The Darker Side of the American Character, Side by Side With American Exceptional ism.

There are a lot of beautiful and wonderful things about America that we all share, but when things go wrong, it is important that we check out our darker side to ensure that our defects are not creeping up on us, working against our values and tearing down the good things.

At the risk of appearing to knee-jerker NRA and Tea-party types as un-American, I will spell out a few of these defects for discussion.  

Let us for a moment, look at our “American Character”—the image we project outward, across the planet to our international friends, neighbors and enemies i.e. our National Character.

Let us start with how catastrophically vulnerable we are because of the illusions we have about ourselves and our putrefying lack of self knowledge.

Here is one of the major truths the world knows about us.
We are knee-jerk reactive to an extreme, bordering on madness.
Example: A hand full of guys from Saudi Arabia got together and flew some planes into a few buildings, killing several thousand people. Our knee jerk reaction was to repeatedly and blatantly insist that only Americans died there,  invade a country that had nothing to do with it, and kill one hundred thousand souls (men, women, children) then lie about why we were there and why we were doing it.
“GET EVEN” was the underlying fetch call to Congress and the people, no matter who or how many, we killed in the process—a totally knee-jerk reaction.

Yes, our kneejerk reaction was once again etched in relief for all the world to see (remember Vietnam? The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,The Domino Theory etc.).

That particular facet of our American character—the “Dirty Harry” facet we love so much about ourselves and have laced with so much glory-worship. How righteously, powerful, justified and revengeful we felt, as the bombs rained down on Baghdad, knocking out the night janitors and cleaning women in Saddam’s castles and mansions.
We were the collective “Dirty Harry” archetype doing dirty work apparently for reasons only Clint Eastward, Cheney and Bush aficionados knew and know.

Actually (in Iraqi eyes) weren't we simply a bunch of invading marauders setting their country aflame with our heinous weapons, crawling through their city streets and neighborhoods maiming and killing anyone in our way (or not in our way) proving once again that America is the biggest bully in the valley and no one better fuck with us unless they want their balls blown off and/or their kids engulfed in flames.

Haven’t we proved to the world by now just how wrathful and dangerous we can be? We massacred millions of Indians and drove them off their land. We enslaved millions of blacks to run our plantations, then after we were forced to free them, we wouldn’t allow them to vote or get educated in a proper way. We discriminated against women (still do) and treat them as second and third class citizens.
Not to mention our gay brothers and sisters. You know the ones—Cheney’s daughter—Gingrich’s sister etc.
And if we dare to question America’s behavior or motives, we are un-American and deserve to be scorned, banished (ala Joe McCarthy talk and innuendo) away from the good people—the Wall Street manipulators, bankers, CEOs, arms and oil magnates and the brainwashed blue collared male Democrats who inexplicably see the moneyed elite Republicans as their betters, in spite of being repeatedly fucked by them year after year, and less we forget, the tea party folk whose attitude toward the poor is, “We got ours. Let them eat crumbs” and who, along with the others, wave the flag in blind and consummate support of the only (civilized ?) society on earth to use Atomic weapons against other humans and later rant and rave how evil Saddam was to gas Kurds In Northern Iraq.

Our monetary and moral solvency is at its lowest ebb since the great depression.

Our enemies?  In short, unless our enemies are really stupid, which of course they are not, they know that with the overreaching and un-sustainability of our military in Afghanistan and maintaining bases in over a hundred and thirty other countries, they don’t need to worry about a thing? Do you think they are unaware of our crumbling infrastructure—the vulnerability of our ports, bridges, railways, our water supply, the National Grid, nuclear and chemical plants, Cyber Space, our over reliance on foreign oil, and the foolhardy, inhumane, and chaotic War on Drugs.  Not to mention the over-crowding of our prisons, our crumbling educational system and the societal ramifications of reintegrating our courageous warriors and wounded as they return from their missions overseas with no jobs awaiting them and overwhelmed by Traumatic Stress Disorder.

And not to mention a thousand more— ”not to mentions.”
No, we don't need to prove to anyone that we are perfect and that we have enemies.
What about American Exceptional ism? How does that fit in?

Has anyone ever heard of the word, H-U-B-R-I-S?

Yes, we are our own worst . . .
aren't we?

Jack Flynn ©
July. 2012