Do you think, in general, Americans feel we are morally superior?

[quinnox]

How else can we explain our need to dominate the world, and play the role of the world's number one policeman.

I just don't get it. What about American culture gives us such a smugness and self-satisfaction that we belong on top as the country that pulls all the strings and whatever we do is right and noble?

Appreciate any thoughtful responses.

[Denninmi]

1. Well, if they do ...

Talk about a disconnect from reality!

[Romulox]

2. Yes. K/R nt

[arcane1]

3. Absolutely.

We have been blowing sunshine up our own asses from day one, and even more so since WWII.

[Desertrose]

6. Well put. lol

"We have been blowing sunshine up our own asses from day one"

[leftstreet]

4. Yes

[Atman]

5. We are taught to think so from day one.

Part of the indoctrination process every country does on its youth. How else will you convince them to fight for you?

.

[Zorra]

7. Definition

ug·ly a·mer·i·can
Noun:
An American who behaves offensively when abroad.

The fact that there is even a definition for it speaks volumes.

[Bonhomme Richard]

8. We can do no wrong. We are the chosen ones don't you know.

As a matter of fact we don't even have to pay attention to what others are doing because if we didn't come up with the idea then it is not worth discussing.

[Hotler]

20. Repugs and teabaggers are the chosen ones

liberals and everyone else are evil and bad

[Uncle Joe]

9. That's a human condition which has manifested itself throughout history

via countless civilizations.

Arrogance or pride isn't exclusive to Americans, we just happen to be king of the hill during this day and age.

My hope is that humanity can evolve to a higher level and change the game before it's too late.

Thanks for the thread, quinnox.

[leftstreet]

12. It doesn't help that Americans have no working class identity

It's bizarre actually

[quinnox]

33. I agree

Uncle Joe, and have the same hope one day we might change as a whole.

[arbusto_baboso]

10. Yes. But it's the "moral superiority" of a 9 year-old.

We're morally superior because we're American. It isn't based on anything we actually DO.

[hifiguy]

28. +1 nt

[the other one]

11. Also smarter and better looking!

[Zen Democrat]

13. Only the morally inferior ones do.

[sinkingfeeling]

14. Of course. We've been told we're the 'shining city on the hill' and had that American

'exceptionalism' pushed down our throats.

[dameocrat67]

15. I think the washington establishment thinks it is

i dont think anyone outside dc was wild about the libya intervention. most people i know that it was an oil war.

[ixion]

16. Many (or most) do, in my opinion...

it's part of the Big Lie and our Grandiose Denial.

[Poll_Blind]

17. I would counter that the "world policeman" is a ruse crafted to cover for our...

...military adventurism which is necessitated by our desire for petroleum and natural gas or our desire to keep same away from economical rivals such as China or Russia. There are more resource types in play beyond that but those are the ones which everyone is generally aware of.

I think you'll find if you pull that policeman's mask aside, even just a bit, you'll find Cliff Robertson's explanation in the final scene of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eovei355l4o">Three Days of the Condor to be uncomfortably accurate.

Not now. Then. Ask them when they're running out. Ask them when there's no heat and they're cold. Ask them when their engines stop. Ask them when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. Want to know something? They won't want us to ask them. They'll want us to get it for them.

This influences Republican and Democratic parties, alike. The only difference is the amount of influence and the particular excuses used to pretty-up the cold bottom line.

It's not just a concept of feeling morally superior but feeling deeply entitled to resources which do not belong to us. Manifest Destiny hasn't ever stopped, it just shifted.

PB

[dameocrat67]

24. also if kaddafi hadnt nationalized the oil so ordinary people profited rather than

oligarchs, I am skeptical the west would care that he was an authoritian. Indeed I believe the socalled democracy we create there will be a very limited one, and I believe the ordinary Libyans will get poorer.

[leftstreet]

25. +1

I love that scene. Says it all

[lob1]

18. American Exceptionalism, the right wing talking point that

Tweety uses in the promos for his show, is basically saying we're better than everyone else.

[Johonny]

29. I enjoy this

RW talk about American excellence, then in the next sentence bash Americas Welfare programs, or unemployment insurance, or social security, or medicare...

Deregulated collapsing banks that's just part of American excellence! Trying to make sure all Americans can eat, why do you hate America.

