I remember talking on a mailing list and saying something about how one good thing that might come of this was maybe it would inspire more Americans to see themselves as part of the world where there were other countries that affected us and that we affected.
For generations now Americans have developed this very annoying attitude of 'God's own country/God's own nation, we're the best and superior and yaddayaddayadda'. Welllll... Sorry to break it to you, America, but not everyone shares that opinion. France thinks it's 'La Grande Nation' and Japan still considers all Westerners Barbarian. And you know what? From their POV they have at least as much reason to think so than you do. A good piece of humble-pie would serve the US well, imo.
Unfortunately it began to seem that for a lot of people (not all, of course), the main way they began to relate to other countries was to consider whether they felt sorry enough for America after 9/11.
I have to admit that while I felt terribly sorry for the singular people who were killed in that event (I remember crying out loud when that poor woman jumped out of a window somewhere on the 40th floor or something), I felt that the USA as such had reaped what they had sowed. You just don't slap people around and look down your nose at them while you steal their resources. Especially not when they have pride and guns.
I just feel like we spend so much time convincing ourselves we've done nothing wrong we can't fix anything we have, and so much time accusing other people of being mean to us we can't benefit from any good advice we might have for us.
How could the USA do something wrong, ever? Remember, they're the world police! Surely they're right at all times. Sounds Gryffindorish somehow? Well, I think it's the same attitude.
Perhaps it really has something to do with age? As nations go, America still is a pimply teenager. So perhaps this is just a phase?
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Date: 2004-11-05 01:57 pm (UTC)For generations now Americans have developed this very annoying attitude of 'God's own country/God's own nation, we're the best and superior and yaddayaddayadda'. Welllll... Sorry to break it to you, America, but not everyone shares that opinion. France thinks it's 'La Grande Nation' and Japan still considers all Westerners Barbarian. And you know what? From their POV they have at least as much reason to think so than you do. A good piece of humble-pie would serve the US well, imo.
Unfortunately it began to seem that for a lot of people (not all, of course), the main way they began to relate to other countries was to consider whether they felt sorry enough for America after 9/11.
I have to admit that while I felt terribly sorry for the singular people who were killed in that event (I remember crying out loud when that poor woman jumped out of a window somewhere on the 40th floor or something), I felt that the USA as such had reaped what they had sowed. You just don't slap people around and look down your nose at them while you steal their resources. Especially not when they have pride and guns.
I just feel like we spend so much time convincing ourselves we've done nothing wrong we can't fix anything we have, and so much time accusing other people of being mean to us we can't benefit from any good advice we might have for us.
How could the USA do something wrong, ever? Remember, they're the world police! Surely they're right at all times. Sounds Gryffindorish somehow? Well, I think it's the same attitude.
Perhaps it really has something to do with age? As nations go, America still is a pimply teenager. So perhaps this is just a phase?