by it, and hate it. They know our culture is junk food that will rot them if they consume too much, but it tastes so good. (It's how it has grabbed hold inside America for that matter. We were'nt always like this folks.)

If we were legally free but chose to live by a strict Muslim code (as Americans can and many do), and exported that, they might have other problems with it, but they would not have at least the same problems they do now. Instead we're exporting thong underwear for pre-pubscent girls and gangsta rap.

You miss the polls which tell us, directly, that they hate and fear our culture. Funny, but the only homes we've bombed have been in Iraq to undo an Iraqi dictatorship and ones in Afghanistan to undo another tyranny. And we've saved a lot of Muslims lives too, in Kuwait, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and attempted to do so in Somalia. So you would think that would count for something.

And I'm not discounting any of the complaints about our foreign policy either. I just think that underneath it all, they far more worried that they will be absorbed by the big American maw that anything else. The average Muslim is far more conservative than the average Southern Baptist. They are simply horrified that they will find their girls with a My Space page showing their twats.

Listen, back to the Europeans, who are hardly conservatives. Even they hate and fear our culture for how loud and ugly it is.

If we were just as big and in the rest of the world's face, but exporting art and beauty and intellect, they would not hate us.

Which Republicans, Messy? It's pretty obvious what side of this cultural divide Shrub's daughters come down on...

"If we were just as big and in the rest of the world's face, but exporting art and beauty and intellect, they would not hate us."

A nice fantasy, perhaps, but not true at all. There will always be people who hate whoever has power, even if it's a benevolent person (like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, parents, etc). As long as the US is the lone superpower, we are going to be the target of every group vying for power, and every country whose people feel insecure about their place in the world. Pick on the biggest guy in the room, just like at school. But none of them are really any better, and Al Qaida and other groups are hardly in a moral position to judge America. They hate us because they don't rule us, and they will continue to fight us until they do rule us, or until they are convinced they can't beat us, or until they are all gone. That simple. Nothing to do with whether we're happy christian lovemongers or not.

You can't possibly think that your "the only homes we've bombed" paragraph mimics what Middle Eastern people think when they see Iraq on fire, or Afghanistan, or the West Bank, or Lebanon (yes, many blame us for Israel's actions). When you saw the WTC on fire, did you think, oh, that's the only tower they blew up! It was only Al Qaida, not all Muslims! And they gave us our numeric system and the number zero, which makes it possible to have computers and the Internet! And oil! So it's ok!

As for the Europeans, oh please. The ones who hate us are just jealous. Most Western Europeans think we're too old fashioned and prudish (for example, France, the Netherlands and Germany).

I am aware of the polls that say Muslim individuals dislike us, but the reason they hate and fear our culture is that they believe we are trying to take them over. They are plenty happy to log on the Internet and fantasize about American girls. Beating up America over what girls post in Myspace makes no sense: have you seen what's on some Dutch and German sites? That'd make you buy a burka.

America could be remade today in the very image you think it should have, and the people who hate us will still hate us -- Muslims because we are not Muslim,

Not a lot to argue with Isonomist. I don't think anything you wrote really contradicts much that I wrote, it only adds to it. I think you're right: they at once are transfixed by and repulsed by our culture.

I agree also that simply being the Big Man on Campus creates jealousy around the globe, and being non-Muslim adds a lot more to it in the Muslim world.

Are you saying, however, my point that our vulgar and ubiquitous culture creates hatred around the world is entirely wrong? You think I am 100% off base? Doesn't it just make some gut sense to you?

I find this interesting:

"When you saw the WTC on fire, did you think, oh, that's the only tower they blew up! It was only Al Qaida, not all Muslims!"

Actually, I did. I have not grown suspicious Islam in general frankly but for the years since then, when I realize how many Muslims are at best sympathetic to Osama bin Laden and how little outrage there is when Muslims commit mass murder in the name of Allah. I think most Muslims really believe it's not all that bad. I have finally discovered how sick so many Muslims and Muslim societies are. I didn't appreciate at the time of 9/11/01 how backwards the Muslim world is globally speaking.

From what I can see, the kids have grown up to be eminently more sensible than their lineage (on both sides) would suggest. Also, having once had a pink and white brush cut, I can't really talk - although my mother would tell you that hair is a renewable resource. ;-)

I was just speculating that conservative twaddle knows no religious boundaries.

"...although my mother would tell you that hair is a renewable resource."

Not at my age it isn't!

Europeans? I wore dress slacks and sports coat as a tourist to respect what I had read about European fashion sensibilities, only to discover that both men and women in many cities in France and Italy prefer tight jeans. In Venice, the directions I was given to a concert in a sixteenth century church included "take a left at MacDonald's".

European youth want to dress like Americans, dance like Americans, listen to American music, eat American food, and rot their teeth with American soda pop.

The writer might benefit from some travel, if not to other countries, at least to another county.

"The writer might benefit from some travel, if not to other countries, at least to another county."

Ahem...if the "writer" in question is me, I'll let you know that I'm well traveled throughout Europe, Asia, the Pacific and South America and it is direct feedback on our popular culture that informs a lot of my opinions on this issue.