The Dangerous and Destructive Mythology of American Exceptionalism

a reply to: theantediluvian

please don't appologise for being patriotic it is a very admirable trait.

Seems to me that American Exceptionalism is a rehashing of Manifest Destiny.
I do think that America is certifiably exceptional, when viewed in comparison to other nations...but so was the Roman Empire...and the British Empire. America has inherited their global role. The question is, will it also inherit their fate?

a reply to: StalkerSolent

Yes. All empires end eventually. Though if you think that empires implode or are overrun in this day and age, you are wrong. What happens is that empires usually grow too large to continue to manage centrally then they start losing territory and relevance until they are a fraction the size of their original size. America won't disappear though, we'll just become second fiddle to the next empire.

Also, the Roman Empire in the east continued up until the early 1900's.

a reply to: alldaylong

The internet wouldn't work if not for a Britain inventing the telephone.

Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish by birth, American by choice) filed for his patent the same day as Elisha Gray filed a very similar patent. There's been a controversy ever since over who should be credited with the invention. Either way, the first patent for the telephone was granted in the US. In a larger context, there were people from a host of countries working on similar inventions to replace the telegraph.

The World Wide Web wouldn't work if not for a Britain inventing the protocols.

Tim Berners-Lee is indeed the creator of the the WWW. He wrote the first webserver, CERN httpd in C (created by Dennis Ritchie, American) and it ran on NeXTSTEP, a UNIX (American) derived OS created by NeXT Computers (founded by Steve Jobs). HTTP wouldn't exist without the underlying protocol suite. TCP/IP was created by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, both Americans. Also, HTML is a descendant of SGML which is itself a descendant of Generalized Markup Language (GML), developed at IBM in the 70's.

As I said in my earlier post, I'm not big on bragging but I'm also not in the habit of letting trash talk about my country or poor attempts at minimizing the contributions of my countrymen go unanswered.

a reply to: theantediluvian

a reply to: [post=19038493]theantediluvian
we are talking about your Goverment not about you . didn't your government just let thousands of illegal people in? how is that fair to you or legal immigrants. not fair to your tax and so on and so on. if you are happy the way your country is currently run than say so pls tell us what you love about it and what you are pround of you are correct there is lot of negative talk. I said you guys are fun and a good bunch of people end of story these talks are making me feel efed up. if u care dump on my country of origin I tell you the real and sad and I tell u the good

a reply to: theantediluvian

also it is certainly not only America the whole world seems efed up. like where are the old school values were are the golden better days were are the days when gas was cheap wages were good people were not afraid of each other people didnt label each other as enemies no care in the world is like there is no point of return to the "good days" I bet ur generation did feel cool and cherished ur firs Nike sweat shirt I bet u were happy when u got ur first brick size mobile phone I bet u were greatful when u got to take ur lady first time in a car when you got ur first cd player. no hoarding no overindulgence blah blah

a reply to: MimiSia

and tell me what do u think of kardashian lol

a reply to: theantediluvian

We could have this to and fro argument all day long with who invented what. Britain invented the worlds first electronic digital computer.

To have got where we are today it took many inventions by many people from many nations. Without one the other wouldn't work.

Alexander Graham Bell had 3 citizenship's. British U.S and Canadian. He died and was buried in Canada 1n 1922.

a reply to: Kryties

Yes it is true we are arrogant pr##ks, COWBOYS you call us.
BUT as is CLEARLY shown in the world by our current INTERNATIONALLY appeasing president ,YOU NEED cowboys.
When a nasty international crisis shows up who do YOU want to stop it?
China. Russia?
Name another capable western force.
WE EARNED that arrogance.
it may seem ugly and I really don't like a lot of it or much of the gaudy popular cultural aspects of America ,BUT WE ARE exceptional when we are free to do our part.
WE do lead the world because the WORLD has come to us and given us their great talents.
I of course mean NOTHING of our civilian leadership but then again who WOULDN'T say the same?
I would not really say as a people we are genetically superior,but having free thinking and never having known any caste oppression has propelled us forward.

