{"id":12469,"date":"2011-05-23T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T11:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=12469"},"modified":"2011-08-07T19:53:28","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T18:53:28","slug":"america-the-beautiful-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2011\/05\/america-the-beautiful-2\/","title":{"rendered":"America the Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reality is ambiguous, yin-yang.\u00a0 There are dark sides and bright sides.\u00a0 Take the United States of America, for instance: the majority view in the world seems to be that the US Empire is dark and the US Republic bright; a place to visit, to live.\u00a0 But, there is yin-yang in the yin and in the yang, daoism informs us; brighter sides to the empire and darker sides to the republic.\u00a0 And, in the yin and the yang there is also yin and yang, and so on, ad infinitum<\/em>.\u00a0 One measure of maturity is how many such levels of analysis one masters.\u00a0 To call critique of the US Empire “anti-americanism” reveals level 0:\u00a0 USA is just good and that is it; anti-americanism being a mental disorder.<\/p>\n

And yet it is both possible and meaningful to be anti-hitlerism without being anti-German, anti-stalinism without being anti-Russian, anti-US fundamentalism and imperialism without being anti-American, anti-expansionist zionism without being anti-semitic, anti-Jewish or anti-Israel, anti-quislingism without being anti-Norwegian, anti-Japanese militarism without being anti-Japanese; knowing well that roots of pathologies can be found in the deep culture of the normal, good, positive.<\/p>\n

Elementary distinctions, but easily sacrificed at the altar of polarization.\u00a0 USA is all good or USA is all bad, tertium non datur<\/em>; no third, fourth, or etc., possibility.\u00a0 Aristotle sends his best regards; he has had much success in that little peninsula on the Asian continent called “Europe” (“darkness” in Assyrian).<\/p>\n

But that begs the question: what is so bright, good, positive about the USA; trying to avoid “America” for one country, an insult to Latin Americans.\u00a0 It is as unsatisfactory to be only positive about the US Republic as it is to be critical only of the US Empire.\u00a0 There have to be reasons, the bright and the dark have to be spelt out; the latter in a constructive way, the former to make it even shinier.<\/p>\n

So, what is so extremely attractive about the USA to so many?\u00a0 We all have our answers.\u00a0 Nature is one: there is extreme beauty in many places; maybe more along the coasts and the mountain ranges than in the flatlands, but they also have a charm.\u00a0 And fences are low or absent, making the beauty of gardens and farmlands available to the traveling eyes.\u00a0 But all of this can also be found elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The economy, the land of economic opportunity, of the American Dream?\u00a0 Today?\u00a0 Hmm…\u00a0 The military, the land of strength, force? Today? Hmm…\u00a0 The politics, the land of uncorrupted democracy?\u00a0 Hmm…\u00a0 Culture, in the sense of exceptionalism?\u00a0 Hmm…\u00a0 Let us leave all of that aside.<\/p>\n

But we are getting closer.\u00a0 Culture in the sense of an incredible creativity: indeed yes.\u00a0 In classical, modern, postmodern arts; in pop of all kinds.\u00a0 Borders broken down, fences lowered.\u00a0 Culture in the sense of science likewise.\u00a0 Innovative technology.\u00a0 And let us add a very important factor: the public is in it, culture plays up and down to the public, sharing with them, not enclosing arts and science as separate niches in society as markers of class territory.\u00a0 In doing so the USA has not only created new culture that has caught on all over the world, but made culture for mass, not upper class, its consumption a world pattern, like they once did for cars and the other conveniences of the 20th century.\u00a0 Elsewhere, mainly for elite consumption.<\/p>\n

And yet these patterns are now found all over, largely thanks to the USA.\u00a0 What is USA specific, what is unique, what is that IT?<\/p>\n

It is the people, stupid!<\/em> The Americans–apologizing to Latin America–Americans, the beautiful<\/em>.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 What?\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Let us try.<\/p>\n

Starting with a basic: nobody in the world is so easy, not stuffy to talk with as an American.\u00a0 Open, first name basis, fences down, body language and verbal language charming, direct eye contact.\u00a0 After 14 minutes personal matters are out in the open that would have been kept secret 14 years in other cultures–no names–or forever.<\/p>\n

Americans make you feel at home, as one of them.\u00a0 Universalist, generous.\u00a0 But there is more to it.\u00a0 There is a two-way conversation, not only outsiders asking about the USA but also Americans interested in where one comes from and “what’s cooking”.\u00a0 And about you, as a person, in a positive way, what do you have to offer, “What\u2019s inside you”.\u00a0 For a possible New Beginning in the USA, a rebirth–very attractive, leaving the past and the old country behind, like in heavy immigration times.\u00a0 Something may work out, and often does, in fact.<\/p>\n

Of course there is class; with huge differences in economic power, killing power (often highly illegal) and decision power.\u00a0 But less so in daily behavior.\u00a0 Americans differ in housing, from mansions to trailer parks, and in their cars; but often dress the same, eat the same and share tastes and life styles, like church and washing cars on Sundays.\u00a0 Basketball.\u00a0 Coaching children.\u00a0 Love of nature, wild animals, national parks.\u00a0 McDonald’s, KFC.\u00a0 Coke.\u00a0 Coke.\u00a0 Cocaine.\u00a0 Talking English more or less the same way.\u00a0 Even African Americans– slaves, lynched, segregated–today; not so even a short while ago.<\/p>\n

In all these senses a remarkably class-less society of successful refugees from that stiff upper lip North Sea island whence they came.<\/p>\n

And used to receiving, welcoming, probing foreigners; millions and millions of them, from all corners of the world.\u00a0 Accommodating class, accommodating nations.\u00a0 With exceptions, fearing those they treated worst lest they might one day treat them, the WASPs, the same way: First Nations, African Americans, Hispanics–meaning Mexicans.<\/p>\n

A place to breathe.\u00a0 Easy to live.\u00a0 Always something happening, with everybody feeling they are in the center of events.\u00a0 A country of enthusiasm for a long list of (often dubious) “only in America”s.\u00a0 Not strange they rally to its defense when they perceive it as threatened.\u00a0 And yet, in doing so they may eliminate their greatest asset through secrecy, suspicion and police state measures. Pray it will not happen.<\/p>\n

\n
galtung, galtung-zitat, zitat galtung, -vergleich, gleich-skandal, r-ver galtung, Galtung-Zitat, Zitat, Johan Galtung, breivik, galtung<\/span><\/div>\n<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the US-specific pattern, what is unique, what is that IT? It is the people, stupid! The Americans–apologizing to Latin America–Americans, the beautiful. How? What? Why? Let us try. Starting with a basic: nobody in the world is so easy, not stuffy to talk with as an American. Open, first name basis, fences down, body language and verbal language charming, direct eye contact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}