Here's an advance look at my next The Life Well-Led column in the Mensa publication, The Intelligencer.
America loves to toot its own horn, even when we're not very good. For example, after the Boston Bombing, President Obama crowed about how great America is:
America the Tootiful
America loves to toot its own horn, even when we're not very good. For example, after the Boston Bombing, President Obama crowed about how great America is:
The
terrorists failed because, as Americans, we refused to be terrorized...That
American spirit includes staying true to the unity and diversity that makes us
strong -- like no other nation in the world.
Huh?! The terrorists didn't fail: Despite America having
spent billions on anti-terrorism, the terrorists accomplished just what they
wanted: They disrupted that iconic American sporting event The Boston Marathon,
killing three, wounding hundreds, and spawning a manhunt and aftermath that has already cost
all of us billions
of dollars. And did we truly react "like no other nation in the world?"
Does Obama really believe that not one of the world's 196 nations could even
match our unsuccessful effort?
Our undeserved horn-tooting
descends from there. Examples:
In the most recent presidential
election, both candidates fell over themselves to genuflect before the altar of
American exceptionalism despite, for example, the U.S.'s
child poverty rate ranking 34th
among the most advanced 35 countries, edging out only Romania. But
don't worry, we rank
#2 in beer consumption. Politico reported,
"The President took American exceptionalism to a whole new level Wednesday
by suggesting that not only is the United States the greatest nation
on Earth, but every other country wants to be us." But even that pales in
comparison with Romney's view, which the Huffington Post summarized
as, "God chose the U.S.
above all the nations of the Earth to bring light, hope, and freedom to all
humankind."
Of course, politicians far from
monopolize the gasconade.
According to a panel of experts
convened at Columbia College (IL), Michael Jackson is widely
referred to as a genius. Michael Jackson, a consensus genius??!
As a career counselor, I can
attest that the amount of puffery in job seekers' resumes, cover letters, and
interviews could fill a dirigible: "I'm uniquely qualified for the job.
I'm a self-starter yet also a team player who delights in exceeding customer
expectations, and I spearheaded initiatives that saved the company $10
million." If you added up all the savings job seekers claimed, it would
exceed the Gross Domestic Product.
Of course, product marketers know
absolutely no bounds. For example, Here's how Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice has been promoted: "This 'antioxidant superpower' is straight-up 'health in a
bottle' that’ll help you cheat death with
beneficial effects on everything from prostate cancer to cardiovascular health to
impotence." In fact, Time
reported, "The FTC says there is no science to back up the claims. The
results of studies that have been done show that Pom products show no more
efficacy than a placebo."
"Wonderful" is downright
modest compared with, for example, a kitchen cleaner named Fantastik! not to mention the makeup, Super Orgasm.
Even the world of theatre, where stage
plays relentlessly assault capitalism, can't resist its unwarranted
horn-tooting when it comes to lining their
pockets. For example, Berkeley's very non-proletarian-priced Aurora Theatre's
current play is The Arsonists. Its promo: "See what everyone's talking
about!" I live heavily in the Bay Area theatre scene. Not one person has
mentioned The Arsonists.
A decade ago, the company that
made the two-wheel Segway promised it would revolutionize travel. When was the
last time you saw a Segway? Perhaps the revolution was impeded because its CEO
James Heselden died when his Segway accidentally rolled off a cliff.
From whence stems America's
bloviation? One likely suspect is America's obsession with building people's
self-esteem. We praise them or certainly don't criticize them for bragging
about attributes they've acquired without effort: "Black is
Beautiful," I'm Italian and I'm Proud," Girls Rock." Such
phrases are no mere sideshows: A Google search on "Girls rock" revealed
3.4 million hits (and only 0.9 million for "Boys Rock" but I'll leave
the reasons for the disparity for another column.) Ironically, studies find
that Asians have the lowest average self-esteem and the highest achievement while
Blacks have the highest self-esteem and the lowest achievement. That makes
sense: If you think you're already wonderful, you're less likely to feel the
need to work hard.
