Apropos of Nothing
Jul. 31st, 2004 09:48 amSo. Completely unrelated to anything I've been rambling about here lately (or ever, to be completely honest), a friend has suggested that I put down in writing my explanation for why America is behaving the way it is as a country.
America, as a nation, is an adolescent. It makes sense if you think about it - we're a hell of a lot younger than most of the european nations, who generally tend to be a lot more jaded, blase, and slow to anger. We, on the other hand, are passionate, arrogant, hot-headed, convinced of our own immortality and general rightness, and feel the need to prove this to everyone at every opportunity.
Our country makes snap decisions, stands by them in the face of evidence to the contrary, and yet is able to believe the exact opposite thing the very next day without noticing, or at least admitting, the contradiction. And anyone who doesn't agree with us is just wrong, stupid, uncool, and will be subject to having their name mocked.
We're painfully hung up about sex. It's cool enough and new enough that it fascinates us as a nation, but we're still vaguely grossed out by the thought of anyone other than us individually doing it, especially in a way that we don't personally like. If you think about it, the whole Clinton scandal maps exactly to the way a thirteen year old kid reacts to catching their parents having sex. It's gross, bad, and wrong for anyone except the individual doing the perceiving.
America is also having coping issues dealing with violence. We've just hit a growth spurt, and now we're bigger, taller, and stronger than most of the other kids on the playground, and we've got adolescent hormones racing around telling us that the best way to solve any problem is to beat it into submission. We try to prove that we're not a bully by justifying our bashings and making everything we want to hit into a villain, but mostly we're just wallowing in the joy of the pummel.
We believe that we Understand things in a way noone else ever has, and that noone else could possibly understand us, or know what we're going through, and that we're the first people to ever think this or learn that or experience some other thing. We're both coy and obsessed about sex and drugs, and we enjoy violence way too much. The individuals here may be much wiser and more reasonable, but as a nation we're a cranky, overindulged teenager. With luck, and time, and patience, we may avoid self-destruction and become a vaguely wise and reasonable adult nation, but right now all I can see is the other grown-up nations collectively shaking their heads, sighing, and saying 'They'll outgrow it someday....'
America, as a nation, is an adolescent. It makes sense if you think about it - we're a hell of a lot younger than most of the european nations, who generally tend to be a lot more jaded, blase, and slow to anger. We, on the other hand, are passionate, arrogant, hot-headed, convinced of our own immortality and general rightness, and feel the need to prove this to everyone at every opportunity.
Our country makes snap decisions, stands by them in the face of evidence to the contrary, and yet is able to believe the exact opposite thing the very next day without noticing, or at least admitting, the contradiction. And anyone who doesn't agree with us is just wrong, stupid, uncool, and will be subject to having their name mocked.
We're painfully hung up about sex. It's cool enough and new enough that it fascinates us as a nation, but we're still vaguely grossed out by the thought of anyone other than us individually doing it, especially in a way that we don't personally like. If you think about it, the whole Clinton scandal maps exactly to the way a thirteen year old kid reacts to catching their parents having sex. It's gross, bad, and wrong for anyone except the individual doing the perceiving.
America is also having coping issues dealing with violence. We've just hit a growth spurt, and now we're bigger, taller, and stronger than most of the other kids on the playground, and we've got adolescent hormones racing around telling us that the best way to solve any problem is to beat it into submission. We try to prove that we're not a bully by justifying our bashings and making everything we want to hit into a villain, but mostly we're just wallowing in the joy of the pummel.
We believe that we Understand things in a way noone else ever has, and that noone else could possibly understand us, or know what we're going through, and that we're the first people to ever think this or learn that or experience some other thing. We're both coy and obsessed about sex and drugs, and we enjoy violence way too much. The individuals here may be much wiser and more reasonable, but as a nation we're a cranky, overindulged teenager. With luck, and time, and patience, we may avoid self-destruction and become a vaguely wise and reasonable adult nation, but right now all I can see is the other grown-up nations collectively shaking their heads, sighing, and saying 'They'll outgrow it someday....'