dagblog - Comments for "American Exceptionalism"

Could it be that by titling

Decadetritis — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 09:41:57 +0000

Could it be that by titling my piece "American Exceptionalism" I was writing about American Exceptionalism, and not about America per se?

Of course I'm obviously writing about assassinations and murders in this context.

So you go off on a straw man - should America just go away? As if that were even remotely conceivable anyway, however much people might bash heads against walls or flagellate themselves.

Back to the mayhem, I have no time to chase random thoughts down dark alleys.

Yes, I am aware of the

Elusive Trope — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 23:14:51 +0000

In reply to No, American Exceptionalism

Yes, I am aware of the concept of American Exceptionalism means. It would seem your blog, by using the term as the title, is making the veiled assertion that not only is our presense not an inherently positive influence on the world, but actually is an inherently negative influence on the world. In other words, the world would be a better place if the US just disappeared because we make a bad situation worse. And since this is wrapped up with the notion of Exceptionalism and the latest example of internal acts of tragic violence, that this is somehow wrapped in the very nature of the American pysche or character.

You may not be saying this at all. But that is how I interpreted it.

The obvious reality in my opinion is that the US has both a positive and negative influence in the world. One can argue into the wee hours of the morning about whether, in the full scope of things, the scales tip toward the negative or the positive. But Americans are neither exceptionally virtuous nor exceptionally deviant. And the same can be said for the government as a whole.

No, American Exceptionalism

Desidertball — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 20:47:33 +0000

In reply to Yet just looking at places

No, American Exceptionalism is the delusion that we're different and that our presence makes a (positive) difference.

Yet just looking at places

Elusive Trope — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 19:38:35 +0000

In reply to American Exceptionalism

Yet just looking at places like Iran and Ethopia recently, it really isn't American Exceptionalism is it? I mean, if somehow America just vanished from the face of the earth, and everyone else just had to muddle forward without us, do you think the violence in the world would take any significant dip in occurrence?

And encouraged, perhaps, by

moat — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 19:20:25 +0000

In reply to Well certainly the Human

And encouraged, perhaps, by what doesn't go that far.

Well certainly the Human

Decadetritis — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:35:15 +0000

In reply to I wasn't defending the

Well certainly the Human Condition leads one to expect the worst.

I wasn't defending the

moat — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:39:00 +0000

In reply to Why should I care?If it's

I wasn't defending the prevailing protocol of what gets considered significant, only observing that the condition could get worse.

Why should I care?If it's

Decaderfulous — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:07:23 +0000

In reply to I see the small circumference

Why should I care?

If it's someone the NY Times knows, it's big news, otherwise back page?

There are about 5 politicians I care about overall - vs. lots of other people in the society I treasure more.

But we only do half-masts typically for elected people.

17,000 people are murdered every year. Do they have to have a R- or D- before their name to make news? 40 people a day are killed, but we only consider we should do something when it's a politician?

Well ain't royalty nice.

I see the small circumference

moat — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:53:10 +0000

In reply to American Exceptionalism

I see the small circumference you draw around the killings that gain notice compared to those outside the circle. I wouldn't want the circle to get any smaller whereby the shooting of elected officials becomes so ho hum that it is only mentioned in neighborhood papers in the police blotter down the page from the scores of high school games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch

Richard Day — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:20:18 +0000

In reply to American Exceptionalism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG443N7lo4Q