America's Superiority Complex

[truthfinder]

I have never heard of this before. This is so messed up that I can't help but find it endlessly fascinating. I shall immediately learn everything I can about it.

Canada would tend to agree with you as we were a key target. "American dream" has also not helped.

[pippo buono]

I think the idea of American superiority originated with the Puritans.  In an early American literature class that I took, we studied how the Puritans who founded New England in the early 17th century thought of themselves as a "special people, in a special place, doing special things."  They saw themselves as a group especially chosen by God to do his will in a divinely ordained place ("a city on a hill," as John Winthrop wrote).  In my opinion, this heritage of "specialness" has influenced a lot of American history, like with manifest destiny, as Basilisa Marie pointed out.

 

 

Calvinist predestination.

 

These two factors go hand in hand.

[Lilllabettt]

 

America is the greatest country in the world. 

Maybe if you are English or French or Indian or whatever, your country has been good to you, so you think England or France or India is the greatest country in the world. More power to you.

 

My father was the first American in his family.

His mother, father, and brother had no country. Nowadays the place they came from has been absorbed by Hungary and Romania. But 60 years ago they had no country.They were displaced by the Nazis and they could not go back because of the Soviets. My grandfather made a deal to serve in the Korean War in exchange for the legal right to bring his wife and son over.  That was the price for American citizenship, and he was willing to pay.

 

And I'm glad he paid it.  If I'd been born over there I would have spent the first 5 years of my life under the iron fist of a genocidal Communist dictator before witnessing his overthrow in a violent revolution on Christmas Day. Instead, I was born in New Jersey and my 5th Christmas involved Santa cupcakes and a rental pony. America, eff yeah. 

 

All the whingers going on about immigration, here's what we do: Anybody who doesn't think America is the greatest country in the world can get the heck out, go find the country that is the greatest. Anybody who thinks America is the greatest country in the world and is willing to risk life and limb for a shot at being a part of it, let them come, as many as want to.

 

With the arrival of all the people who are literally dying to come here being cancelled out by the departure of all the ungrateful people who were born on third base and don't realize they didn't hit a triple, the net migration would probably be zero. Problem solved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Luigi]

Puritanism - the roots of American life, including American political life. "We will build a city on a hill, a light unto the nations. We will show the world how to live" - Cotton Mather.

 

The English idea that they themselves were the pinnacle of civilization, that native peoples were primitive. But this same idea that WE are the pinnacle of all civilization can be found in the French, Spanish, the Portuguese, and other cultures as well. And the fact that the English - and eventually the Americans - did, in fact, kick the butts of the native Americans militarily. 

 

The vast natural resources of North America made people feel like they had everything they needed, as opposed to the countries from which they immigrated. And to a large extent, it was true. 

 

The enslavement of Black Africans - begun by the Portuguese, carried on by the Spanish, French, and English. Further evidence (to the English) that they were the pinnacle of civilization and other peoples are inferior. And the fact that the English - and eventually the Americans - did, in fact, kick the butts of the people they enslaved. 

 

The fact that the English kicked the butts of the French in the French & Indian Wars. 

 

The fact that the Americans kicked the butts of the English in the Revolutionary War. 

 

You win enough wars, you start to feel like God's on your side, so then the whole Manifest Destiny attitude kicked in. 

 

The fact that California was annexed, against the wishes of Mexico. 

 

The fact that the Americans kicked the butts of the Spanish and annexed Texas in the Mexican-American War. 

 

The fact that the Union kicked the butts of the Confederates in the Civil War. 

 

The fact that the Americans kicked the butts of the Spanish and annexed the Philippines in the Spanish-American War. 

 

The fact that, although they didn't exactly kick the butts of the Germans in WWI, they at least ground them to a truce, and then re-drew the boundaries of most of the European nations along with England and France. 

 

The fact that they kicked the butts of the Germans and the Japanese - two of the most effective war machines in human history - in WWII. And liberated the surviving Jews. And saved the world from Nazism. Which England probably couldn't have done on its own. And the Greatest Generation did NOT name themselves that - Tom Brokaw did. Brokaw is the son of Greatest Generation parents. 

 

The fact that the Americans outlasted the Communists - in collaboration with its Nato allies. 

 

The fact that we got to the moon first. 

 

The fact that everybody on earth wants our technology AND our blue jeans. 

 

The fact that we have the most productive economy on the face of the earth. 

 

Things like that. 

 

 

 

I'm not saying I support America's sense of superiority at all. I'm getting to the point where I can't stand this country or its inanity. But I can see where its people could develop a superiority complex. 

[Basilisa Marie]

I have never heard of this before. This is so messed up that I can't help but find it endlessly fascinating. I shall immediately learn everything I can about it.

 

Really? Yeah, it's a big part of public school American History education. 

