Why Won't America See Itself?
Frank A. Jones
America often parades itself around the world as if it were a paragon of virtue or paradigm to be emulated by others. But were our patterns emulated by others, this would be a very dangerous and strange world indeed.
A day or so ago, I was browsing through a local newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area, a part of this nation that is cast as liberal, progressive, enlightened, etc. And a question was asked of random commuters and bystanders: "Who will be the next to use nuclear weapons?"
This question comes on the 60th year anniversary of the USA having dropped the atomic bomb on Japan during WW II; in that use we killed some 10-million Japanese people. And as of this day, the USA has been the only nation to ever use atomic/nuclear weapons against others. Furthermore, the use of the atomic bomb on Japan was at the end of the war and against the civilian population.
The respondents to the newspaper's question were all middle-aged white commuters and one middle-aged Chinese man. To a man and woman, their answers were these: Middle East nations, China, a terrorist, and Israel. These answers were from citizens in the San Francisco Bay Area. They made me again wonder why America is so unwilling to see itself clearly.
When I was in school and learned that US history was distorted concerning its behavior in the world and at home, I started observing how we have inoculated ourselves from critical assessment. Our history, as taught in our schools, has historically shown a desired history rather than a factual history--James Baldwin calls this an aversion to history.
Of course, this observation is not new to me, as it may be to a majority of Americans. There are a few fair-minded historians who are willing to see themselves and this nation plainly. Great historians at U. C. Berkeley, like Kenneth Stampp and others, have long chronicled the true history of slavery in this nation; other historians have accurately chronicled the slaughter of American Indians and the brutal takeover of their lands; still other fair-minded historians have written plainly about the effects of America on the world.
But popular ideologues have written histories that are what Elliott J. Gorn argues are little more than histories of memory, not histories of facts.* They have made heroes of some characters who are not at all heroes; indeed, even today, there seems to be is an eagerness to declare American heroes and heroines at the drop of a hat, before the facts can be fixed or fashioned to demonstrate heroic actions. And strangely, this action does not seem to be viewed as wrong or dishonest or even premature--remember Pat Tillman, a USA special forces soldier killed by friendly fire, and Jessica Lynch. Both were rushed into heroic status contrary to known facts. Such a untruthful recording of history helps no one. In fact, it is not a recording of history at all, but it is the creation of myths. This is the behavior of an immature and psychologically challenged people--those psychologically unable to see themselves in the clear light of day.
We still have not abated or curbed to greatly this distortion of facts and history; so many Americans do not see themselves through clear lens; they do not see their own warts and imperfections that are seen by the rest of the world--we are the man with spinach between his teeth that others are laughing at, and we think they are laughing with us.
An Evangelical Christian whom I know spews out the Bush line on why this nation invaded Iraq. His words are without thought, but with much rationalization for going into a defenseless country, killing over 130,000** under the pretense that they represented a threat to this nation. Even after conclusive evidence surfacing that shows the true nature of this nation's actions, the American people still want to see themselves as being right, correct, justified in this killing of human lives who do not count to many Americans.
The respondents to the local newspaper's question, "Who will be the next to use nuclear weapons?" all pointed away from America, even though currently and historically this nation is the most belligerent nation in the world--a nation that has more atomic weapons than any other nation; a nation whom great leaders and Peace Nobel winners argue is the greatest threat to world peace; a nation that has a history of invasions and killings of nonwhite people all over the world; a nation that stands alone as having used nuclear weapons against a civilian population.
We point away to those other bad nations and other bad people because we would not do such things. Or so we tell ourselves! The respondents could not see America as using nuclear weapons on a people. Yet we are the most likely, given our history.
Their responses represent what Baldwin called an aversion to history. Are these people in this great and learned population center of America so unlearned about their history that they really think that America would not use these weapons again? That others would do this dastardly deed, but not us?
Although this group was not scientifically selected, they may well represent the sum and substance of the majority of Americans' view of this nation and other peoples. Americans see the world as sinister, but ourselves as good and benign; we see what our government spins before it feeds the people; we, therefore, refuse to see our own history or to use it as an indicator of what we will do.
What makes Americans think their government (them) would not do what
they are apt to do, what they are now doing, and what they have already done?
Strangely, when
we look for villains, we look abroad. But if we clearly saw
ourselves instead of allowing talking heads to speculate, spin, and vilify
others abroad, we may finally see as other clear-thinking people around
the world see that the USA poses the greatest danger to world peace of any
nation on the earth, including nuclear war.
Frank A. Jones
8/1/05
___________
* Elliott J. Gorn defines histories of memory as little more than
histories written based on ideology, not fact. These are histories that
speak to a paint brushed American image, not the plain truth, warts and
all.
** The Lancet Journal has estimated that the US's invasion has killed over that number of Iraqi men, women, and children. But a US military and political planner said, "They don't count!"
