[lit-ideas] american exceptionalism

  • From: dsavory@xxxxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2010 10:50:03 -0600 (MDT)

Ah American exceptionalism: the benevolent policeman walking his global beat, keeping the world safe for free enterprise.

 

Speaking of freedom, how could the freedoms of one nation be judged against another’s? What metric could be used to determine if Americans are freer than Brazilians, Aussies or Swedes?

 

It seems like Americans tend to use the freedom to say what you want and the freedom to wave  a gun around as markers of advanced and free civility which may indeed, by these markers, make them freer than Brazilians, Aussies and Swedes. But what of other freedoms- what about the “freedoms from…” instead of the “freedoms to…”?

 

I wonder what the source of American certainty is, in this regard. As Eric points out, disdain is not an argument and neither, of course, is righteous arrogance. This is truthiness at its most unpleasant.
 
David Savory
 
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