“I Hate America”: The Harm of Mental Masochism

It would be a miracle if, during an ordinary stroll through a modern academic institution, you came across a jubilant group of students celebrating America’s role in the world (unless, of course, we are talking about the barely noticeable enclaves of college republicans and conservatives). For most students, the American global influence inspires shame and regret, signaled by a shaking hand that slowly drops from the heart at the first sounds of the Star Spangled Banner. A recent video survey of Harvard students demonstrated that most actually believed America is a greater threat to world peace than ISIS.

Seems like a lot of people love to hate America.

I’ll risk accusations of unnecessary bluntness, and label the disorder of logical reasoning as mental masochism – the type that slowly withers away rationality by a mechanism of self-destruction. This is probably the worst fate that can ever face any society, because once the masochism starts it becomes incurable.  Of course, I can’t possibly vindicate all charges of American imperialism in one article, so what I will do instead, however, is write a series of articles addressing the most infamous of American crimes.

The first charge against American imperialism that I will examine is that of the U.S. arming of Afghanistan forces against the Soviet invasion of 1979. As you know, the critique of the latter act of evil imperialism is centered around the fact that those same forces later opposed the US, after billions of dollars were spent on their armament.  However, what we forget is that the Soviet Union was economically drained as a result of its unsuccessful nine year campaign. This, in turn, forced Gorbachev to democratize in order to circumvent multilateral economic failure.

In other words, the US involvement in Afghanistan was the most crucial contributing point in the collapse of the Soviet Union, liberating over 300 million eastern Europeans from private ownership of the Soviet state for generations to come. Who else but a mental masochist can look back at this nail in the coffin of the Soviet regime with displeasure? If it weren’t for the billions of dollars spent in the armament of Afghan militants, my people would not have seen the light of freedom until much later – and for that, America deserves appreciation…not vilification.