News and Politics | October 29, 2008 | 9 comments

The Ugly America - We are better than this!

source: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081028_the_ugly_america/

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Conniepae
By Mike Farrell

"You really do hate America!" This was the parting shot from a man I had just debated on a television show shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Because hes a notorious right-wing blowhard, I laughed it off as the raving of a crackpot in extremis.

Little did I know.

Soon, those of us who opposed the Iraq war, torture, "extraordinary rendition" Guantanamo, spying on innocent Americans and other illegal tools in the Cheney/Bush black bag began to hear variations on that theme from people one would have expected to know better. And its gotten worse as they've become more desperate' or do the depths to which we've fallen suggest a fault line in America's culture?

Only a short time ago, we dissenters were called 'Saddam-lovers', ;America-haters' or, when they really wanted to cut deep, 'French!' But that usually came from the relatively unhinged, like my debate partner. Today, similar imprecations fall readily from the lips of media bloviators while the hoi polloi lurches toward lynch-mob tenor with screams of 'traitor' 'terrorist' and 'off with his head'; insults not aimed at lowly actors but rather at the man who could be the next president of the United States. Worse, they are winked at and ignored, or even defended and embraced by some of those from whom we expect better.

As one in the crucible of this volcanic yet potentially transformative moment, John McCain, who claims to put 'Country First', 'should reread the novel';The Ugly American. Sarah Palin can watch the movie.

Fifty years ago, Eugene Burdick and William Lederer's book exposed the boorish behavior some of our citizens exhibit while abroad, warning that a 'mysterious change seems to come over Americans'; when they are amid people and cultures seen as different. While the ensuing half-century proved those in developing countries to be neither less intelligent, less capable nor less interested in improving their lives than human beings elsewhere, this breed of Americans, inclined to 'isolate themselves socially' per Burdick and Lederer, seems to have turned inward, chanting 'USA, USA!'

As the world prospered behind their backs, those affected by this insular strain of American nationalism metastasized into swaggering jingoists full of Cold War machismo, content to wave the flag and 'Go for the gold.' For them, the collapse of the Evil Empire proved the world's sole superpower could do as it damned well pleased: 'We're No. 1' baby! Anybody who doesn't like it should get the hell out of the way.

'[L]oud and ostentatious'; per the book, this parochial group bequeathed its 'mysterious change' to generations of Know-Nothings who stuck to their own, seeing 'difference'; as a threat. Dumbed-down by television and wary of anyone lacking sufficient fervor for their triumphant “Christian nation,” they made those of different color, heritage or belief into 'the other'; a practice encouraged by coded appeals to racism from their would-be leaders. With Nixon's 'Southern strategy' and 'silent majority' setting the stage, Reagan's 'welfare queens' and Bush the First's 'Willie Horton' spread the contagion while conferring it legitimacy.

Embraced as true conservatives and stoked by hate-radio millionaires, these changelings seduced the Republican Party, laid claim to the flag and launched a 'culture war'. Adopted by anti-government hucksters, empire-seekers and profligate free-marketeers, they divided the nation with a God and Country ethos that declared the Bible inerrant, reviled homosexuality, 'permissiveness' liberalism and critical thinking, denied women equal rights, and children any at all, and cowed the media into submission.


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9 comments // The Ugly America - We are better than this!

  • AveryMoore
    • 0
      AveryMoore  

    • Wetdog,

      "The humble shall be exalted, and the exalted shall be humbled."

      For the impatient it was too long coming. For the patient it came when it could, but knowing that eventually the change was inevitable..

      Amen to that.

    • 3 years ago
  • Wetdog
    • 0
      Wetdog  

    • "The humble shall be exalted, and the exalted shall be humbled."

      If we expect God to bless America, then we'd better pay closer attention to what He has told us, and how He expects us to be and do.

    • 3 years ago
  • barbara3d
    • 0
      barbara3d  

    • Great points bluestranger. we are probably more divided than we were when the civil war started and brother against brother, charged with only bayonets in hand to spill blood all over the battlefield. If we keep going the way we are, we may see more blood spilled, not by the terrorists we fear but by the hate spewed on BOTH sides disguised as "republicans vs democrats". It is so much more than that. We have so much in common and so many reasons to come together whatever party wins and show the support to get our country invested in our PEOPLE. Return our troops, fix our government and stop the $$$ bleeding. 750 BILLION...and asking for more. WHO do we think is paying for this? Lets figure it out and demand that ANY government of the future will not be tolerated by stealing our money. I think it should be returned NOW. They aren't even using it.

