Roger, all
Rog wrote:
> ROG:
> I continue to be amazed at the wierd way that members gang up on the US.
> Marco (an Italian) wrote one nice letter in respect for our loss, and the
> next thing I know we get stereotyped as a fanatical, pea pod, culturally
> retarded, oil stealing, bent people that got what we deserved. A few of us
> respond that this might be a little bit petty and mean spirited and offer
> some opposing views, and then we get folks like yourself and John calling us
> fat and indulgent pigs and religious fanatics to "add balance". Thanks
> partner! We needed it.
>
> What is it about America that attracts so many snide, catty attacks? Do
> other countries really talk about us that much? If so , I guess I should be
> honored. To be honest, we virtually never say anything good or bad about
> your countries (though sometimes people think the french are rude... I don't
> know this to be the case, but in full disclosure I have heard it). Are there
> mean editorials against us in other countries? Do politicians and
> intellectuals discuss us? If so, be careful. My guess is that you get more
> of their agenda in what you learn of the country than you get of the truth.
Well, USA are often in our European discussions. More than the extent Europe is
common in American discussion, I guess. This is true for every discussion; about
economy, cinema, politics, music, internet, science. I think that the USA is
somewhat for Europe what NYC is for the USA. It's the center of quasi
everything. I guess that in Nebraska they talk about NYC more than in NYC they
talk about Nebraska. It is sad for us, but Europe is not anymore the center of
the world, so I think there's also a bit of envy. Anyway, we deserve it, after
centuries of stupid wars between us.
Then, it is true that on many things we don't have good words about the USA . A
lot of people here don't like the American invasion on our ancient traditions.
Especially we can't understand the attitude you have to the market; we find it
excessive the value you deserve to money. I remember an Italian ski champion,
Tomba: the first time he went to the USA for the Winter Games (very young and
still unknown on the other side of the Atlantic), he was asked by a journalist,
who had knew he was going to be a champion, how many dollars he had already
gained in his career. He was surprised as they never asked him how many medals
and cups he had already won, that is for us the only way to value a sportsman.
And, as here in Europe leftism is much more common than there, about the 50% of
the European population usually don't like your foreign policy. Especially in
Italy, Spain and Portugal there is a strong public opinion very critic against
the politics of the USA in Latin America (not to speak about death penalty).
Last but not least, we don't like American Football :-)
Anyway, here is a paper from an Italian journalist (my translation), written
few days before the WTC attack. I think it explains this strange mixture of love
and hate the liberal Europeans have for the libertarian Americans. Let me just
remind that both liberal and libertarian have liberty as common denominator.
Ciao,
Marco
================================
Twins separated at birth.
(by Fabrizio Rondolino)
USA is the opposite of the Left. Not that America is on the Right, it is just
because America is the specular reverse of the Left. They both arose from the
heart of French revolution; freedom is in their heart and freedom is their
foundation. Just like a couple of twins separated at birth, with a destiny of
never acknowledge each other as sisters, America and the Left sometimes fall
victims of a reciprocal attraction, and then both soon abandon, hate, detest and
fight each other.
At the quest for freedom, the American answer is to offer to the individual a
possibly infinite horizon of chances; on the other hand, the Left offers to the
individual a social structure, possibly relaxing, protective and reassuring.
That's why the will never be in agreement; that's why, sometime, they both fall
in love with the other. Like two half parts of the same fruit or two faces of
the same coin, their fate is that of never meet each other, despite their being
the same thing, basically.
But there's a substantial difference between these arguing sisters. The Left and
its home (Europe) belong to modernity. They bear all the distinctive
characteristics and all the tiredness of modernity. On the other hand America is
culturally and politically beyond modernity: it is, literally, postmodern.
Paraphrasing Lenin about Communism, America is the youngness of the world.
Its immense force is not in its military power, in its richness, or in its
cultural hegemony, conquered by means of Hollywood, Rock 'n roll and Coca Cola.
The invincible force of America resides in that it doesn't acknowledge the art
of dialectics (that is an European creation, modern and leftist), and in that it
ignores the dialectic's pretension of passing over the contradictions of the
world as it is, in order to build with an higher synthesis the world as it
should be. America let contradictions live and survive, refuses to control and
bring them to a synthesis, and on this path is able to produce everything and
the opposite of everything: Vietnam war and pacifism, Mc Donald's and biological
farms, IBM and the hackers, globalization and the Seattle people. The Left could
learn from America many things; but, for that, it should rethink itself
radically.
================================
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