One phrase that’s being tossed about a lot in American politics lately, particularly by such intellectual luminaries and stars of the Twitter Universe as Sarah Palin and Chuck Grassley, is American exceptionalism.
I’m a bit bothered by this because I feel that by making one country exceptional, they are dividing the world. It’s us against them. That’s not the way it should be, that’s not really the natural order of things. Everybody on Earth is basically the same, genetically. We all like to eat, sleep, drink and have sex. The vast majority of people in every country of the world would like to spend more time being with their
St. Patrick Driving the Snakes Out of Ireland
friends and family, singing, dancing, telling jokes or playing football and less time working for starvation wages in poorly lit factories with bad ventilation. We’re not all that different from each other.
Sure, there are some exceptional aspects to American history and culture, and there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of national pride. America was the first country to throw off the rusted chains of monarchy and establish a Republican Democracy (or a Democratic Republic, if you prefer) However, we weren’t the last, so we aren’t the only. America stood for a long time as a beacon of hope, a place that welcomed immigrants from all over. That came to a screeching halt when the Americans of the mid 19th century began to realize just how many Chinese there are in the world, and panicked. Today, Australia, New Zealand and almost every country in Europe has a higher percentage of immigrants in their population than the U.S. does. The USA is exceptional because it is vast, but not as vast as Canada or Russia, the USA is exceptional because it is wealthy, but not as wealthy as Japan or Sweden, the USA is exceptional because it produces the bulk of the world’s popular movies, but India is closing fast and plenty of other countries are creeping up along the inside rail.
In fact, most countries are exceptional in some way or another. China is exceptional because it has the most people, Haiti is exceptional because it is the only country in the world that was founded by slaves who revolted against the landowners, Libya is exceptional because it is the only country in the world whose flag is one solid color (green), Ireland is exceptional because they have no snakes (well, New Zealand doesn’t have snakes either, but they are exceptional for enough other reasons that we’ll let Ireland have the snakes thing), Australia is exceptional both for it’s wildlife and the whole founded by convicts thingie and my adopted home of the Czech Republic is exceptional because they are the only country in the world to have the letter ř in their alphabet.
So, STFU about the exceptional thing, Americans. Please. We´re no different from anybody else.
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Awww, Willie….you have such a pure, loving heart that you cannot see the underlying code in “American Exceptional ism”. Look at those who use these words. Look at their lives and works. I guess you have to have felt the ‘sting’ of living with, near, or in the presence of such “exceptional Americans” before you can understand what they mean and their indifference as to who they hurt with their words and deeds. “American Exceptional ism” means we are the ‘true’ ‘Christians’ who are ‘entitled’ to our ‘manifest destiny’ because WE are ‘blessed by God (that is, the One true God, of course)’, and we pay homage to ‘God’s Chosen People’…the Jews…whom we will never betray no matter what they do lest God should ‘curse’ our nation. A by-product of Christianity is outwardly encouraging human rights and equality as Jesus taught, but these are not the central theme of ‘American Exceptional ism’. All people in all countries want human rights and equality, the Iranian ‘Greens’ are dying to obtain these and they are Muslims….so that cannot be what SP and CG are bragging about. American Exceptional ism means, “we know best, we are the best, we are ‘right’, the rest of the world is ‘wrong’ because we say so…..now go ‘sit down and shut up’…. Happy Thanksgiving as we remember how white Christians invaded this foreign land, depended on the Native Indians for survival, then proceeded to exterminate or interred them and steal and destroy their lands and animals…but it was OK because it was done ‘in the name of the Lord’ and it was ‘His will’.