Sure, when it's exigent, we may
feign modesty. After all, humility is core to America's New Testament roots:
"I accept this honor not just on behalf of myself but of my colleagues, friends,
and family without whom this wouldn't be possible. It truly was a team
effort." Not withstanding such calculated understatement, we are America the
Tootiful.
I cannot claim that every word
that has emerged from my lips or fingers rises to sainthood but I write this
column in hopes it might encourage all of us to pull on ropes of restraint and become
a little less tootiful. It is key to
the life well-led.
8 comments:
I couldn't agree more...the outpouring of grief here in Boston has been excessive in my opinion, as has the beefed-up security pretty much all over the city...no one bothers to ask why this happened in the first place...the guy was a muslim and obviously upset about what was happening overseas...could this be an unintended consequence of the drone attacks?
It's everything, Rex. The Mohammad cartoons, educating Afghan girls,
condemning female genital mutilation, some little-known church pastor
burning a Koran, the use of the word 'crusade' in a presidential
speech, globalization and modernity, etc. What doesn't anger Muslims?
Dr. Nemko,
American exceptionalism pre-dates the founding of this nation. Ever
wonder why we hear 'providence' and 'destiny' in US presidential
speeches? Those words can be found in Puritan sermons and hymns. I
have read a few of them. In reference to Matthew 5:14, in the Bible,
Puritan America was supposed to be that light on a hill, and a great
beacon of which all the other nations of the world could aspire to.
America's Puritan experiment may have ended in 1689, but its legacy
lives on. No European head of state would ever use those words.
Dave
Dave, we as a country are killing A LOT of people overseas, all in the name of fighting terrorism, making the world safe, free and democratic and so forth. The intent behind what we are doing may or may not be pure, but the way we are going about it is through violence...I do not consider myself to be a pacifist, but whether or not you agree with the policies we as a country are following, violence has consequences, and in my opinion, those can sometimes manifest in ways that are quite unexpected, and I think that's what we saw in Boston. A single human being is capable of wreaking an awful lot of damage and suffering if that person has the motivation to do so...
IMHO, people here in Boston and the rest of the country seemed to be in complete shock that the marathon was bombed, but given what is happening overseas...it's not that surprising...
Why? Washington has nothing to do with Moscow's handling of the Chechen problem.
If he were angry at the Russian government, he would have bombed a Russian city, Dave...clearly, that's not what happened...
Well, one thing is now clear: We can't civilize the savage; hence the saying: "Decolonization was the detour the Third World took on the way to adopting the West." I think that detour will lead to a dead end, no matter what course of action (or inaction) the West decides to take.
Lol...you may be right...I like to believe that if you don't give people an excuse to be pissed at you, aka bombing them, then they'll have only themselves to blame and can either flourish or rot on their terms...
A crude mish-mash of random thoughts (I'm in a hurry):
Yeah, and those that hold values antithetical to our own, come here. They won't leave us alone. They want to change us. That's why that defamation of religion law is always rearing its ugly head at the UN.
I think it's beyond our control. Remember the Old Testament story of Isaac and Ishmael? The Muslims are angry because they got the short end of the stick in the prophecy. We don't think about those things, but they do. The West consumes itself with worldly things while the Third World/Developing World consumes itself with otherworldly things. I think this is what has exacerbated inter-civilizational conflict. Both the West and the Global South are concerned with higher things, but they cannot agree on what those higher things are. This is one of the reasons why the Muslim World has no respect for the West. Cultural and moral relativism are signs of weakness in a society, not strength. We have lost confidence in our democratic and cultural institutions and the Muslim World knows it. We won't fight for the things that our ancestors fought and died for.
Also, the Muslims are scared and angry at Christianity and the inroads it has made in the last century -- mainly in Africa. Christianity has Syrian roots, but is identified by Muslims as a European religion.
People who hold alien values and carve out enclaves (parallel societies) are a threat to our already weakened democratic and cultural institutions. Muslims in France are one example; the UK is another, with scores of Sharia courts now operating there.
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