I left Thursday's class heartbroken. I was sad to witness my classmates' perception about USA being better than any other country. I guess, if I was an American (American as in white & male) I might have found something to relate to, and agree wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, coming from a minority community in a small island with an identity crisis of its own, I know the dangers associated with wearing a nationalistic attitude and the consequences of expansionism. I am the daughter of a refuge mother, who used to sleep to the sound of flying bullets in her refuge camp. "Human beings can learn and understand without having experience" says J.K. Rowling, "They can think of themselves into other people's experiences." We can also think of million ways to think how to exterminate the other or render the other invisible. Story of America is one which shows a different reality. "What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality" said a Greek Philosopher once, and in my opinion this is the story of America: America allowed people to imagine better than they used to before.
America did not have to do anything to change anything in the world. Just by virtue of its presence, or its existence it devastated science, geography and revolutionized how people made sense of the world. Isn't this the modern dilemma in world politics? Mere presence/ existence of one group of people can lead to most brutal conflicts, or extermination projects. America was the New World, the revolutionary mode of thinking, holy land for people believing in another place at the end of all oceans. The world as people knew it came to an end and a new stage was set for a new order. Refusing to believe in America was not an option as more and more evidence was found on its existence. It could not be eliminated to protect the status quo of the Old World. Then when it was least expected, The New World faced a threat emerging from the Old World in form of "communism." The New World was not going to let Old World have things its way...she had to convince Old World that the New World was better and more promising. Old could never get any new-er. New World on the other hand can never be revolutionized by a Newer world. We truly hit the end of history with the conquest of America for we had nothing left to explore, nothing left to discover.
Manifest destination could now only be up into the skies, as we (as humanity in its broadest terms) tries to seek out more "New Worlds." Yet, do we want newer worlds? How much more can we take our worldview be revolutionized by discovery of life/ land suitable for life in another galaxy/universe? We can refuse to know or even better refuse to learn to remain morally neutral (!?) in relation to such a world. Anyway, I will conclude my post with words of J.K. Rowling again..."we have the power to imagine better." We just need to accept our "inescapable connection with the outside world."
- Excerpts taken from J.K. Rowling's speech at a Harvard Graduation Ceremony.
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I believe you mistook our points about the ideology of America being the best as our own opinion. While I can't speak for everyone, I do believe that the majority of the class was commenting on this aspect of the Manifest Destiny affect. In fact, most people I would say were critiquing it. "America: Fuck Ya" is a critique of it, demonstrating the limits of this view but also the extent it is believed. Now, I do believe America is great and the best in certain areas. But I wish we had different aspect of other countries as well. It's much more like "America: Fuck Ya. Oh and here's how we can improve."
ReplyDeletePhil,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification. However, I wish the main theme in our conversation was: America: Fuck Ya, here is how we can help others improve themselves to have EARTH:Fuck Ya!
I hope this makes sense.