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Alright, no point in replying to any one post since there are multiple ones on each point.
The thread is about how frighteningly jingoistic America is - as exemplified by the recent chart success of what can only be described as a jingoistic song. Well, duh! Of course a large, successful, powerful, confident country is jingoistic. I have yet to find an example of such a country in history that was not - if I am wrong here, please give me an example.
It's nothing to do with American national characteristics - of all the countries in the world it has the greatest homogonisation of racial groups. (And yes, there are clearly difficulties in integration for some of them, but this is a relative test, not an absolute one.) The point is - this is human nature. I guarantee if Britain were as powerful as USA and were the subject of an attack from the outside, then something along the lines of "Rule Britania" but with some lines aobut the SAS would leap up the charts. If you think that's not the case, anybody remember Portillo getting a standing ovation at the Conservative Party conference when he was in government (something to do with Defence I think) and his statement:
"Three letters strike fear into the hearts of (foreigners, or something to that effect): SAS".
I mean, the man's a government minister! And there was another one from another government minister (I forget which one now) explaining why Europeans did better at exams. "They cheat". AAAAARGH!
When Russia was a superpower it claimed the west was decadent and evil and morally and (when they possibly could) genetically deficient.
Germany used to claim the same. And Rome when it was the superpower. And China, Japan, Britain...
It is nothing to do with Americans -v- the world. It is everything to do with human nature and America just happens to be the superpower at the moment. I have no doubt in 200 years when (due to global warming) the Empire of Iceland finally takes its historically justified place in world affairs they will be shouting about "The genetic inheritance resulting from eating herrings explains why we are richer than you, and why you should follow our example, which is why we can bomb you if you don't."
I suspect it is because:
(i) There is a human tendency towards meeting any challenge with aggressiveness, whilst at the same time attempting to justifying oneself morally / claim to be in the right.
(ii) It's a lot easier to do this when your group/gang/country is the most powerful - or to put in reverse, it's almost impossible to do this when you are the weaker party who has to use brains not brawn.
(iii) This doesn't mean that all Americans are like this, just as not all Britains are liberal. Just that all humans (statistically averaged over the population) have similar tendencies but they are subject to disimilar external stimuli.
Except the Danes, who are clearly superior. You lot just haven't realised this yet. |
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