Top Dog
Saturday, September 22, 2001
[soon after the bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York]
CNN is asking, on behalf of America, “Why do they hate us so?” I believe I can answer this.
You’re not such a bad country. After all, you are a favourite destination for migrants. And you’re not such a bad superpower. You are far less violent and destructive than all the others we’ve known in the century past.
No, your crime, why you are the target of much unreasoned muttering and hate, is that you are numero uno, the greatest. Right now, you are the mightiest, richest, freest and proudest of all nations.
You might get away with one or two of these, but not all. Your position stirs in us a primordial envy that not all of us can keep in check.
Philip O'Carroll