Why the Left Hates America: Exposing the Lies That Have Obscured Our Nation's Greatness [Paperback]

Daniel J. Flynn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2004

"The American flag stands for hatred, warmongering, and imperialism."
"Our free-market system is responsible for killing and oppressing millions of people."
"This country breeds racists and sexists."

Is America really that bad? It is if you accept the lies and propaganda from the anti-American Left in our own country. This dismal, distorted view of the greatest, freest nation in history comes from a Left who would rather idolize Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro than honor George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who burn down businesses and destroy property to protest free markets, and who fight alongside radical terrorists rather than against them. They trample the Constitution while hiding behind the First Amendment, and their idea of displaying the American flag is setting it on fire and parading it through the streets. Yes, this is a Left comprised of people who truly hate their country, and they will stop at nothing to tear her down—smashing our liberty in the process.

Why the Left Hates America punches a hole right through the thin veneer of political correctness that has long protected these anti-Americans—exposing their rotting, vacuous core. Author and commentator Daniel J. Flynn digs deep into the American Left and reveals why they blame every bad deed in the world on the United States, while ignoring her myriad contributions.

This book cogently points out that, of course, all Americans have the right to speak their minds. But, all too often, the actions by the anti-American Left become destructive and anarchistic. You need not look any further than the explosive 1999 World Trade Organization "protests" in Seattle, campus book burnings, or even John Walker Lindh to see that factions on the Left are the worst perpetrators of anti-Americanism. And what may be most shocking is that many of these anti-Americans are at the same time teachers, professors, journalists, news reporters, and even judges and politicians.

Probing and controversial—without devolving into jingoism—this book proves once and for all that what you see in the news and learn in school is often tainted by the anti-American Left, and it shows you what you can do to keep them at bay.

“A compelling, breezy look at the political myopia and downright kookiness that characterizes the radical Left...The book shines when Flynn catalogs the excesses of people who loathe everything the United States has ever touched...The final chapter, a catalog of what’s good about America, works even better.”—Weekly Standard

“Piece by piece, Flynn demolishes the underpinnings of the knee-jerk anti-American bias that makes so many thinking people cringe at the sight of their own nation’s flag.” —John McWhorter, author of Losing the Race

“A wonderful book documenting that with the collapse of the Soviet Union and socialism, the American Left is left alone with its one motivating idea: hatred of America.”—Grover Norquist, American Spectator

“An indispensable weapon in the battle for America’s future.”
—David Horowitz, author of Hating Whitey

“Read this book and learn how to take our country back, before it’s too late.”
—Tammy Bruce, author of The Death of Right and Wrong

“It is not so hard to understand why some foreigners hate America. Much more puzzling is why many on the American Left detest their country and work assiduously for its destruction. Dan Flynn exposes these America-haters and gives intellectual ammunition to thinking patriots.” —Dinesh D’Souza, author of What’s So Great About America

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spurred on by what he sees as anti-American sentiment among leftists in the wake of September 11, Flynn, the executive director of Accuracy in Academia, a conservative watchdog group, seeks to "expose the strong undercurrent of reverse patriotism on the political Left." Unlike fellow conservative pundit Ann Coulter (Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right), Flynn draws a distinction between liberals, who are motivated by "love of country," and the real targets of his criticism, those who "view 'Amerika' as so inherently corrupt as to be beyond repair." He offers numerous examples of journalists, college students, professors and anonymous voices on the World Wide Web who are critical of the U.S. government; gives a thumbnail history of anti-Americanism in the U.S.; and argues against the "Five Big Lies" of the American Left (#5: "The rich get richer; the poor get poorer"). Flynn is particularly dismayed by the prevalence of leftism on college campuses and in academic curricula. Though some of his arguments are familiar, and his historical perspective arguably lacks rigor, Flynn will likely find grateful sympathizers.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Flynn, executive director of Accuracy in Academia (www.academia.org), attempts to analyze and explain the anti-American sentiments of the Left in his new book. The Left, according to Flynn, consists of intellectuals, museum curators, journalists, librarians, movie stars, and academics who question or criticize U.S. government policies, American culture, and society. Flynn generalizes that the Left controls and manipulates education and entertainment in the United States in an attempt to destroy American society and values. He also writes that McCarthyism, internment of the Japanese during World War II, and slavery have been embellished by the Left (to the detriment of other historical calamities) and are therefore not as vile as the Left believes or teaches. Flynn's gross generalizations and virulent depictions of the Left go beyond a simple critique of the excesses of political correctness; he paints with such a broad brush that "Left" and "Intellectuals" function mainly as straw men in his argument, making his views finally unbelievable. Activities and statements representing the Left are cited in an extensive end notes/bibliography section. Libraries that already own the works of David Horowitz (Hating Whitey and Other Progressive Causes) need not buy Flynn's book. Joyce M. Cox, Nevada State Lib. & Archives, Carson City
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Updated edition (September 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400080401
• ISBN-13: 978-1400080403
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,207,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Antidote Against Brainwash!, July 3, 2005

