RE: Neil Degrasse Tyson, Agnostic
July 10, 2012 at 10:18 am
(This post was last modified: July 10, 2012 at 10:20 am by Whateverist.)
(July 10, 2012 at 9:22 am)KichigaiNeko Wrote: ... at least we don't call our National game the "World Series" not that pretentious ....Yes??
We suffer from nationalist narcissism.
In school, one of the take-aways of learning about our history was something called "manifest destiny". This explained why it was inevitable that we should swarm across the continent, trammeling or pushing the native residents aside as we went.
Today the buzz word is "american exceptionalism". I don't think the republican party will allow you to run for a national office unless you subscribe to this doctrine. There is more to the origins of the phrase but wiki gives us this regarding its current use:
Quote:Although the term does not necessarily imply superiority, many neoconservative and American conservative writers have promoted its use in that sense. To them, the United States is like the biblical "shining city on a hill," and exempt from historical forces that have affected other countries.
Personally I've always thought patriotism and nationalism are forms of provincialism on a larger scale. I find it extremely embarrassing to hear terms like "american exceptionalism" bandied around by adults and even more embarrassing that the electorate so often insists on choosing them. I'm afraid I may live in an intellectual backwater.
Another phrase that betrays our national narcissism is "pre-emptive" military strikes. You might think that "unprovoked" would have said it all but that just leaves one feeling dirty. The inhabitants of the shining city on the hill can't simply be aggressors, no they must act defensively .. in advance. Oy vay.