a reply to: StalkerSolent

"Manifest Destiny" was a genocidal mess ,a crusade against the indigenous peoples of America,which all nations had perpetrated.
AND indeed our Oligarchs are doing NOW.

a reply to: mOjOm

Our system of commerse has become predatory.
Think of how watchful you must be of CLAUSES and tricks to take our money.
It has taken our trust and faith in humanity.
OUR BRAINS were taken from us since the 50s when they started using systems to teach the masses and left individual teaching behind.
NOW they weaken our will by watering down achievement and P.C. garbage replaces it.

a reply to: [post=19038693]cavtrooper7

see this guy is proud of good and bad say it how it is good on you walk the walk talk the talk keep the fire burning when someone stands up to your greatness tear them apart. never stay hidden in darkness stand up and fight. good on you cowboy

is people like you in this threat that are the reason I will never have kids so you can use and abuse them as a tool to ur #ing greatness you are all efed up all in head you sicken me. no thank you to people like you comming to the salvation and great rescue frankly you terrify me and you are the biggest problem to next generations and to planet as a whole . let the leaders lead preaches preach but I shut the curtain on people like you. you are a mother efin freak

originally posted by: alldaylong
thus making Britain the greatest nation that has ever graced the planet.

You apparently misunderstood my topic as a treatise on which nation could be considered "greatest"; it is not.

a reply to: Aliensun

I feel compelled to repeat that notion that questionable, if not perhaps necessary, deeds of the past do not automatically translate to contemporary "exceptionalism."

Additionally, I'm rather surprised as to how very few respondents in this discussion have addressed the appalling statistics that show the United States is suffering greatly at the hands of corporations and oligarchs.

originally posted by: mister.old.school

originally posted by: alldaylong
thus making Britain the greatest nation that has ever graced the planet.

You apparently misunderstood my topic as a treatise on which nation could be considered "greatest"; it is not.

No i didn't misunderstand your topic. My comment was " tongue in cheek".

It is ridiculous for anyone to claim their country is " the greatest ". Many countries have contributed to make the world what it is today. No one country has the right to claim " the crown "

The following clip is from a HBO show called The Newsroom. Just because it's from a television show, does not mean that it isn't spot on in regard to the USA.

I have pride in my nation as much as anyone else. But in order to realize where we once were, and to get a clear vision of where we want to go in the future, we have to realize where we are at now. Right now, the USA is on a sinking ship. Unless its citizens wake up and start patching up the country, we're doomed.


It's not letting me embed the video. Here is the link...

The most honest three and a half minutes of television, EVER...

a reply to: EternalSolace

I was literally two minutes from posting that video. Pretty much required watching if you want to have a thread on this subject.

originally posted by: tmeister182
Before you go pissing all over America for it's exceptionalism don't forget it is the only country in the world where you can sneak in, steal the country's wealth by taking welfare you don't deserve, steal the country's wealth by stealing an education in our schools that you don't deserve, steal the country's wealth by stealing healthcare that you don't deserve and THEN rather than be rounded up and tossed into the ocean you are given more freedoms than the actual citizens this is exceptional no matter how people spin it.

Before you spout forth bull # id look at the out side world.

There are many countrys like the UK that have a similiar with not MORE generous wellfare state than the USA...

a reply to: ScientificRailgun

Yes, it is. It's an accurate assessment.

There are clips all over youtube where undercover reporters, and magazine writers, question people on the street regarding various topics. People do not know the three branches of government. New York elected a senator, A SEATED SENATOR, that doesn't know the three branches of government. Arizona elected a senator that didn't even know Arizona was a border state.

People still believe that we live in a geocentric universe...

There are people in the USA that, should Hillary Clinton run for president, will vote for her because she's a female and it would be "cool to make history" again.

Cursive writing isn't taught in schools anymore. Civics aren't being taught in schools. Proper history isn't being taught in schools.

I could go on, and on, and on. mister.old.school is absolutely correct that there is a dumbing down of future American voters. It's being orchestrated with a purpose to do nothing other than enslave.