By 

The Nerd (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why the Left Hates America: Exposing the Lies That Have Obscured Our Nation's Greatness (Hardcover)

Daniel Flynn does a great job arguing his case that the left generally, and academia specifically, are consumed with an anti-American agenda. He starts with a large series of anecdotes that followed 9-11. They consist of mainly stories and quotes from college profs, students, and protesters who blame "Amerika" for the death of nearly 3,000 Americans that day.

Flynn then explores the roots -- both historical and intellectual -- of anti-Americanism. He traces it back to the Industrial age of the 19th century, where changes in the economy (i.e., prosperity) brought with it a mantra that hasn't stopped since-- economic inequality. This increase in wealth allowed for the formation of a leisure class to contemplate their guilt. And these wealthy individuals, using their time to ponder such issues, became America's first intellectual/anti-American class. This new anti-American class, however, was unorganized and thus resorted to using "bombs and bullets" instead of articulating a coherent refutation of American society. The author then runs us through these violent events.

Flynn then proceeds into the 20th century, exploring the more organized groups that made up American communism and the subsequent Frankfurt School (i.e., Critical Theorists). According to Flynn, the latter development was created in light of the worldwide economic failure of Marxist ideas. Sensing the waning popularity of traditional Marxist thought, these would-be traditional Marxists did something quite clever. Just as a species must adapt to a hostile environment to avoid extinction, so too must an ideology, or a memeplex, adapt to survive in people's minds when faced with facts that fail to support it. The clever move by the CT's was to deny that the struggle between the oppressed and the oppressors was merely a class issue between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but rather the oppressed are several categories that are much less malleable: Race, Class, and Gender/sexual orientation. These categories, unlike class, are much more durable over time. There will always be women, blacks and homosexuals. This ensures the survival of their holy doctrine. Anyone who has taken a sociology class during the last 30 years will recognize this simplistic, crypto-religious depiction-- complete with its own Holy Trinity (Race, Class, and Gender)_-- and like religious belief, this worldview of the oppressed vs oppressors takes no small amount of faith to accept.

Flynn then moves his attack to the Multiculturalists. His primary claim is that proponents of multiculturalism, since all cultures are not equal, will engage in "leveling" i.e., comparing the worst of the West with the best of other cultures. He provides ample evidence to support this accusation. So, as Fylnn says, the view of much of the left that "all cultures are equal" is a result of this process of leveling. But what if it is discovered that a culture seems to have rather primitive practices? No worries; moral relativism is brought to the rescue. So even if it seems counterintuitive to believe that "all cultures are equal", by invoking the doctrine of moral relativism, it really could be NO OTHER WAY! Like magic, poof! No such thing as "primitive" practices. Isn't that nice? Thus multiculturalism and moral relativism have a survival sustaining, mutually symbiotic relationship.


From here, Flynn goes forward to expose what he calls the "Five Big Lies":

Myth #1: American women live under patriarchy

Myth # 2: America's the World's leading threat to the environment

Myth # 3: America is a racist nation

Myth # 4: The United States is an imperial power.

Myth # 5: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer

Flynn honestly examines each claim acknowledging truth where it exists, but putting things into an historical, global, and fact-based context. These claims/myths, when put under scrutiny, don't hold water for those unwilling to be deceived.

The next chapter is an exercise in comparing various phenomena (e.g., cultural practices, legal institutions, legal punishment, etc.) in other cultures to those same areas in America. Is Flynn doing what he accuses the left of doing (leveling)? No! The reason: he compares apples to apples. That's the opposite of how multiculturalism is taught in the classroom.

