You don't need to attribute special ignorance or viciousness to American, just the same cognitive processes that work in everyone. Btw, in us too. The FBI apologized to the ACLU for illegally detaining people. did I think, Oh, good, Our Officials are finally coming round? No. In my frame and yours, on which the US govt is presumptively Up To No Good, the assumption was that this is meaningless appeasement or the reflection of political pressure.
Bill, this is a practical application of Elsterian work in political psychology.
jks
Maria Gilmore <mgilmore at bigzoo.net> wrote: I encounter this alot. Lots of average Americans who seem to think Might Makes Right, that's the way it is, if these "shitty countries" think they can mess with the US they've got it coming, we have to protect ourselves. Maybe that's proof of the tremendous ignorance of Americans, that so many of them were so utterly shocked by 9/11, they know nothing of the outside world and the behavior of their govt so that attack seems to them to be completely senseless and unprovoked. (Speaking for myself, I was horrified and scared and sick that day, but the sad truth is I was not shocked in the sense of being surprised. More like, "so it's finally happened.") That perception of irrational unprovoked terrorism leads to rampant fear and a willingness to do "whatever's necessary" to protect ourselves. It's "USA #1" and racism and jingoism all wrapped up in one really ugly ball. And I doubt this attitude is going unnoticed abroad. Those who would kill more Americans if they could are being given confirmation of their opinions of us as a people, and they will be back with more death and terror. Right here.
***There is no such thing as apolitical art. ***
> There is however, a more sinister strain of American> thought that I've
recently become aware of: people who
> never believed that Iraq was a threat and always> thought that the Bush
admin was using the WMD story as
> a smokescreen but who, despite all this, are not the> least bit bothered.
>
> This is the acculturation of gangster morality, > 'street credibility'
must be periodically demonstrated
> through displays of lethal force.
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