A few years ago I attended a 4th of July event with some international students. The show included one of the most brazen displays of American arrogance I have ever witnessed. You know the routine: America is a swaggering alpha male in a world full of sissies.
America is a hard drinking hypermasculine cowboy ready to kick the world's sissy butt. The obscenely bellicose bucking bronco cowboy on the screen would have been laughable if not for all the wildly cheering believers in the audience.
The mortifying show of jingoistic chest-beating left me feeling ashamed. I spent most of the evening apologizing to my international friends. It was definitely an evening for them to write home about.
Of course George Bush is the epitome of the bellicose cowboy, and when the world expresses negative views of America, it’s comforting to believe they are only talking about the Decider. I wish it were so. Unfortunately, the last time I looked our schools were teaching this crap to five and six year olds. In this rightwing era, can anyone doubt that the Kindergarten Lesson Plans in American Chest-Beating Arrogance have multiplied?
It’s been a while since I thought about that mortifying night in Georgia. This remarkable post of jingoistic chest-beating from the Memphis blog, Half-Bakered revived the memory:
“…I firmly believe America is the most perfectible country on the planet. Folks who think other parts of the Anglosphere-- like Canada, Britain, Australia or New Zealand -- are better, more civilised places probably don't know much about those countries. The liberties and freedoms we prize here in America are routinely circumscribed elsewhere. Look it up.
Just last year, a major scandal broke in Canada involving government corruption. It eventually brought down the government. But the Canadian press couldn't report it, because a ban on covering the story was in effect! In Britain, all the government needs to do is slap a "D certificate" on something and publishing about it will get you jail time and confiscation of your media business. In most European countries, you have to register with the police when you move, so they know where to find you. Heck, in Britain you need to have a license to own a television set, and they have patrols that scan neighborhoods for violators. Why a license? To fund the government-controlled television networks! Up until the early 80's (if memory serves) there were exactly four stations available to Brits.
Everyone secretly wants to be us, but no one has the guts to go for it.
UPDATE: The good folks over at We Move to Canada have responded to one of the wingnut's unsubstantiated claims. The following snippets are from several of the comments:
"Yes, there was a media blackout. The judge in question band publishing some of the details of the scandal until the people in question could be tried. It was a temporary ban to protect three people's right to a fair trial. ... [T]here are similar media blackouts in the US from time to time. . . So it's what I thought: the wingnut got it technically correct, but substantially wrong. . . The media blackout was limited in nature... the vast majority of the hearings were televisied and, in fact, were not only the most watched television show in Quebec, but in fact resulted in record numbers of viewers for over two months! . . . The ban actually only lasted from March 29 to April 7th. Hardly a huge disruption of our democratic rights."
I would add that I have heard nothing about the Canadian government paying journalists to sell propaganda via newspaper columns or conning tv stations into running government manufactured fake news videos. Only in America and a few other countries like North Korea. It's also true that the Canadian system allows for the 'bringing down' of a corrupt government, while in America, well, you know, we just live with it.
Little wonder that the wingnut doesn't link to sources to substantiate his wildly fictional claims.
Bush News Politics American Arrogance Anti-Americanism Canada Britain Europe Memphis Tennessee
