Justin Webb: The world wants the modernity that America provides

Justin Webb, BBC North America Editor, from his book on anti-Americanism, Have A Nice Day:

"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, criticises Americans in 2008 for being less-caring imperialists than even the British had been. He went further. The problem was wider than American imperialism: Western modernity itself "is eating away at the soul". I like Western modernity. It allows my children to survive diseases that would have killed them only decades ago. It creates educational opportunities their ancestors never had; opportunities for leisure and fun and fulfilment. And it is protected, guaranteed around the world (to the extent that it is guaranteed at all) mainly by American power. It is not guaranteed by China or Russia or Tehran or Brussels. Yes, this modernity, particularly at its American extreme, also creates opportunities for type 2 diabetes and crushing ennui, and for the kind of queasy feelings from which the gentle Archbishop apparently suffers. But to focus on the downside of Western modernity is not to tell the whole story. People want it. And America provides it."