I don't think Americans have anything against fat. If anything now they are anti-carb more than anti-fat. Walk down the aisles of a grocery store and you see way more "low carb" than "low fat".
Fat happens to be the most calorie dense of the required macronutrients, however. At 9 calories a gram versus 4 calories for carbs and protien it's the easy culprit for people trying to cut weight (by reducing calories). For a while it became the diet fad because of its supposed links to heart disease as well. People want a silver bullet to get thin, once it was fat, then carbs and now, probably more sensibly, it's processed foods like HFCS.
Fat happens to be the most calorie dense of the required macronutrients, however. At 9 calories a gram versus 4 calories for carbs and protien it's the easy culprit for people trying to cut weight (by reducing calories). For a while it became the diet fad because of its supposed links to heart disease as well. People want a silver bullet to get thin, once it was fat, then carbs and now, probably more sensibly, it's processed foods like HFCS.
In the end it's not that hard: Eat less.