Anti American Messages by former American Citizen

[Wisarut]

Khun John Arnone had written “Why I Left America” ... and Manager Daily had translated into Thai for this matter.

REF:

1. John Arnone, “Why I Left America”, P. Press Co. Ltd., 2007
2. John Tirman, “100 Ways America is Screwing the World”, Harpers Collin Publishers, New York, USA, 2006

First Section
http://www.manager.co.th/Daily/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9500000101746

Last Section
http://www.manager.co.th/Daily/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9500000104699

[mdechgan]

Can someone re-translate it back into English?

[Wisarut]

Can someone re-translate it back into English?

In such a case, you should go to Asia Book to pruchase the book by Khun John Arnone

REF: http://www.bangkokpost.net/030807_Realtime/03Aug2007_real21.php

BOOK Reviews

Thailand is preferable
http://www.bangkokpost.net/030807_Realtime/030807_rt16.jpg

Why I Left America
by John Arnone
175 pp, 2007 John Arnone
paperback
Available at Asia Books and
leading book stores, 325 baht

We know - those of us living in the Realm and read its English-language newspapers, locals and farangs - that John Arnone is an opinionated man. In his letters to Postbag and its counterpart that he has views about most everything and wants to share them with us. We, depending on the reader, agree with some and disagree with others.

Supporters and detractors agree that Arnone means what he says and isn't trying to be perverse just to gain attention. A reason he raises hackles is that he doesn't try to be politically correct when presenting his thoughts. His assertion that those disputing them miss the point, can't see the forest for the trees, are narrow-minded, does little to win friends and influence people.

Arnone was 57, with three failed marriages behind him, when he arrived from California in 1998. He's served in the US Navy, made-lost-made money three times, been behind bars, ran an adult (porn) shop, visited 13 countries. Within six months of coming here, he penned a book. Publishers in the States and Thailand weren't interested.

He put it out at his own expense nine years later, with 2007 updates. Think of a ship-of-the-line firing a broadside and you have the martial equivalent in Why I Left America. For 175 pages, Arnone blasts his homeland every which way. Gibbons' The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire was a tap on the wrist by comparison.

He faults Feminists for abandoning their children, the government for trying so hard to be fair that it forces integration on those who resent being told what school to send their kids, who to hire for their business, why the propaganda mills churn out lies. Arnone deplores the laziness and ignorance of the masses, all looking for excuses to sue and make millions.

Nobody escapes the shrapnel. How many generations of Germans will the Jews blame for the Holocaust? Brothers' humour skewering Whitey for yesteryears' Jim Crow behaviour is wearing thin. There is corruption from top to bottom. Jealousy and greed, dissatisfaction and selfishness are rampant in the Republic. People don't like each other.

Wives don't show their spouses tenderness or respect, so the husbands seek them abroad. Fortunately, to hear Arnone tell it, Thai women (those not infected by US Feminists) know what it is to be women. He wed one and has no cause to regret it. They run a guest house upcountry. Most of the Thais he knows are poor by American standards, yet are generous with what they have and are happier.

The author denies that he's a racist or a misogynist or that he hates the US. He allows that for two centuries it exceeded the expectations of the Founding Fathers. But when it became a superpower the populace felt cocksure, certain that the rest of the world would follow its leadership. Poor judgment. Granted that Thailand has its drawbacks. Nevertheless, the quality of life here is to be preferred.

[mdechgan]

I have just bought the book and have read a few chapters. has anyone else bought the book or read it?

I can post a few subjects he mentioned so that we can discuss on this board.

[mdechgan]

Well Mr. Arnone was 57 at the time he wrote the book back in 1997. Let's say he was an average person, averagely educated, living the average American lifestyle. He went through many failures financially and marital yet managed to endure his experiences. To keep it simple he became disgusted with the lifestyle and wrote a book about how he felt and what was wrong with the country. He is currently 66 and has a happy Thai family currently retired in rural Thailand.

He has been to many countries abroad and have socialized with the upper and lower classes of society without being felt out of place.

