An American journalist on 'unlearning the myth of American innocence'

[zoogs]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/08/unlearning-the-myth-of-american-innocence

“It is different in the United States,” I once said, not entirely realising what I was saying until the words came out. I had never been called upon to explain this. “We are told it is the greatest country on earth. The thing is, we will never reconsider that narrative the way you are doing just now, because to us, that isn’t propaganda, that is truth. And to us, that isn’t nationalism, it’s patriotism. And the thing is, we will never question any of it because at the same time, all we are being told is how free-thinking we are, that we are free. So we don’t know there is anything wrong in believing our country is the greatest on earth. The whole thing sort of convinces you that a collective consciousness in the world came to that very conclusion.”
“Wow,” a friend once replied. “How strange. That is a very quiet kind of fascism, isn’t it?”

A long read and a really interesting piece and perspective on identity, nationalism, and perceptions within our country and without.

 

[knapplc]

The biggest problem with American exceptionalism is that Americans don't have anything to compare it to for a couple of different reasons. One, we didn't live at any other time than our own, so we don't grasp the differences between freedoms today and freedoms of other eras. We've talked here about overly burdensome regulations and all the ways we aren't actually free - but being immersed in this culture at this time, we don't see how our rights have been eroded over time. Most people largely believe they are "free," and simply don't grasp how/why they aren't.

Second, most Americans don't travel abroad, so they have no real frame of reference for what another country is like. Only 30% of Americans have a valid passport, meaning about 70% of the country has never traveled abroad. They've never seen first-hand how other people live, what their countries are like, what freedoms they do/don't have, and they have no idea how to compare what they have to any other society. TV doesn't give you that, the internet is a poor substitute, and the limited contact most Americans have with foreigners who travel here isn't enough to give them a true sense of their daily lives, any more than visiting a zebra in a zoo tells you what life in the Serengeti is like.

There's nothing inherently wrong with thinking your country is great. You should love your country, or if you don't/can't, you should be striving to make it into something you can love. But an isolated society like America's is vulnerable to jingoism, and I think we're sliding toward that today.

It's less "innocence" and more naivete, or ignorance. And it comes at a cost.

 

[zoogs]

Well said.

 

[NUinID]

Interesting read, I am not exactly sure what poinr she is trying to make exactly.

If her point was that Americans don't understand other parts of the world and think everyone wants to be an American, that is for the most part true. I am not exactly sure that you can get a great perspective on how the rest of the world feels about America and Americans by only living abroad in only 1 other country though.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Second, most Americans don't travel abroad, so they have no real frame of reference for what another part of our country is like. Only 30% of Americans have a valid passport, meaning about 70% of the country has never traveled abroad. They've never seen first-hand how other people live, what their countries are like, what freedoms they do/don't have, and they have no idea how to compare what they have to any other society. TV doesn't give you that, the internet is a poor substitute, and the limited contact most Americans have with foreigners who travel here isn't enough to give them a true sense of their daily lives, any more than visiting a zebra in a zoo tells you what life in the Serengeti is like.

Heck, you can even apply this to Americans having reference for what living in another part of the US is like- italic addition mine.

I think we in large part don't even have a good understanding of the lives of our fellow Americans, if they are different than ours. It certainly doesn't help that we have various influences pouring gasoline on that schism and driving the wedge in further in pursuit of their own purposes.

 

[NUinID]

Second, most Americans don't travel abroad, so they have no real frame of reference for what another part of our country is like. Only 30% of Americans have a valid passport, meaning about 70% of the country has never traveled abroad. They've never seen first-hand how other people live, what their countries are like, what freedoms they do/don't have, and they have no idea how to compare what they have to any other society. TV doesn't give you that, the internet is a poor substitute, and the limited contact most Americans have with foreigners who travel here isn't enough to give them a true sense of their daily lives, any more than visiting a zebra in a zoo tells you what life in the Serengeti is like.

Heck, you can even apply this to Americans having reference for what living in another part of the US is like- italic addition mine.

I think we in large part don't even have a good understanding of the lives of our fellow Americans, if they are different than ours. It certainly doesn't help that we have various influences pouring gasoline on that schism and driving the wedge in further in pursuit of their own purposes.

This is very true.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I was on the road all week and read this post. It really got me thinking about my own thoughts on America.....I then got to thinking about how similar they are to the Huskers. Let me explain.

