[lbo-talk] Stan Goff -- Windbag?

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Thu Feb 8 08:21:18 PST 2007


John Gulick:

Given this context, it is rather ridiculous to paint a picture suggesting that, for example, all the depredations red-greens (among others) associate with consumer culture (phony individualism, political passivity, dumbing down, environmental despoliation, etc.) are a byproduct of US transnational penetration overseas. Stan should spend some time with the

---snip

routinely gets to his essays posted to HuffPo. They typically come in three different varieties, all flavored with "national narcissism": 1) Goddamn traitor, the US is the greatest country in the world and the beacon of hope to the world and how dare you treasonously criticize it, 2) Right on man, the US was once the greatest country in the world but now the neo-con cabal has hijacked it and sullied the noble constitution drafted by the wise fathers, 3) Right on man, greedy US executives, venal US politicians, and bloodthirsty US generals (note the classically American anthropomorphizing of institutions and structures) are puppetmasters of the world. So in the end propaganda work pitched in this manner does nothing but reinforce the generalized stupidity of US political culture.

[WS:] Very nice analysis, John, right on the target. The US-exceptionalism i.e. exceptional good or exceptional evil in this country's political discourse is quite annoying, indeed. I would like to add, however, that such exceptionalism can be found in many countries, as an integral part of their respective national identities. The only difference is that the US exceptionalism is more salient due to the high broadcasting capacity of this country, whereas exceptionalisms of other countries are relatively obscure local phenomena.

I would also take exception to the proposition that US imperialism is the most destructive force that humanity currently faces. I do not think it is true even at its face value - which can be aptly illustrated with the following comparison - the number of victims of the hi-tech made in USA warfare in Iraq is about 650,000 (according to Johns Hopkins estimates http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/0207web/number.html) and than number is far below of what guys with machetes "achieved" in only 4 or so months in Rwanda (about 1 million). But more importantly, most destructive compared to what? We do not know what destructive forces (if any) would have been unleashed had the Pax Americana failed to take hold.

Wojtek



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list