His views are nothing more than his personal opinion and subjective views on American society and what went wrong. Yet it is a taboo where everyone knows what's happening and is a fact yet many don't speak about it because of being being label "anti-American" however Mr. Arnone does speak about it. If anyone would read the book I'm sure many would agree with many topics but would not say so in public. His points are valid but without so called hard evidence since his many points are based generalizations. He does state many times that he is not a racist or anti-American and that his generalizations are generalizations and makes note that a few do break his generalizations.

He states that instead of fighting, coping, or trying to be someone that he wasn't in America, it was better to just leave.

Also mentioned is that this book will never get published in America because of the topics being discussed.

[mdechgan]

Chapter 1 is basically about how America has forgotten how the country was founded 200 years ago.

He says Americans have become arrogant ever since winning WWII and being the first on the moon.

Not because of them being smarter, brighter, or trying harder, but because of being in the right place at the right time.

America is where it is now because of pure geographical location with its numerous resources. If Japan were to settle North America 200 years ago the America would be different.

His aruement is that if the Americans never acquired German technology they never would have been the first on the moon.

Because of being arrogant America now decides what is right or wrong. Who is bad who is good. Who should be taken over who should be allied.

America boasts about their high standards of living, but is that what living is all about? is that all they can boast about? Being able to buy more material stuff? America boasts its standard of living and being able to buy more stuff so they can influence other cultures that the American way is more happier and other cultures should be more like them.

Mr. Arnone concludes that many Asian countries cannot boast as high a standard of living as America but can boast "honor" which America doesn't have much of.

The intersection of Phay Thai and Rama 1 road is disturbing to me. You have MBK, Siam square, Siam Discovery, Siam Center, Central Chitlom, Central World, Sogo, Siam Paragon, Big C within a few hundred meters of each other. Materialization is stong in Bangkok.

[mdechgan]

Chapter 2 is more touchy as being an almost racist chapter. Though Mr. Arnone is not a racists he make many generalizations mainly blacks and Muslim in general.

The chapter starts off with how America is now a "melting pot" He talks about how many people from different nationalities immigrate to America and points out how they are forced to be intergrated. How natural selection is compromised. Instead the hard working and educated people of society are forced to "bus" with the lazy. Not generally due to nationality but whoever works harder would be more successful than the lazy.

Example: Children of hard working families no have to be in the same classroom as "lazy" children. Since the level of teaching has to be lowered to accomodate both the stadards are lower and children become lazy. It is concluded that the next generation is more lazy and their successes are not from hard work or education but from inheritance and being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right connections.
He points out how many Asians, Jews, etc. try hard to succeed with education and hard work but not the blacks or Muslims.

Blacks don't try hard to succeed but instead blame the system or whites for their disposition. So instead of getting an education and working hard they place blame for being in jail on others while they should have been improving and advancing their own neighborhoods such as the asians (Chinatowns, Koreatowns), Jewish, Italians instead of rioting as Mr. Arnone witnessed in Los Angeles twice. Mr. Arnone says it doesn't matter if you are from Beverly Hills or the wrong side of Chicago one should succeed through education and hard work and take responsibilty and not blame others for your predicament.

Muslims have become the polar opposite of Americans. Their religion is intolerant, inflexible, not receiving of other religions. They only come to a country to experience the riches and resources but not to accept or try to be tolerant of others. He wote this book before the events of the Muslim insurgency in the South of Thailand. It is amazing the coincidence.

Example: In Bangkok airport their is a Muslim praying room in a predominantly Buddhist country. He explains how Buddhists like Thailand are open to people of other religions. Yet The Muslims down South would like their own country and piece of land not through negotiations or balloting but through random murders of Buddhists.

I agree with a few of his points although I wouldn't say them in public. However he points out he has many friends that are black and Muslim and that there are a few good one out there.

"Not all snakes are poisonous, but if you get bit by a poisonous snake you will never go near a snake again." True in a way.

