Default Assumption
Michael Barone examines the "blame America first" crowd and how they got that way. His conclusion is probably familiar to all conservatives or those who lean somewhat to the right: institutional radicals in academia are the primary carriers of the disease (as it were).
"They always blame America first." That was Jeane Kirkpatrick, describing the "San Francisco Democrats" in 1984. But it could be said about a lot of Americans, especially highly educated Americans, today.
In their assessment of what is going on in the world, they seem to start off with a default assumption that we are in the wrong. The "we" can take different forms: the United States government, the vast mass of middle-class Americans, white people, affluent people, churchgoing people or the advanced English-speaking countries. Such people are seen as privileged and selfish, greedy and bigoted, rash and violent. If something bad happens, the default assumption is that it's their fault. They always blame America — or the parts of America they don't like — first.
Where does this default assumption come from? And why is it so prevalent among our affluent educated class (which, after all, would seem to overlap considerably with the people being complained about?). It comes, I think, from our schools and, especially, from our colleges and universities. The first are staffed by liberals long accustomed to see America as full of problems needing solving; the latter have been packed full of the people cultural critic Roger Kimball calls "tenured radicals," people who see this country and its people as the source of all evil in the world.
It comes down to a fundamentally flawed take on history and America's place in it. Barone is not arguing that the US is perfect. But for all its flaws, the US has done far more good in the world than the blame America crowd will ever admit. Barone calls this "America = bad" a default assumption that far too many people have programmed into them in schools. And that is sad.
History, Observations, The Ivory Tower | Gaius Monday, 19 March , 2007
By M. Murcek, Monday, 19 March , 2007 @ 12:34 pm
As Ted Nugent said, “Of course America’s f*cked up, but it’s the least f*cked up place in the world…”
By Domajot, Tuesday, 20 March , 2007 @ 6:48 am
‘Blame America first’ is a political slogan designed to denigrate those who dare to criticize. While there are some who deserve this accusation, it’s far too widely applied.
Most Americans who criticize America, do so because they love it too much to countenance its errors silently. It’s a potition of ‘blame America’ when appropriate, not blame it first or most.
When someone you love is about to stick his hand in ghe fire, you yell “Stop!”. When the country you love is on the wrong path, you yell the same thing.
Talking about what’s wrong with America is not relative to opinions about other countries. It’s an expression of wanting America to be the best it can be.