Weapons of Mass Distraction
Soft Power and American Empire
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In its march to becoming the world's first hyper-power, the United States has been as dependent on its soft power - the allure of American lifestyles and culture - as it has been on the hard power of military might. In Weapons of Mass Distraction, Matthew Fraser examines the role of American pop cultural industries in international affairs.
Fraser focuses on the major areas of soft power - movies, television, pop music, and fast food - and traces the origins, history and current influence of these on U.S. foreign policy. He describes how the American film, television, and music industries enjoy a ubiquitous global presence that has made them indispensable to the U.S. government, which has often gone so far as to fund them directly, including the White House-sponsored radio station in the Middle East launched with the hopes of winning over Muslim youths with American pop songs.
A Coca-Cola lobbyist once famously declared that "The best barometer of the relationship of the U.S. and any other country is the way Coca-Cola is treated." Fraser proves this claim isn't to be taken lightly. He charts the global spread of the fast food industry, the role of Coca-Cola and McDonald's in American foreign policy and the recent rise of their opponents: the anti-globalization movement.
Do things really go better with Coca-Cola? Fraser's answer is a resounding yes. While American soft power remains a contentious issue, he believes it promotes values and beliefs that are ultimately good for the rest of the world. Still, what are the future implications of American soft power? Will national identities decline as the world order is transformed into a state of "electronic feudalism" where there is no central power? Weapons of Mass Distraction provides an engaging, enlightening, and provocative look at the future of American foreign policy and popular culture in the 21st century.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
What the world needs now is more Hollywood movies, McDonald's outlets, CNN newscasts and MTV videos, argues Fraser, editor of the Canadian daily the National Post, in this perceptive, sometimes eyebrow-raising analysis of America's global dominance in film, television, music and fast food and its effects on U.S. foreign policy. The author, a former university communications professor, sees the U.S. as a "benevolent hegemon," not a ruthless imperialist, and he makes the case that pop culture has become a "key strategic resource" in the American-led fight against totalitarianism and terrorism. For Fraser, Hollywood is the oldest and most influential global purveyor of the "Gospel of Americanism." As he points out, the movie industry has long consorted with Washington to promote Brand USA, from Woodrow Wilson's recruitment of creative types to spread his vision of world peace and democracy to the Bush administration's secretive post- 9/11 discussions with Hollywood executives. There is resistance abroad to "McDomination," particularly in places like France, and Fraser allows that protests against American cultural incursions usually mask valid fears of damage to national commercial interests. He also balances his glowing portrait of this American empire with the experiences of successful regional powerbrokers such as India and Hong Kong in film, and Mexico and Brazil in television. He gives short shrift, though, to the flip side of made-in-America pop life, barely touching on the international resentment caused by "destabilizing" images of "violence and rebellion" and dog-eat-dog "Darwinian capitalism." Can expanding American soft power save the global village from a "clash of civilizations"? Fraser eagerly answers "yes," concluding, "If terrorism triumphs, our fate could be that of Rome-a collapse leading to a chaotic neo-medieval order with no central authority." If readers aren't persuaded, they'll at least be entertained by his well-researched argument.
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