What Does the World Want from America AOW #18

This week I finished my IRB “What Does the World Want from America?” This section deals a little bit on how the other countries view America but mainly focuses on how these reflections look to the United States.  A professor of U.S. foreign policy, Simon Serfaty, writes about how the other countries views on us change who we are.  He says, “…every president becomes what he did not want to be.  Since 1945, the pattern has periodically repeated.” (Lennon 145)  This shows to the other countries that it is not who we are that makes us act this way towards them, but their views of our country.  And since we cannot act in a way to please everyone, no one can agree that we act in the right way for them.  Some rhetorical components of this section were an appeal to ethos and pathos.  The appeal to ethos is, once again, made through the structure of the book.  Since it is composed of many well-educated professors, the credibility is already established.  As for the appeal to pathos, Professor Michael J. Mazarr writes about September 11^th.  This event is a sensitive topic for citizens of the United States, and he draws the emotions of his audience through talking about it.  Overall, I believe that Alexander T.J. Lennon achieved his purpose because he was able to get all of the opinions of America, and share them with the Americans who do not have a correct understanding of what people from other countries think about the United States.  Though it may have achieved its purpose, I would not recommend this book to anyone in high school and below because the way that the professors dictate their views is confusing unless you’ve had experience with it.