When growing up and a young adult, I had this idealistic view of America. After all, we had built our principals on every man being equal, freedom of choice and Democracy. We solved major problems within our own country by standing up to slave owning states and won a horrible Civil War. We had been called upon by the world to conquer evil and we answered by winning two world wars. We dominated the world based on what is right and fair and being compassionate.

When growing up, and as a young adult, I had this idealistic view of the Huskers. After all, we were dominating on the field by doing it the right way. We didn't cheat. We did it by hard work and coaches and players who always had the right attitudes. We finally went out and beat the rest of the world like OU, Miami, Florida...etc. All of those programs were just the opposite of ours. They had been the ones caught cheating. They were the ones with players that got in trouble with the law. They were the ones that were disgusting examples of what college sports is all about.

Sometime in the last 20 years, I started realizing that America isn't this idealistic place that always does the right thing. There have been times in our past where we did the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. We didn't always live by the mantra of...."every man created equal". Our government has done some pretty disgusting things over the last 200+ years. There are people and groups within the US who have done some pretty disgusting things to each other or around the world.

Sometime in the last 20 years, I started looking back on those idealistic years as a Husker and realized....hmmm....no....we didn't always do things on the up and up. During the 80s and 90s, we had our share of scandals. I remember players when I was in college absolutely partying their asses off. When they would get in trouble, it would be swept under the rug and taken care of by them running steps at Memorial. I remember a car dealership on O street where certain players would "work" to earn some extra money. The entire LP incident wasn't the only black eye on the program, it was just the most well known and publicized one.

Now, at 50, I love America. I believe we try to do the right thing. But, I'm not naive enough to claim we are innocent. We many times live our lives to other's detriment around the world because we have a view of ourselves where we are great and everyone else isn't. Well...that's not always the case. We are a great country. But, there are other great countries around the world. Not everyone respects us and sometimes that's based on their personal experiences. Not everyone in the world wants to BE American. They love their own countries and that's a good thing. Being great for us is like an alcoholic staying dry. It's a constant fight and sometimes we fail....but.....keeping trying is more important than anything else.

Now at 50, I love the Huskers. I believe we try our best to win the right way. But, I'm not naive enough to claim we are innocent. I don't have any evidence that players are getting benefits against the rules, but, I'm not going to be shocked if something comes out at some point in time. I understand that not everyone is envious of Huskers and I know people love their own football programs....and that's a good thing. Sports would be boring if everyone loved the same team. We will keep trying to be a great program but, I realize there are other great programs too.

The fact is, the world is not a black and white....or good versus evil all the time. There is one hell of a lot of gray area. I love this country and believe we have done a lot of good around the world. But.....we need to keep trying to make sure that we are doing GOOD instead of negatively affecting people's lives who don't deserve it.

PS...you could even take this example a step farther. Many Husker fans were tired of playing wimpy football, so they wanted a rough and tough coach to come in. We got one that hated the media, was totally obnoxiously unable to relate to the fan base. He was at times an embarrassment to the program.

Many American voters were tired of having wimpy politicians....so....we end up with a tough guy President that hates the media and is totally inept in relating to people and thinks he's so much smarter than everyone else.

.........who is going to be America's Mike Riley?

 

[Crusader Husker]

We should spend more time on what unites us and not what divides us. More talk about family and friends and Husker football. A lot less talk of politics.

 

[NM11046]

Really well said BRB.

 

[zoogs]

Well said, BRB. I think that realness about what we are is important. There's a lot of good here, but also some stuff that's dangerous to simply buy into. "Good" requires work and vigilance, not retreating to comfortable self-perceptions.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

American exceptionalism shouldn't be taken so literal. It stems from patriotism, and pride. Honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a country that didn't think they were "exceptional".

Far from perfect, but America has been the standard for good in this world for a long, long time. That's why the Trump phenomenon has taken the world by storm. I truly believe that most (if not all) of the European countries are scared of a world where the traditional America isn't there to hold their hand.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

I'm sure this will have all you liberals rolling your eyes (for some reason)

But, this is a great video.

 

[funhusker]

I'm sure this will have all you liberals rolling your eyes (for some reason)

But, this is a great video.

Yes, because liberals hate safety nets that allow people to fail. And they also generally hate policies that help less fortunate people around the world.....

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

I'm sure this will have all you liberals rolling your eyes (for some reason)

But, this is a great video.

Did the emoji mean nothing to you? Clearly, I was poking fun at the fact liberals aren't big fans of Prager.... Lighten up, and have a little "fun", funhusker