McDonald’s and Amercian movies are often lifted up as examples of this. Both examples are, of course, laughable. Nobody forces anybody to eat at McDonalds or to go see Star Wars. But people stand in line all over the world just so they can shell out their hard-earned money to do these things.

We sell American culture because we have it ready made and it sells. We’re in it for the money, not some cultural imperative. In fact, if American culture didn’t sell worldwide — if, say, French culture did instead — you’d probably see Americans opening boulangeries all over the world.

And then everybody would be mad at us for that.