The main point is the civil rights movement. How 85% of the population has to lose their right for 15% of the minority. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should mean one should be able to choose who to socialize and cohort with, not forced to.

I've been living in Thailand a few years now and I have experienced the same here. Thais, Thai-Chinese, Laotians, Isaan, Burmese. I think their are generalizations all over the world. I think one can easily find twins that one is Democrate and one is TRT all the way.

[doseiai]

The US is a vast nation of many contrasts, so while I don't mind Americans reading this book, I feel that people who haven't lived in the US for a long time may get the wrong idea. Translating a book is even worse!

Often overgeneralizations hold some truth, but are very narrow and obsessive over details. I find this to be very true for his generalizations of minorities.

If this guy was to attack what was going on in Iraq, I would have no problem. If he was to describe the shortcomings of our oil dominated economy, I would have no problem either. The same for many other specific pressing issues that US has, including healthcare, transportation, materialism, militarization, specific foreign policy, etc. But to focus on minorities and national arrogance, shows that he is nitpicky, lazy, intolerant, and arrogant himself. So what if blacks or muslims are one way or another? I seriously doubt it affects him directly, in fact nothing he says affects him directly. There are plenty of communities here without many blacks or muslims that he can live in, and in no way does US forcing Burma, Indonesia to do things affect him at all! His talk is just a cover up for his failure in life, as they are not real issues.

His real problem is that he can't get along with Americans, because Americans don't put up with his crap. While Thai women immediately respect him as a "white-man", and don't contest his beliefs, in US, he is actively challenged and has to earn that respect. The Thai may not know what kind of loser they are dealing with. American women won't put up with cheating men, they will throw them out the door. It doesn't matter if the cheating is "out of sight". Since while running porn shops, failing 3 marraiges, he hasnt done anything to gain respect, he feels that he can "escape to Thailand" where married men can be perpetual children, sleep around, and women do all the work. In fact, his very attacks on blacks for having a victimization complex is exactly what he has. How do I know? Because a hard working motivated individual would not move to Isarn and be poor, they would bust their butt in Bangkok, Tokyo, or any other expensive city working their tail off for a better future.
Yet actually I don't have a problem with him being in Isarn. I have a problem with his narrow and hypocritical mind, being jealous of lazy people when he is one! His very characterization of Muslims as intolerant is what he is, an intolerant racist!

As far as national arrogance, yes, US does a lot of meddling, but honestly, he doesn't care about the meddling in other nations, he cares about how the US meddling in his own life, limiting what he can and cannot do. Maybe he shouldn't be doing those things...

As for Thai trying to learn about America, please don't get the wrong impression. It's easy to think America is simple, just as I used to think Thailand was simple. But its not. You can't learn all about America from one book, and I recommend you read a book from someone who isn't just making excuses for his failures in life.

[nganadeeleg]

I agree with Doseiai, except for the following statement:
In fact, his very attacks on blacks for having a victimization complex is exactly what he has. How do I know? Because a hard working motivated individual would not move to Isarn and be poor, they would bust their butt in Bangkok, Tokyo, or any other expensive city working their tail off for a better future.
Why does materialism always have to be the motivating factor?

America indeed is complex, as is Mr Arnone, who sounds like a redneck when talking about Muslims & Blacks, and in the next breath praises Asians & Jews for their work ethic.

I sometimes fall into the trap of being anti-American, but then I remember that people like Martin Luther King were also American.

Forget about Arnone, and follow Osama Bin Laden's advice and try reading some William Blum or Noam Chomsky if you really want to find out about the dark side of America.
:p

[admin]

Why is he being called a "former" American citizen?

[GWR]

Self-righteous rantings
A 'defector' to the Thai way of life serves up an unsolicited hypothesis on the decline of American society

Published on September 9, 2007

The book under review is entitled "Why I Left America". To which the immediate riposte might be: Why should I care?

