It's time to reject the myth of "American Exceptionalism," and embrace a multi-polar world order.

[malthaussen]

1. I wouldn't characterize American Exceptionalism as a myth.

Colloquially, "myth" is used these days to indicate something that isn't true. But the ideology of American Exceptionalism is very real. It colors just about every political discourse in the country. Agreed, "myth" strictly speaking refers to the stories a culture tells to explain itself to itself, and by that measure American Exceptionalism is quintessential myth. Neither definition really applies to the context in which the article is using the word though: they are trying to demonstrate that America is not in the present state of the world, exclusive, which actually validates the idea that it may once have been. I submit that is a dangerous perspective, and it is not the "modern" world that invalidates the "myth," but the substance of the myth itself.

-- Mal