[Era Might]

Whether something is "the greatest" all depends on what you value. Break America down to any category, and it will have much competition throughout history. Art? I think America is certainly not the greatest artistic country. Culture? Hardly. Military? Probably the strongest military, but that is not a good in itself. Technology? There is nothing "American" about technology itself, it's part of a broader scientific culture that America did not create, although it has greatly commercialized and institutionalized it. Resources? It has a lot of those, but there's nothing American about land, the Indians enjoyed the land before Americans did.

 

"The greatest country" is an ideological label through which people can insert themself into a narrative. Why do people love America? It's not that hard: usually because they can make money here and generally mind their own business. Not a bad thing, but it's the simplest thing possible. America sits on the shoulders of giants, and is a blip on the map in world history. It's had a good run, but calling it "the greatest" is just an ideological concept that ultimately means nothing, and assumes a whole lot (e.g., that being a nation-state is superior to being a tribe or a city-state, or that technology and force are superior to civilization and antiquity).

 

If it weren't for Europe, there would be no America. America just happened to come along at the right time in history when empire, science, communication, industry, etc. were all being developed into what we call "modernity." America is a child of modernity, not the other way around.

[Era Might]

Also to add: I consider myself a citizen of Western Civilization more than I do an American. I consider myself an American insofar it is a species of Western Civilization. I love Western Civilization, but even that I wouldn't call "the greatest" (for the same reasons I mentioned, it's a meaningless label).

Edited December 23, 2014 by Era Might

[PhuturePriest]

Really? Yeah, it's a big part of public school American History education. 

 

My American history schoolbooks growing up were Catholic, and they mostly focused on the Catholic perspective of America. :P I remember learning specifically about how in most of the original colonies it was illegal to have Mass.

[PhuturePriest]

 

America is the greatest country in the world. 

Maybe if you are English or French or Indian or whatever, your country has been good to you, so you think England or France or India is the greatest country in the world. More power to you.

 

My father was the first American in his family.

His mother, father, and brother had no country. Nowadays the place they came from has been absorbed by Hungary and Romania. But 60 years ago they had no country.They were displaced by the Nazis and they could not go back because of the Soviets. My grandfather made a deal to serve in the Korean War in exchange for the legal right to bring his wife and son over.  That was the price for American citizenship, and he was willing to pay.

 

And I'm glad he paid it.  If I'd been born over there I would have spent the first 5 years of my life under the iron fist of a genocidal Communist dictator before witnessing his overthrow in a violent revolution on Christmas Day. Instead, I was born in New Jersey and my 5th Christmas involved Santa cupcakes and a rental pony. America, eff yeah. 

 

All the whingers going on about immigration, here's what we do: Anybody who doesn't think America is the greatest country in the world can get the heck out, go find the country that is the greatest. Anybody who thinks America is the greatest country in the world and is willing to risk life and limb for a shot at being a part of it, let them come, as many as want to.

 

With the arrival of all the people who are literally dying to come here being cancelled out by the departure of all the ungrateful people who were born on third base and don't realize they didn't hit a triple, the net migration would probably be zero. Problem solved.

 

 

 

But again, this is nationalism, and it's also inadvertently saying we as Americans are superior to everyone else. You can argue that we have a better government, or a better culture, or a better economy, or military; but arguing that by virtue of America being America makes us superior is arrogant and dangerous. It's the exact same thinking the Nazis had that led to World War II: "We as Germans are superior simply because we are Germans, and we need to fill the whole world itself with us." We already have a similar line of thinking: We as Americans are superior simply because 'Murica, and so we need to get into every world conflict and war because we're #1 and need to help those poor, feeble countries who are so dillusional as to think they can do anything without our help.

Edited December 23, 2014 by PhuturePriest

[Lilllabettt]

it's not decent to live in a country and have it do well by you and yours and not think its the greatest country in the world. it's just not decent.  the definition of greatest is easy. greatest means "most awesome."  fp, its not nationalism, its patriotism, which is a virtue. look it up, it's in the catechism. America being most awesome does not prevent other countries from being awesome. But I could never love another country like America. If you don't think your country is the greatest I don't know whats wrong with you. 

 

All you Americans on this board, what you have is a rare, rare, gift.  And when you say its nothing special you spit in the face of all those poor tired huddled masses of people out there in the world whose only dream in life is working 70 hours a week for 20 years at some back breaking job so they can maybe save the $400 dollars they need to get on a boat and get a little taste of what you got. having a chance to make a living and be left alone to mind your business and raise your children in peace IS real simple and it is real, real rare. 

 

 

[truthfinder]

I think you can be patriotic without thinking your country is the best.  Just like I don't think it possible to list any one country as the 'worst.' Certainly there are countries I would not like to live in, but this America is best rhetoric leads to, and sometimes originates in, American exceptionalism which might as well say Jesus was American.

