Posted by: Vivant December 20, 2011
Login in to Rate this Post:
0 
? 
?
Nepali_American,
"It seems my writing incensed you"
Not all of it, just the presumptuous parts of it.
"I hope you and people like you in your neighborhood (here, I am being deliberately cheeky, sorry) will embrace the partnership that the US offers in commerce, science, culture, etc. "
Oh but of course. But remember, more often than not, it has been the US and not the rest of the world that has had a problem forging partnerships with the US. Think UNESCO, Kyoto, Israel, Iraq invasion ... the list goes on.
NayaJivan
A very interesting analogy you make - yes, America, like Britain in the movie, often comes across as an imperious warlord clueless (or indifferent) about how the dominated see it. I watched the movie as a kid and the one scene I still recall was the one with "the dogs and Indians not allowed" sign in the restaurant. It became the theme of many jokes I heard growing up. In some ways it reminds me of America's war on terror and the resulting demonizing of Muslims and other minorities in the process.
The analogy that comes to my mind when viewing the US right now is that of Han Christian Andersons "The Emperor's New Clothes". Many Americans ( and aspiring Americans I might add) and their politicians are so vain that they delude themselves into thinking that anyone who does not kneel and pray before the mightiness of America and sing hosannas to it's greatness and freedom somehow doesn't get it. Just watch the Republicans debate to be reminded of what an insular country the US has become. Every empire seeks a moral justification to dominate others - French colonialism was rooted in a mission to "civilize" the world, the British thought on similar lines, proselytizing missionaries talked of spreading the "good news" and America seems to have found "freedom and democracy" as the moral justification for the aggression and injustice it has committed around the world.
"It seems my writing incensed you"
Not all of it, just the presumptuous parts of it.
"I hope you and people like you in your neighborhood (here, I am being deliberately cheeky, sorry) will embrace the partnership that the US offers in commerce, science, culture, etc. "
Oh but of course. But remember, more often than not, it has been the US and not the rest of the world that has had a problem forging partnerships with the US. Think UNESCO, Kyoto, Israel, Iraq invasion ... the list goes on.
NayaJivan
A very interesting analogy you make - yes, America, like Britain in the movie, often comes across as an imperious warlord clueless (or indifferent) about how the dominated see it. I watched the movie as a kid and the one scene I still recall was the one with "the dogs and Indians not allowed" sign in the restaurant. It became the theme of many jokes I heard growing up. In some ways it reminds me of America's war on terror and the resulting demonizing of Muslims and other minorities in the process.
The analogy that comes to my mind when viewing the US right now is that of Han Christian Andersons "The Emperor's New Clothes". Many Americans ( and aspiring Americans I might add) and their politicians are so vain that they delude themselves into thinking that anyone who does not kneel and pray before the mightiness of America and sing hosannas to it's greatness and freedom somehow doesn't get it. Just watch the Republicans debate to be reminded of what an insular country the US has become. Every empire seeks a moral justification to dominate others - French colonialism was rooted in a mission to "civilize" the world, the British thought on similar lines, proselytizing missionaries talked of spreading the "good news" and America seems to have found "freedom and democracy" as the moral justification for the aggression and injustice it has committed around the world.