The final chapter is an answer to the question, What has America done for anybody? In answering this question Flynn uses example after example to make a positive case for why the world is a better place because of America's existence.

He also makes the supposition that the Real reason the left hates America is because America represents a "massive refutation of every pet theory the left has ever held". This book, along with Dinesh D'souza's book "What's so Great about America" are MUST reads prior to entering the morally backwards, hermetically sealed bubble called college (natural sciences exempt).

32 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Factual but Problematic, January 27, 2005

By 

hope1979 (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why the Left Hates America: Exposing the Lies That Have Obscured Our Nation's Greatness (Hardcover)

I approached this book with the mindset of a liberal who would like to understand the logic behind the idea that criticism of America = anti-Americanism.

While I found the book to be painstakingly factual and relatively free of the emotional rhetoric that the title boasts, I did find some logical issues with it.

Flynn argues the difference between the "left" and "liberal", but never really defines the difference except for "hatred and constant criticism of America". He provides few examples of what he deems the Left, although he does mention Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky several times. His thesis is that the Left controls intellectual pulpits in this country and that they are trying to tear the USA apart by their hatred for it.

He provides many quotes as example of 'Leftist hatred' of America, but all of these are criticisms of the USA and how can one distinguish the difference between a liberal who utters them and an America-hating Leftist?

The issue I have here is that the number of people living in America who genuinely HATE IT is tiny. The number of Americans cheering after 9/11 in a genuine way was also very tiny. Flynn takes quotes post-9/11 such as "we had it coming" and uses these as examples of Anti-Americanism, when in my opinion many of these quotes are the just the bitter moanings of people who are frustrated with their government.

It doesn't add up to me that intellectual strongholds in the United States seek to criticize this country because of some innate HATE. When you love something and care about it, you want to improve upon this, and you take the effort to speak up about it. Many of the quotes and examples that Flynn uses to portray "anti-Americanist hatred" are really the cries of people who want to improve upon the conditions within the US.

The book ends up being a "here are all the reasons that the USA is wonderful and better than the rest of the world" rather than a convincing argument that there is a powerful America-hating Left faction in the USA.

The truth is, criticism and introspection are NECESSARY in order to progress and improve. Flynn criticizes feminists and racial activists now for only pointing out the inequalities in American life, when in reality things are much better than before. However, I would like to ask Flynn, "How did change ever come about if people in the 50s and 60s never spoke up against the status quo?" Using his thesis that those who point out the present injustices are "haters", then we can look back and say that the Founding Fathers were anti-British haters and that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and John Brown and Martin Luther King Jr. were also "America-haters".

I understand his point that there is a faction of people in the USA who see nothing but the negatives in American politics and foreign policy, but I do not believe that these are the majority of the people who currently protest the status quo. The people who "hate" and seek to destroy America are in fact the minority.

There is grave danger in calling people who protest 'anti-American' and 'haters' - we run the risk of becoming a static society that accepts the status quo and believes that politicians and corporations hold the general public's best interests at heart. Humans are, by nature, very selfish, and its up to the people of the United States to chart a course for this nation - and the USA should constantly be seeking to hold itself to higher standards and to be honest with itself and its people; meaning that both the good and the bad should be addressed.

Flynn's argument is ultimately underwhelming.

43 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author defines LEFT in a new way, March 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Why the Left Hates America: Exposing the Lies That Have Obscured Our Nation's Greatness (Hardcover)

Most of the people that have written reviews that say this book is shallow have obviously not read the book. These people have obviously read nothing more than the title of the book and possibly the blurb on the back. I feel that they have chosen to "review" the book just to keep others from even considering reading it. Dan Flynn does not define the LEFT as people who are merely liberal or Democrats. The LEFT in his mind is something completely different from the vast majority of America, and they are hardly represented in our government as well. He defines the LEFT as extreme and radical. They include people like movie stars with the bully pulpits who constantly tear down our country. These are the people who say terrible things and then run to other countries to hide all the while spending money made by entertaining an uninformed public. Before you close your mind to this book, make sure that you know what the book is about. The person who said that he is talking about 30 percent of the population obviously did not even read through the first pages of the book. This book is about a much smaller and far more dangerous population.