At 01:49 PM 5/23/01 +1200 K.Feete wrote:
>The general attitude seems to be that we Americans think we are the
>center of the world. We think we have the best food, the best culture,
>the best sports, the best *everything*- and not only that, we are
>determined to export our culture everywhere else and make sure everyone
>gets to share in our "superiority" whether they want to or not.
And the survey says that the great majority of them want it, and want it a
lot......... The demand for American cultural products is simply enormous
around the world.
>Additionally, we think we're the only important ones, and we don't see
>any reason to learn anything about anyone else's country. To my shame,
>this seems to be rather true. I've learned more about Europe in the few
>months I've been here than I ever knew before, not to mention Asia, New
>Zealand, Australia, and (in a bizarre sort of way) the US.
That is unfortunate - as I have often lamented. Fortunately, myself - and
the many others involved with the Model United Nations movement around the
country (and around the world) are actively working to change that.
> And we *are*
>pretty damn arrogant, when it comes right down to it, and we don't seem
>to have a lot of reason for it.
O.k. I am going to leave aside the already-discussed topic of whether
arrogance is ever justified/reasonable/appropriate, etc. - and simply
tackle the substance of your last sentence year. Do you truly believe
that there is "not a lot of reason" for Americans to be arrogant?
Let's see what Americans have in their favor....... For starters, we have
bailed the rest of the World out of not one, not two, but THREE real big
one's in the past 100 years. When Europe hurtled toward
self-annihilation in the Great War, we entered in and turned the tide.
When the World was threatened with the evil, genocidal, empires of the Axis
- it was America that provided the decisive difference. And following
that war, America pulled a feat that was all but unprecedented in World
History. Showing "malice towards none, mercy towards all" when the entire
World threatened to fall unde the dark shadows of communism, it was America
that organized the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the United Nations.
America has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, and a
great many of the important inventions of the past 200 years were made
here. We have one of the most advanced economies in the world, and enjoy
a very high standard of living. Today, we are leading the way in bringing
the Internet, and the Information Revolution, to the World.
Among our many achievements, we count perhaps the greatest triumph in the
history of manking - landing a man on the moon. We continue to remain a
leader in the arts, including music, theatre, and motion picture. Our
athletes easily rank among the best trained and most highly skilled in the
world. We are also the world's leader in research in a great many fields
from economics to medicine.
This is, of course, not to say that America is perfect. Indeed, we have a
great many problems. Our minorities remain disproportionately impovershed.
Our education system provides too few choices for our parents and leaves
far too many children behind. We remain reluctant to invest in mass
transportation, and still produce too many pollutants. We still are not
sure how we will support all of our elderly in their retirement. Our
nation committed a great number of evil deeds in its past, from Vietnam to
Central America and from Tuskegee to the Japanese internment camps.
Then again, no place on Earth is a utopia - and many of our problems are
shared in one degree or another by a great many of the other nations on
Earth. Neverthless, looking around us at the other nations on this
planet, it would be very difficult for almost any human to not feel just a
little bit proud about all of the things we have done right - and not be
just a little self-confident that we'll be solving many of these problems
someday soon.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of institutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