But the author is John Arnone of Yasothon, prolific writer to the two English-language Bangkok newspapers - 300 times by his own count - in which he offers his opinions on various and sundry topics, which provoke replies, which in turn provoke his replies to their replies. It seems a pastime ideal for someone with too much time on his hands, like those British colonial Colonel Blimps who passed their retirement years writing indignant dispatches to The Times. But regulars like Arnone keep the letters column lively.

His 175-page book was recently self-published after he failed to find a willing issuer in Thailand or the US. The text was written in 1999, six months after he settled in Thailand, with appropriate updates in bold type.

Arnone was born in 1941 and grew up in a tranquil time in America, to which he looks back with unabashed pride. His parents were the children of immigrants, father Italian, mother Polish. His father brought home the money as an auto mechanic and ruled the roost. One of five children, Arnone graduated from high school, served in the US Navy and, like many others, migrated from New York to California.

He first worked in magazine distribution until he was fired in a sex-discrimination case. Then he became the owner of a pornographic video store. He went through three bitter and costly divorces.

He moved to Thailand nine years ago and is happily married with two kids in Yasothon. Why he moved is the subject of his book: America is a thoroughly rotten place. Government, morals, economy, sexual mores, entertainment, family values, legal system and education - all are one big, festering swamp.

Arnone is no scholar and does not quote from books or cite statistics. What he does have are opinions and an awful lot of them. His book is a rant, a raging polemic, a towering jeremiad. His core beliefs are stated toward the end of his slender volume:

"White, European males built America. Not women and not minorities. White men did. And now you revile us and treat us with condescension, if not outright scorn. Women and minority comedians make fun of us openly and television shows portray us as boobs and buffoons.

"Sour grapes? Absolutely. It's like building a house and then having a horde of squatters descend on it, only to criticise the woodwork. Then after partying in it for months and not paying attention to maintenance, they want you to fix the leaks in the roof.

"So little by little, those of us who are still alive and free to do so are leaving the country to you. You have had it for some time now anyway. So far, all you've produced are drug addicts, dysfunctional children and a proliferation of psychiatrists, lawyers and lawsuits ..."

Political correctness is a concept foreign to John Arnone. And this is refreshing, though the aggrieved, whiny tone of the angry, white middle-aged male goes on for too long. He also doesn't like American healthcare, diet, consumer culture, anti-smoking laws, sports, television, movies, music and dancing, drugs, breathalysers, handicap parking, driving manners, corporations, special-interest groups, male-female relations, deadbeat dads and Christmas.

You wonder why he didn't just stay home and vote Republican, but Arnone is also against neo-con bozos and George W Bush's war in Iraq.

His thesis is that America's decline began with the civil-rights movement which led to forced bussing and job quotas and in turn to woman's liberation and gay rights - a culture of complaint in which everyone claims to be a victim, except for white guys like Arnone. "Additionally, all three movements that I have mentioned, having won battle after battle, have now mutated into nothing more than extortionist organisations looking for the edge," he writes.

He also doesn't like Middle Eastern immigrants because of their "exclusive religion".

But give him credit. He found salvation in Thailand. His Isaan wife runs a hairdressing salon and an orchid garden while he does the washing and ironing and takes care of the kids, who are being raised Thai.

" ... I never said Thailand was perfect. I said I like it. It's the best place I have ever seen for freedom, a sense of values, great weather and the general attitude of the people, not to mention the cost of living. But, most importantly, it is an everyday pleasure watching people treat each other in a civil manner. That alone is reason to defect."

He likes the care Thai people expend on children, the respect for their elders, the Buddhist ethos, the sense of fun and the close social relations in his village. And you can smoke in the bars.

JJames Eckardt's eighth book, "Singapore Girl", is on sale at Kinokuniya, Bookazine and Asia Books.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/09/09/book/book_30048159.php

[grantbkk]

John Arnone’s self-published, self-righteous and self-aggrandizing pamphlet detailing his failed adult life in America before he found his way to Thailand is nothing more than an ego running wild. Reading “Why I left America” is a colossal waste of time and is simply a rehash of attempts by angry white Americans to deflect blame for a failed life. It is a sad, bitter tale by someone who had every opportunity to become an American success story but made some bad decisions and took the wrong path.

