United States using 12-year-old book to counter anti-American sentiment in

[Judi Lynn]

United States using 12-year-old book to counter anti-American sentiment in Indonesia

MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, February 24, 2004




(02-24) 19:59 PST JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) --

The American Embassy said Tuesday it is distributing books on U.S. history to Islamic schools to counter rising anti-American attitudes in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population.

"(Islamic schools) have very few books and almost none on the United States," said embassy spokesman Stanley Harsha. "They get all their information from television, movies and rumors. We want to give them a real and deeper understanding of American democracy, pluralism and the way the economy works."
(snip)

At a book launch on Tuesday, some Indonesians said there were limits to how much the books could change opinions about the United States.

"It's not enough," said Irun Sani, the chairman of the Muslim Student Association. "If the United States wants to change opinions of Indonesians, then they will have to change their foreign policy. It should be helping underdeveloped countries instead of taking them over."
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/02/24/international2259EST0943.DTL

[Emillereid]

1. Boy, does this young man have it right!

"If the United States wants to change opinions of Indonesians, then they will have to change their foreign policy. It should be helping underdeveloped countries instead of taking them over."

The world's hatred of us isn't a failure of propaganda or advertising or because of "we're free" -- they hate us for what we DO!

[UpInArms]

2. this is so fitting

But there seems to be a wrinkle in the plan -- some of the books in the U.S. State Department collection are up to 12 years old. One book, on political history, ends in 1992 with Bill Clinton becoming president.

Harsha played down the age of the books' contents, saying the important thing was getting them to students.

Powell waved around a 12 year old plaigarized thesis to get us into this war - now they use old material to deal with the mess.

What idiots.

[rman]

3. actions speak louder then words

It may be that this kind propaganda is effective in the West, since most of the harm is done elsewhere. Indonesia is elsewhere.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

4. and BushCo is using "The Ugly American" as a foreign policy guide

http://www.chs.d211.org/SocialStudies/The%20Ugly%20American.htm

The Ugly American
By William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick
Plot Summary Discussion
First published in 1958, The Ugly American exposed in graphic detail the reasons why American diplomacy was failing in Southeast Asia in the 1950's and the reasons why communism was succeeding. As a chronicle of the struggle for influence in Asia, it caused quite a diplomatic fury. Its lessons seem startlingly urgent today in light of the turmoil in Central America and in the Middle East. Whether the foreign policy errors this book dramatizes have been corrected is an important question, and one that can be usefully debated in the classroom.

As a harbinger of the United States failure in Vietnam, The Ugly American seems a terribly prophetic book. How could the warnings Lederer and Burdick sounded have gone unheeded? An examination of their book shows us precisely how, for in The Ugly American knowledgeable and skillful executors of American foreign policy (those who believe that "the things we do must be done in the real interest of the people whose friendship we need--not just in the interest of propaganda") are routinely replaced by those who know less, care less, and are eminently less qualified to serve those interests

[Judi Lynn]

5. So glad you mentioned this book.

It's truly as if time has stood still in some quarters, isn't it?

Anyone could benefit from reading it. It may seem even more interesting looking backward from now at how tuned it the authors were, and how little good it did the world that there were people who KNEW what was going on, even then.

Well, there are FAR MORE people now who know what our pResident's trying to pull off.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

6. you remember the scene with the bags of rice/grain...???

it's amazing how spot-on the details are...even today...

[Judi Lynn]

9. I remember reading how unbelievable scuzzy Nuyen Kao Ky was

in the book and felt completely dipped in bleep when he moved to the States, and REALLY felt ill when I read in the last few weeks that he made a loudly trumpeted RETURN TO VIET NAM.

I'm sure the citizens were thrilled.

I can't quite retrieve that rice/grain scene. I'm only coming up with the imprint of watching some ships being loaded or unloaded. Am I close?
It's been years since I read it.

What I've read in this thread tells me it's worth going back and reading it all over again. Also, A Nation of Sheep by William J. Lederer.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

10. right under the US rep's nose, changing the printing on the sacks

from "Donated by the Good Ol' USA" to "Donated by the Commies that Luv Ya" - or something to that effect - the US rep couldn't tell 'cause he couldn't read or speak in the local lingo.

I have to get a copy myself...

[Judi Lynn]

11. Oh, YEAH! Now I remember. Thanks a lot.

Very interesting, to say the least.

Good idea, getting a copy, even if it means grinding your teeth flat while rereading it, realizing how NOT FAR we have come, diplomatically!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone should be notified that if he/she ever sees a movie with Marlon Brando named "The Ugly American" he/she can forget thinking it will bring any enlightenment.

It simply didn't work out, didn't resemble any part of the book, was a waste of time for everyone concerned.

[jamesinca]

8. Maybe this is Rice's contribution to the cabinet

She does have a doctorate in Sovietology. I wonder if she has read this book at any time in her life and if she is drawing from it things to guide the administration. Just a fleeting thought I had.

[htuttle]

7. It's called, "Who Moved the Cheese?"

.

[symbolman]

12. Of course

they want to give them books that still have CLINTON as PRESIDENT!

HE WAS SANE!

They don't want Bush's name associated with this bullshit..

evil is as evil does.