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I watch all these debates and all the news and the way people in this country argue about things, even the way we argue about things here on DU and i keep coming to the same conclusion: Americans for some reason seem pretty hotheaded and are likely to see disagreement with someone else as a moral failing of the highest order. Is the rest of the world like this? Or is my proximity fooling me into thinking that we are like this while other modern industrial nations are not?
I began thinking this after watching "Bowling for Columbine" because in that movie, Moore attempts to try to understand why is it that Canada with gun ownership and sharing many things with us, does not share our high murder rate and seemingly doesn't share our rather high level of anger and fear.
And it occurred to me while watching that movie that when we believe things we are inclined to believe them with a moral ferocity frequently unsuited to the issue.
If I'm making a valid point, then what explains this?
The main thing I can come up with is our distinctive religious heritage. I am no theologian but Puritanical beliefs and evangelical Christianity are very strong elements in the US and not nearly so strong elsewhere. As a practical matter, our Puritanical history perhaps gives us a tradition of believing things with religious zealousness. Further, evangelical Christianity has a much stronger presence here. In the US, denominations that stress the individual's relationship with God/Jesus (generally Evangelicals) are a much larger proportion of the population here than those denominations emphasizing the role of the individual within the community of God/Jesus (e.g. Catholics and other "older" religions). Combine these things with our emphasis on the importance of individuality and I'm left wondering if there is anything nearly as strong in influence which commits Americans to the health of the community at large and the well being of individuals within that community.
And I haven't even begun to try to explain our levels of fear, despite living in a fairly wealthy, relatively free and relatively and safe society.
Whatever it is, and I don't think I'm imagining it, generally speaking, we can be a pissy group when we get our hackles up and if we only did that about say World War II, Slavery, etc. I can see it, but it goes beyond the big issues.
This is something I've been thinking about for quite a while. I'm wondering what you all think.
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