[Lilllabettt]

 "The principles (or origins) of our being and governing are our parents and our country, which have given us birth and nourishment. Consequently man is debtor chiefly to his parents and his country, after God. Wherefore, just as it belongs to religion to give worship to God, so does it belong to "pietas," in the second place, to give worship to one's parents and one's country." 

 

--- St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 2a, 2ae, Q. 101

 

Obvioulsy he doesn't mean worship your country and your parents just as if they were God. But its still fairly strong, I'd say. I'd be willing to entertain the idea that you can be patriotic and not think your country is the best, if it weren't so deeply strange to me.  My parents on an objective level stunk at parenting, but if you suggested to me that anybody else was better then them I'd fight you. 

 

" Yes, it is worthy not only of love but of predilection that country whose sacred name awakens in your mind the most cherished memories and makes quiver every fiber of your soul, that common country which has cradled you, to which you are bound by bonds of blood and by still nobler bonds of affection and tradition."

 

- Pope Pius X (if it has been awhile since the SATs, predilection means biased in favor of something)

[Mercy me]

Started with all that manifest destiny stuff, and took off from there.  Once you throw a divine mandate behind what you're doing, you're gonna feel unstoppable at any cost. 

 

Also, The Greatest Generation named themselves the Greatest Generation.  So. Yeah. 

 

Where is this coming from?  Certainly it is not factual history.  Since manifest destiny is being addressed let me take on the greatest generation part of your statement.  

 

The "greatest generation" did not name themselves that or anything else.  The members of that  generation were amazing to me.  That generation was the generation that was coming of age as Hitler was conquering Europe.  As teenagers they enlisted in the military and many enlisted in other militaries as the US was very late getting into the war. They from a very early age were willing to lay down their lives for something far greater that themselves.  

 

Bat they weren't done. After the war they came home and transformed the US making creating the strongest economic engine that the world had ever seen. With the Marshall Plan they helped to rebuild what had been destroyed in war.  They went back to leading normal but extremely productive lives.  And here is the really amazing part, they rarely if ever spoke about the war and if they did it was because it was pried out of them.  Never understood that.  

 

The name Greatest Generation was the given to them by Tom Brokaw only a few years ago.

[Not A Real Name]

http://youtu.be/nBgWemQPVB0

[Era Might]

it's not decent to live in a country and have it do well by you and yours and not think its the greatest country in the world. it's just not decent.  the definition of greatest is easy. greatest means "most amesome."  fp, its not nationalism, its patriotism, which is a virtue. look it up, it's in the catechism. America being most amesome does not prevent other countries from being amesome. But I could never love another country like America. If you don't think your country is the greatest I don't know whats wrong with you. 

 

All you Americans on this board, what you have is a rare, rare, gift.  And when you say its nothing special you spit in the face of all those poor tired huddled masses of people out there in the world whose only dream in life is working 70 hours a week for 20 years at some back breaking job so they can maybe save the $400 dollars they need to get on a boat and get a little taste of what you got. having a chance to make a living and be left alone to mind your business and raise your children in peace IS real simple and it is real, real rare. 

 

Plenty of people live miserable lives in America, for many different reasons, and that once include slaves who worked God knows how many hours for no money.

 

Patriotism is about taking seriously the highest ideals and aspirations of a person's native land, not meaningless phrases like "the greatest." And the United States has a lot of great ideals and aspirations, which only survive every day because people struggle against their opposites.

 

Immigrants don't get on a boat to get a taste of what I have. They get on a boat to make money and feed their families. What I have is a disgustingly commercial society where the meaning of life is how well you consume and keep the economy going. Immigrants have little time for ideals and aspirations, which is what makes them such hard workers, they do what they have to do, wherever they have to do it. Unfortunately, that is a very low test of a "great" society.

 

To call any country "the greatest" is immediately to fail, because that country then becomes an object of veneration, and not a living environment where people are happy and miserable and can at least deal with it without having to pinch incense to the ideology that they ought to be grateful for anything that comes their way, since it comes from America.

 

America has achieved some great things and contributed much good to human history. But human beings were not born to be Americans, and the human story is much greater and older than the United States.

 

I love W. H. Auden's poem "The Unknown Citizen." America, for all its good qualities, is a remarkable failure in many ways in making men happy. In my opinion, a the success of a society should not be judged on its greatest achievements, but on its greatest failures. So long America is the land of mass prisons, disgusting consumerism, useless youth, war, etc. then it has not achieved much. And some may say, "those things are inevitable," but I say, if that's the case, then America is nothing special, just more successful at doing the same old. But I think America's greatness lies precisely in its self-conscious aspiration to be different, to value what is best in man, and it can do that, but not as a self-righteous "greatest nation" which thinks it has achieved something just because it dominates the world stage. "Let the greatest among you become your servant." That is the lesson America's greatness depends on, not as a #1 ranked empire, but as a steward of Western Civilization's accomplishments, aspirations, etc.

 

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a
saint,
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,
And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.
He was married and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his
generation.
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their
education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.