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impressionistic ramble
Interesting. I am confused. Increasingly. By certain strains of
anti-Americanism amongst my educated friends. I understand very much
monitoring and critiquing our government. That's what we're supposed to
do in a democracy. Yup. But do I understand the anti-Americanism stuff?
Not really. Are we more or less isolated and ignorant than folks in
other countries. Possibly LESS, really. If we saw 1,000s of civilians
die suddenly, we would not celebrate. No we wouldn't, pal. Uh uh. Stop
it. Think about it. We have kooks who would celebrate. But by and
large we're softies. But but but. In the history of the United States,
we have never celebrated mass murder. Even our guys like Thomas Paine
who supported the revolution in France eventually had changes of heart,
turns of stomach. We celebrated Hitler's defeat; we did not celebrate
the deaths of German soldiers. We picture Nazis as either mad or misled,
because we cannot imagine anyone rationally supporting murder. Hard to
get a grip on this. The anti-Americanism. There's a lack of perspetive.
Lack of perspective. NO other country with as much power as us, in the
history of the planet, has done so little conquering of its neighbors.
There's a knee-jerk reaction that is trained into us by our leftist
college professors: neo-colonialism, economic domination, etc etc etc.
It's not the same thing. It's not the same motives. It's not with the
same effects. Landing a McDonalds in India is not the same thing as
melting down Tenochtitlan. I just got vertigo. Writing from the top of
a very large well. Too may issues to sort. Too much need to sleep.
Listen. "Capitalism" is not "American culture." "Free Markets" are not
American culture. They are ideas, and our culture, while it includes
them, is not made of those ideas. Add to this. If Capitalism affects
folks in Western Africa, they are not being "Americanized." They are
being affected by an idea. Capitalism has its problems, but by and large
it is not a bad idea. It has produced a stunningly prosperous culture in
America. Elsewhere, it has stimulated certain changes. Cultures touch
and mix. Levi's jeans in Haiti are not a crime. They are servicable,
albeit over-priced trousers. Capitalism has reared children who have so
much freedom that they can spit in its face and call for socialism in its
stead. Socialism has no such good record. What do I feel, from the top
of this well? I feel that the articulate classes have lost track of the
reasons the country was founded. And, no, smart guy, I don't mean that
the country was founded on Christian principles which we've forgotten.
That isn't true. It was, however, founded in reaction to the constant
emergence of evil despots, back home in England and even here in the
colonies. It was not meant to alleviate suffering, though some hoped it
would. It was meant to create the maximum amount of liberty. Countries
with a minimum of liberty tend to hate us. (The French dislike us but
they do not hate us.) I cannot explain this. Can you explain this?
Where am I going? Just thrashing in the mire. The US supports Israel
because it is the only mideastern country which is not led by a despot.
That matters. It matters. What is it that can earn Yassar Arafat a
Nobel Prize, while he smiles with one side of his face and yells curses
with the other? The same attitude which thinks that WalMart represents
economic oppression whereas Fidel Castro, a man who jails dissidents,
should be brought into the international buddy community. No.
I'm tired. I'm only asking questions. But these general discussion
really go nowhere. Explain to me where the US is despotic and injust.
Be specific. Specificities can be discussed. But general denunciations
end discussions. They do not begin them. Here maybe is a point I would
stick by: in academic culture it is very easy to put down the States
simply by saying something like, "Yeah, hahahaha, the U.S. is a
benevolent power. What nonsense!" That's not discussion. It's
imbecile cynicism. Ye and we smart heads owe us more specific things at
all times.
Not that some people haven't been doing that here. But some haven't.
Thus ends impressionistic, possibly-ill-advised ramble
That is all.
Fred
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