Nett und niederschmetternd

Chalmers Johnson Buch Blowback illustriert den Uebergang der Republik zum Empire. Nehm ich seit 10 Jahren immer wieder gerne zur Hand.

Hier ein präziser Kommentar der einer der wenigen "Blindspots" von Johnson illustriert und gleichzeitig ein niedersschmetterndes, der Realität entsprechendes, Bild der Amis, zeichnet. Parallelen zu meiner Biographie und meinen Interessen lassen mich das ziemlich gut nachvollziehen - zu einem ähnlichen Schluss bin auch ich gekommen.

Complaints about Johnson's lack of solutions and the deafness of Washington to complaints are both justified, but you've got to start somewhere. As a Canadian who has lived, studied and worked in the USA off and on since 1961, I can proudly say (with my tongue only half-way into my cheek), that "some of my best friends are Americans." Still, even though I try to be selective, several facts stand out:

(a) even progressive Americans are inclined to regard the USA as especially virtuous and singular in human history -- the shining beacon on the hill and all that -- although this is now expressed not in right-wing triumphalism but in a sense of tragedy that the US has lost its way;

(b) despite foundations in slavery and enduring, systemic racism Americans seem unwilling to confront this important domestic issue, so Shirley Sherrod still raises eyebrows when she says that Americans still need a conversation about this issue;

(c) despite adventures from the invasion of Canada in 1775, the genocide against Native Americans, the Mexican-American War, the Spanish-American War and a state of virtually perpetual war in support of the "national security state" ever since World War II, most Americans refuse to believe that the USA is an imperial power ... the largest to date;

(d) despite the greatest gap between rich and poor in the OECD world, Americans cling to the concept that theirs is not a "class society";

(e) despite noble efforts and some successes, the failure to pass the ERA says about all that needs to be said about the status of women in the USA.

So, as long as American exceptionalism and imperialism combine with inequities of class, race and gender prevail, yet Americans remain in denial about all of them, it is not surprising that ready solutions are not available. (And I haven't even mentioned America's unique contribution to environmental degradation!)

I'd love to put my faith in young people (the twittering generation) or education (the ideology industry), but as I drift off into "senior citizen" status, my hopes dim. Still, I admire Johnson (and others) for his analysis and look to the future with "cautious pessimism," for as Charles Dickens' character "Mr. Micawber" so aptly put it: "Something will turn up."