----- Original Message -----
From: "Russell Chapman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 7:37 PM
Subject: Re: Greatness
> "John D. Giorgis" wrote:
> > Unfortunately, in my opinion, this discussion exposed a virulent
> > anti-Americanism on the part of several members of the List, as quite a
few
> > attempted to debunk almost every reason Americans might have to take
pride
> > in their country.
>
> I think you're reaching a bit there - we weren't debunking reasons for
Americans to
> have pride in the US, we were debunking 2 things:
> some of your specific claims as being erroneous,
I won't argue with that. But, I think it might be worthwhile to discuss the
roots of American isolationalism on the list some time. It was a good
policy that had outlived its usefulness. It was the part of Washington's
farewell speech that was remembered (no political parties was soon forgot).
>and the general claim that it is OK to be arrogant if you have sufficient
levels of pride.
Actually, its amazing that interpretation of JDG's viewpoint still exists.
I thought he meant something different than that I and posted my
interpretation, he stated my interpretation was correct and had stated that
he did not state that arrogance was justified. My post suggested that
Americans had a reason to be arrogant in the same sense that Willy Sutton (I
recall his name now) had a reason to rob banks "cause that's where the money
is". His reason for robbing the banks didn't make it OK.
I think it might be a worthwhile topic of discussion to ask if someone who
far outdistanced others (say a Feynman) has a right to be arrogant about it.
With side bars asking if not tolerating fools gladly counts as arrogance.
> As far as I can see, apart from minor nitpicking, that was pretty clear.
> I know some anti-Americans, but they would never fit in on Brin-L for a
whole lot of
> reasons, and they wouldn't consider Brinellers as friends as most of the
"foreign"
> Brinellers do. There are plenty of anti-Americans in the world (cf the
Rogue Nations
> thread) without labelling us as well...
>
I never thought what you wrote was anti-American at all.
Dan M.