From what I can piece together John was out of school and out of the US Navy living in Los Angeles in the mid 1960’s. It appears that he failed to fully utilize the GI Bill that would pay for a college education and took a job in magazine distribution. He was later fired for “sex discrimination”, which must have been something because it didn’t really exist in that context until years later. Three failed marriages, jail time, and failing again in his chosen profession, pornography distribution, he became angry and disenfranchised so he relocated to Thailand in 1998.

For the record, I too was a white man in Los Angeles a few years behind John. In my opinion, if you were a white male in the 1960’s and 1970’s you could literally write your own ticket to success. Back then the Vietnam War was in full swing and a generation of “flower children” decided to drop out of society and devote their time to fun, music, drugs and love. There was a shortage of educated and skilled people who were always in demand and paid quite well their services.

John’s grandparents immigrated to the United States. In time they had children who worked very hard to provide for John’s parents and passed along a proper work ethic that allowed John to have every opportunity to fulfill his life’s dreams. Now, he would vehemently deny the same opportunities to any group of immigrants who do not agree with his skewed view of the world. I’m fairly sure that if John’s parents and grandparents were alive to witness firsthand what evil lurks in the mind of their progeny they would be horrified. By “immigrating” to Thailand he contradicts everything he preaches about the wickedness of immigrants and becomes an immigrant himself.

Using John as an example I can see why some officials and some people here want nothing to do with foreigners living long term in the Kingdom. What does he bring to the table except hate and negativity? A failed sex industry entrepreneur and ex-convict rants against immigrants, foreigners, gays, Blacks, white women, America, Americans, Middle Eastern people, Christmas and dancing. Are we really supposed to believe that he has had an epiphany and now loves everything Thai? I think not and most people are not that gullible.

John still has the capacity to do something positive with his life and for society before leaving us for the afterlife. I think it goes without saying that he should not smoke in front of his children or encourage them to take up the habit. His whiny, angry tone trying to defend smoking is at best left to the illiterate. He should somehow, someway see to it that his children are fully educated and instill a true sense of optimism upon them. They should have the same opportunities John was afforded so many years ago. John’s children should be given the opportunity to make positive choices and pursue a successful path that has so far eluded him.

John’s “Why I left America” was written in 1999 and apparently his beliefs have not changed in any significant way while living the “good life” in Thailand. This book sat festering and unpublished for eight years. By publishing this tripe for all to see he demonstrates that he has learned absolutely nothing by living the Thai way and now wants to foist absolute negativity on us in the form of a bigot’s view of the world.[/LEFT]

[doseiai]

From nganadeeleg: I agree with Doseiai, except for the following statement:

Quote:In fact, his very attacks on blacks for having a victimization complex is exactly what he has. How do I know? Because a hard working motivated individual would not move to Isarn and be poor, they would bust their butt in Bangkok, Tokyo, or any other expensive city working their tail off for a better future.

Why does materialism always have to be the motivating factor?

America indeed is complex, as is Mr Arnone, who sounds like a redneck when talking about Muslims & Blacks, and in the next breath praises Asians & Jews for their work ethic.

I sometimes fall into the trap of being anti-American, but then I remember that people like Martin Luther King were also American.

.......

Well, even Americans are anti-American at this point after the Bush Administration, but that can be a whole new book. However, nobody likes outsiders telling them what is wrong...

My point here is not about materialism, it was just that he seems to "hate" lazy people, yet he is lazy himself. I was not saying that he SHOULD be motivated by materialism or work hard, only that he is hypocritical in regards to his hatred for laziness.

I do agree with nganadeeleg, trying to earn as much money as possible in the US has gone way overboard. I think Americans need to come to the idea of "Less is more" and "waste not want not". Expansionism is good for underproduction as in the case of much of Asia, but not overproduction. I guess people just continue doing what was working for decades out of habit without re-evaluating their needs.