reply to post by tothetenthpower
After 200+ years of being told that you're the BEST in the world, despite all the evidence against it, that mentality is pervasive.
So anything other than how America is right now, scares the HELL out of Americans. A product of the war on terror and the middle class.
I'll admit right here I haven't read the rest of the thread - but this post got my attention
I think you're right - when a
people begin to see their flaws, sometimes it does scare the hell out of them. But, instead of owning up to that
- we sometimes go the other way
I've noticed recently that rather than admit something isn't going the way we'd like it to go - we instead say everybody and everything is corrupt,
bad - wrong. Seems to be a theme lately. Funny - but in this way we never have to admit a wrong choice or that something needs to be worked on and
improved. It's all or nothing - either WE are all good - or EVERYBODY is all bad :-)
I was just having a similar conversation with a friend of mine (who isn't American) about this very thing
I was explaining how, from a very early age - we here in the states are inundated with both positive and negative reinforcement about what it means to
be American - and to be a
good American. God knows - we are competitive. Winning, and being better is more important than pretty much anything.
We are the best. If it's not exactly true we will tell ourselves it's true until we can hardly hold a thought to the contrary in our pretty little
American heads
It's in all our media - radio, movies, television, our music...our churches - our sports - our politics. We are the best. Land of the free - home of
the brave. It's even in the Daniel Boone theme song - it's everywhere - subtle or blatant -
everywhere.
So, after however many generations of listening to ourselves chatter to and at each other about how magnificent we are - it's no wonder we buy into to
it (almost) unanimously and completely
Our country is a wonderful country in so many ways, so - it is true in some respects. America is amazing. However - if you doubt her - if you
criticize? Well, we all know how that plays out...
Nationalism is a scary thing - so we call it patriotism. To my ears, Homeland security always had the ring of Fatherland to it - and as we all know -
Father can be kinda strict
Seems to me a country - like a person - begins to grow up and be wise and balanced when it can look at itself in the mirror and acknowledge both the
flaws and the beauty. America will become even better as she ages - she is still the new kid on the block in so many ways and it's gonna sting some
when she realizes shes not the only pretty girl in the room - but - that's what it takes to grow sometimes
God love her - warts and all
edit on 10/12/2013 by Spiramirabilis because: needs to be the best :-)