Is Kaplan looking for a substitute for a more rational foreign policy? Surely that can't work. The US has an idealistic foreign policy in theory and rhetoric, whereas its approach in practice is haphazard, disjointed and usually driven by short-term real-politik. Making rhetoric and actions match would be much better, even if that means that the US admits to only pursuing self-interest.

US culture had an outsized influence when US technological advantage meant that most widely available cultural products (recorded music, movies) were American. With mass culture products mature (and their effects known to those in power), and the technology to produce them widely available, local products now compete more or less effectively with American ones. Since most US cultural products reinforce negative stereotypes of the US, it's not even clear that better access to US cultural products would help. When was the last time you saw a movie, or listened to a song that made you proud to live in the US, and that could not have been about another country?

The US shares cultural values with the rest of the world. Things like the power of the individual, the importance of religion in public life, dedication to science and education, free enterprise, secularism and the fight for equality are (in varying degrees) worldwide recognized values. But everyone has a different idea of their relative importance, and many of these values stand in opposition. The US doesn't have a clear message to broadcast. in the first place. Moreover, almost every country has historical advocates for all of these values, some much older, some much more eloquent, than the US's.

I don't think that our 'negative stereotypes' are hurting us, they're the natural artistic byproduct of a truly open society -- and I don't think the lack of a clear message is hurting us either. That cacophonous sound is the sound of the biggest hive-mind in the world churning out the sound of the future.

Grand Theft Auto makes me proud to be an American. So does South Park. At our best, we're funny and clear-eyed and totally resistant to the 'old and eloquent' advocates of the past. Hip-hop makes me very proud to be an American -- only here could the most influential art form of the past 20 years still be hated and dismissed in its land of origin. We're still passing laws against baggy pants while this one idea is spreading to every country in the world.

I'm sure that America's cultural influence will continue to recede, just as Russia's has. Both nations were artificially inflated throughout most of the 20th century. That's just a fact.

But we're still the biggest melting pot in the world. We're still more what the future looks like than France or Venezuela or China. Those old, homogeneous countries can afford to stay 'on message', but we can't. Our true message to the world is still revealing itself. It's more vulgar, more religious, and more violent than some of us might have assumed at the midpoint of the 20th century. Happily, it's also more fun and more honest, slangy and fragmented.

"Grand Theft Auto makes me proud to be an American. So does South Park. At our best, we're funny and clear-eyed and totally resistant to the 'old and eloquent' advocates of the past. Hip-hop makes me very proud to be an American -- only here could the most influential art form of the past 20 years still be hated and dismissed in its land of origin. We're still passing laws against baggy pants while this one idea is spreading to every country in the world."

Funny, but GTA is created in Scotland, and Matt and Trey are Canadians.

If I listen to jazz, I don't think of it as African-American music, but world music. Hip-hop is very recent, and it's still largely African-American music. If it loses its misogyny and violence, it may eventually become an American export, but by then it too will be world music. For now, as far as I can tell it is as hated in Europe as it is in much of the US.

More to the point, you are saying that America's contribution to world culture is to elevate the status of violence and vulgarity to art forms? I really don't think that that is necessary. Every country has its vulgar comedians, its songs degrading women and celebrating violence and drugs. Perhaps the US excels in these things, but if so, isn't its "message" that low-brow culture is all it has to offer?

Kaplan is looking for something that will make people think more positively about the US. I hardly doubt that 50 Cents is going to help with that (see lyrics below).

I don't know what you heard about me. But a bitch can't get a dollar out of me No Cadillac, no perms, you can't see That I'm a motherfucking P-I-M-P.

Now shorty, she in the club, she dancing for dollars She got a thing for that Gucci, that Fendi, that Prada That BCBG, Burberry, Dolce and Gabana She feed them foolish fantasies, they pay her cause they wanna I spit a little G man, and my game got her A hour later, have that ass up in the Ramada Them trick niggas in her ear saying they think about her I got the bitch by the bar trying to get a drink up out her She like my style, she like my smile, she like the way I talk She from the country, think she like me cause I'm from New York I ain't that nigga trying to holla cause I want some head I'm that nigga trying to holla cause I want some bread I could care less how she perform when she in the bed Bitch hit that track, catch a date, and come and pay the kid Look baby this is simple, you can't see You fucking with me, you fucking with a P-I-M-P