[lbo-talk] Reagan, and a Sermon

Carl Remick carlremick at hotmail.com
Sat Jun 12 12:57:11 PDT 2004



>From: Jacob Conrad <jakub at att.net>
>
>The different versions of the "Americans are stupid and/or vicious" thesis
>(to the extent they're seriously meant) can be dismissed as lacking surface
>plausibility. There's no reason to think that such a large sample of the
>earth's population, 290 million or so, is any more or less stupid and/or
>vicious than any other sizeable group--Norwegians, Tibetans, Trobriand
>Islanders, take your pick.

No reason? I think the USA has been a magnet for greedy sociopaths from across the world throughout its history, and it wouldn't surprise me if that has had a lasting effect on the national character. American mythology insists that folks cast up on these shores are invariably the victims of irrational prejudice back in their homeland, but one would have to assume that some proportion of these people didn't fit in in the old country, whatever country that might happen to be, simply because they were so relentlessly selfish. America's weird, abiding hatred of socialism does suggest that the US population has a virtually genetic predisposition toward greed.

Carl

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