    • 3 years ago
  • pokesmot
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  

    • There is only one America. It is like any other nation, family, or group designation that you choose. The most important thing that sets us apart is that we are allowed and even encourged to speak out and tell each other how we feel. When someone tells me that I am un-American because of my views, beliefs, or values it encourages me. It encourages me because they have just practiced free speech. I tell them this and usually the expression will change to one of shock or shame. Sometimes it puts the individual into a state of vapor lock but mostly it gets us over the name calling and on to an exchange of ideas. We don't have to go to another country to find diversity or cultures different than our own. Mostly it's a short drive to the next city, county or state. If everyone quit yelling at each other and calling each other names we could get a lot more done. But somehow it would seem almost un-american. We are not a silent people.
      Our more conservative brothers and sisters will continue to yell and scream even after all the votes are counted. That is their right to do so. We must remember that not all decent ideas come from brilliant people. Decent people take good ideas, refine and put them into practice.
      Let's focus on correcting the mistakes that have been made in our names. Make this a safer, healthier, and more understanding place to live. We can find more of the ways that we are the same and then we will start to appreciate the differences.

    • 3 years ago
  • AveryMoore
    • 0
      AveryMoore  

    • Two interesting films to watch as to what underlies the 'Ugly American's' corporate behavior.

      "The Smartest Guys in The Room"

      "The Corporation"

      Over the years we have witnessed the ascendancy of the pathological wingnut to the summits of business and government. Happy with each other, and sharing the same appetite for corruption - they eloped. Not surprisingly we were not asked to consent to the arrangement, approve of the scams, or join the party.

      As in some tinpot dictatorship the wingnuts conferred on state policy and bent the rules, when not outlawing them outright. Rules of conduct were intrinsically BAD and had to conform to suit predators, exclusively.

      Short term - did it ever payoff! No one had ever seen so many dazzling hyperinflated bubbles resulting merely from redefining government as 'morally obliged' to protect business against regulations. Wow!

      Then suddenly, Poof! Another trillion disappeared in balance-sheet smoke and escaping rhetorical gas fumes.

      Our ancestors used to argue that the Church and state were an insidious combination and must be kept at arms length from each other. They knew from long experience that Imperial Monarchies were a bust. Now wingnut-happy business has replaced the Church as the most god-awful corrupting influence this continent has ever seen. And the rule of Congressional Law? A Signing Statement annuls it.

      From the time Dilbert first became 'popular' and strips started to appear everywhere, we knew that dysfunction was how the vitality and innarrds of huge enterprises were being undone. The new game was "sell yourself." Everybody must be out there scheming and sucking up, only for themselves, in a system of structurally sanctioned incompetence. What this idiocy most resembled were survivor stories from those who escaped the same levels of idiocy in the Soviet Union.

      Now just like the Soviet Union - after their crash - we've got a huge job ahead just to clear the economic rubble. Sometimes it looks like the Cold War was lost twice.They went down first.

      http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/10/even-banks-admit-theyll-keep-on.ht...

      http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/10/forecast-2-years-of-deflation-foll...

      http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2008/10/bretton-woods-ii-could-mark-shift-...

      We ARE better than this. There's never been a better time to prove it.

    • 3 years ago
  • pokesmot
  • Raven6
    • 0
      Raven6  

    • Brilliantly summarizes the blight on society that Republicans have become and why we need to take our country back from these hucksters.

    • 3 years ago
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • The place to start the change in America is changing mainstream media. Mainstream media has spent the past eight years, spinning. Covering every issue with spin and fact as equal, leading ordinary Americans to believe it could go either way. 9 times out of 10, it really cant go either way. When spin is challenged, the facts win. Mainstream media has failed America. They did not challenge the spin. The truth should win. Facts matter!

      Unfortunately, truth went out the window when spin cam in!

    • 3 years ago
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