Is there a Bin Laden in the Audience? Considering the Events of September 11 as a Possible Boomerang Effect of the Globalization of US Mass Communication

The images of America exported by entertainment and information media companies have created very high expectations in foreign audiences. Some recipients overhearing American media want to immigrate to the US and/or study in Western universities. In the process, a few of them encounter difficulties deceiving their high expectations. Their frustrations have been exploited by some fanatic ideologues for their own agendas, resulting in anti-American terrorism. The American media should be aware of the unintended consequences of their global exhibition of media, and more careful attention should be given to the way immigrants or graduate students sojourning in the US live their day-to-day encounters.