>Nor should one pretend one can't pogo to a bit of Ramones or cringe before a
>Cage onslaught and still not loathe the American nation state's sway in the
>world.
Exactly. Didn't the article make the point that we should distinguish between the U.S. ruling class and its state, on one hand, and the masses and our culture (both pop and high) on the other? I don't think it'd be news to anyone that I despise the American imperial state.
> I talked politics for three weeks in
>Turkey in April, and heard nothing but genuine fear and seething loathing
>(albeit, importantly, the critiques are of US institutions and
>finance, not Joe-Sixpack).
Exactly.
> And you should stand around in the uni quadrangle here for half an
>hour, come to that - loads of baseball-cap-sporting, Bruce-Willis-doting,
>Doggie-Dog bopping 'chooks-home-to-roost' advocates (again, taking
>no joy in the
>suffering of the WTC innocents; don't get me wrong). They don't make the
>connections you think are there to be made, Doug. I don't either, mind.
What connections?
You recall I spent two delightful weeks in Australia in July. From what I saw, I loved the place. Sure you've got your cretins and pigs and yahoos, but that's not the whole story, nor why I like it.
>I say again, Oz ain't been any better, it's just irrelevant - er, I hope ...
Though Oz, like Canada and Western Europe, is a free-rider on U.S. imperialism - you all enjoy the privileges of high incomes, while not getting your hands so dirty with the enforcement. Your state and ruling class are part of the imperial structure, too, and the sloppy equivalence of imperialism with the U.S. (or anti-imperialism with anti-Americanism) effaces that.
Doug