On April 7, 2009, the Democratic Voice of Burma (a news website maintained by Burmese journalists now living outside of Burma) published an editorial titled “The ‘Victim’ Treatment: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.” It began:

The contrast between the worldview of this Burmese writer and that of liberal elites in the West could not be clearer. The author argues that the way to combat Burma’s stereotypical image as a victim nation is to document its evolving youth culture. In the next paragraph, referring to Paris Hilton and The Simpsons, he claims that Burmese youths now “rush to grab hold of the Western world’s finest exports.” And this, he claims, is proof that Burmese society is “on the right track.”

My colleagues in North American academia are likely to see this editorial as proof of the reach of Western capitalist hegemony—indeed, as a tangible example of the hard-to-define yet inexorable force of cultural imperialism. In fact, several American friends who read the excerpt above laughed aloud in disbelief. How could anyone—especially a well-educated, English-speaking journalist—assert that loving The Simpsons is proof of agency, rather than victimization? Isn’t this editorial evidence of the bewitching power of Hollywood?