American excellence? I don't know what this word means. Every person that uses it constantly bashes America and Americans. At the same time if I think an improvement could be made that would make life in America better, I'm told I hate America. It is an MT word that has no real meaning other than as a talking point to construct its meaning in your own mind. Like "family values".

[lob1]

35. You nailed it.

[Morning Dew]

19. We have a long history of doing the right thing . . .

eventually. And that, after a long, long period of doing the wrong thing. That long period is forgotten in the self congratulatory air of having done the right thing - then it is buried.

Slavery
WWI
WWII
civil rights

to name just a few.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

21. Depends On Whether You Ask Left- Or Right-Wingers

Right-wingers live in a black-and-white world, so if you even so much as SUGGEST that America isn't the greatest, freest, most morally upright country in the history of the world, you'll get vehement, borderline violent response. I know this because I've gotten into some humdingers with right-wingers just for suggesting that America isn't completely free of flaw (I once suggested that our policy of rounding up Japanese Americans into concentration camps during WWII might not have been 100% on the side of right, and you should have seen some of the responses I got--likewise, try to tell a rightie that there are way more countries with way more freedoms than we have and you'll be called a traitor).

Left-wingers, who are able to see shades of gray, generally think America is mostly good, but think there might be some wiggle room on whether its policies are ALWAYS 100% pure.

[teddy51]

22. Lets be honest, some Americans, not all! n/t

[dtexdem]

23. The impetus doesn't come from a feeling of moral superiority:

it comes from corporate interests. The feeling of moral superiority has been longstanding, but it is carefully cultivated by a corporate-dominated media.

[ManiacJoe]

26. Yes, but it has nothing to do with being the world's policeman.

Yes, I think, in general, Americans feel we are morally superior. In reality, as a whole we are just the same as most other nationalities. An individuals, there are always outliers.

The USA is the world's policeman because we are the only country left with the physical capabilities to do so. Until folks stop asking for us to do the job we will keep doing it, especially in areas of the world that have resources we care about.

[The2ndWheel]

27. At this point it's inertia

The last power standings from the 20th century. No governing body has the ability to tell the US Government no. The US has the developed world's de facto military, which again, doesn't allow for any governing body to tell the US no.

It's not smugness, or self-satisfaction, or moral superiority. It's thousands of years of history, complexity, and momentum. It's not easy to get out of.

[quinnox]

31. very interesting

thanks for your thoughts.

[devilgrrl]

30. Not I but people who have never travelled outside the country seem to think that

eom

[LanternWaste]

32. Nor morally superior, simply stronger...

Nor morally superior, simply a stronger potential to mobilize overwhelming forces to meet any perceived obstacle or opposition. which we may then erroneously (yet consciously) translate collectively (or to ourselves) as a preferred or more admirable moral stance.

I believe this social phenomena is not new at all-- as per many the great English classics of the 18th and 19th centuries which imply a greater morality, and more advanced ethically culture. The French prior to the British. The Hapsburg Empire prior to the French, etc...

(I suggest Paul Kennedy's 'Rise and Fall of the Great Powers' for a rather more comprehensive exploration of this premise.)

[leftstreet]

36. You mean as a projection? This citizenry is so weak it can't even get national healthcare

Projecting macho strength maybe helps deny the weakness

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Yup

American Exceptionalism is part and parcel of the country. To be fair all empires share that little disgusting trait.

[Downtown Hound]

37. I saw a video of U.S Marines in Iraq

They stated that when dealing with the Iraqis, their attitude was one of, "We can be your best friend or your worst enemy." I think that one statement pretty much sums up the arrogance of Americans. American's fell entitled to everything. We think we can invade their country and set the rules. We justify it to ourselves by saying that if they go along with what we want, then it will be good for them in the end.

[Marrah_G]

38. I don't think it is just America

I think we just have the fire power behind us. That gives people a sense of power. It's not new to the human race. It would be nice if we someday evolved past it.

[shinyhead]

39. Silly question, obvious answer

Of course they do, and those that say that those that do are disconnected from reality, you are expressing that you too are morally superior from those that don't see that, LOL. It is natural human nature self, family unit, peers, region, country, species is the typical order but some vary.

Funny thing about beliefs, no matter what they are, the holder of those beliefs believes them to be correct or else they would not be beliefs would they?