Reading this post, I had a vision of Eric strutting down a street in New York City, grabbing his crotch and saying: "I'm bad. Oh, yeah, I'm bad."
: ) So are we all, Eric. Mike Geary Memphis----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Yost" <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:04 AM Subject: [lit-ideas] The Guardian says Play Nice
>>Americans have a desire to be loved by everybody? Since when?At least since the late 19th century if not earlier. Statue of Liberty and all that. It's a leitmotif of our national literature.Consider Julie's second option for the US future: "Let's see if we can do our part to work together toward a common goal of human well-being and care of the planet that sustains us."Maybe then everyone will like us? Surely the Guardian piece, if anything, is an attempt to play on the "if you don't do this, we won't like you" mentality.That the dreamy panacea of cooperation contests the praxis of geopolitics -- amoral, ruthlessly competing national and corporate interests -- does not make it unattractive. We hope to get along with others. We want people to love us.We will be perpetually disappointed.John's trope of the "playground bully" also fits this need to be loved. Is Russia a playground bully? Is China? Is Iran? Doesn't matter. As long as we are not perceived as a playground bully, it's possible that, to quote John again, we will be viewed as, "someone that the rest of the world likes and respects." They might love us. Ahhh.Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
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