The moment you assert your cultural superiority, you admit you have none
- Erin O’Brien (Ed. note: Buy her book!)
The English phrase I currently detest more than ANYTHING is “American exceptionalism.” Besides being beyond oxymoronic, it’s just plain false. It seems there’s a class of flag-waving xenophobes infatuated with the idea the America has been chosen by Almighty God and blessed as superior to all formers of bipedal governmental systems. (I suppose I should include our President in this mix. He did, after all, stand in front of the UN and call America “exceptional.”) This theory is, of course, a load of crap. I’m proud to be an American, but I’m not complacent (or arrogant) enough to believe that we’re #1 and have nothing to learn from any other (by definition inferior) country.
America is no more, or less, exceptional than any number of other countries, each exceptional in their own unique way. Why do so many of us insist that America is somehow more special, more unique, even more Divinely blessed, than other countries? Certainly, there are things that Americans can justifiably be proud of. We have the strongest, most efficient and effective military in the world. We’re still the world’s most powerful economy (though for how much longer is hard to say). And we’re still the beacon and freedom and opportunity to much of the world. On the flip side of that argument, our health care system is the pride of…well, maybe Sierra Leone given the millions of currently uninsured Americans. We’ve allowed a cabal of brain-dead, reactionary, hyper-religious wing nuts to hold our country and economy hostage as they threaten to burn America down if their demands aren’t met. Our infrastructure is crumbling through neglect and willful ignorance. Our educational system is slowly being taken over by religious zealots who believe that teaching creationism is as scientifically valid as teaching evolution. Even worse, our willingness and ability to pass common sense gun laws has been co-opted by those who can fairly be described as “ammosexuals,” gun nuts who love firearms more than life itself.
Instead of beating our breasts and proclaiming to anyone who will listen that America is somehow a notch above the rest of the ordinary world, perhaps we’d be better served trying to figure out how America could be a kinder and more gracious member of the international community. Perhaps we could work on figuring out how we can take better care for our own. Or fix our health care system. Or address any number of other things that are arguably less than exceptional. The point is that if we have to trumpet the belief that we’re exceptional…well, that’s really not very exceptional, is it?
I’m proud to be an American, but I’m realistic enough to understand that “exceptional” is a high bar, one that we’re a long way from reaching. Americans have much to be proud of, but we have even more work to do. Isn’t it about time we got to it instead of expending so much energy patting ourselves on the back? Americans aren’t complacent; we do what needs to be done. We don’t stop, declare the game over, and beat our breasts as we proclaim to the four winds how awesome and morally superior we are.
We’re better than that. Aren’t we??
