From: Lawrence DeBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Thu 05 Dec 2002 - 14:14:18 GMT
The US is undergoing increasing isolation, not from choice, as in the 20s
and 30s, but as a result of our pursuit of policies with which others
disagree. It is not just Iraq -- our cause du jour -- or 'terrorism', but
our trade policies, and diplomatic style. And perhaps it is the growing
realization that the 'American model' has problems, and is not to be pursued
blindly.
In the US itself, the growing skepticism is mirrored in a line-up of legal
challenges to President Bush's 'war on terrorism' initiatives. The courts
are beginning to hand down their rulings -- the most recent being that US
'detainees' have a right to legal counsel -- and so the process of undoing
the damage to jurisprudence that has occurred under Attorney General
Ashcroft is under way. It will be a long process: we calculate that it will
be ten-fifteen years before all the damage is undone. Sometimes the pendulum
swings slowly, but we can be optimistic that it will indeed swing.
What a lot of critics of the US fail to appreciate is that despite our
mistakes and egregious hubris, we DO learn. There is an incredible reservoir
of good will and idealism in the American people, and an extraordinary
amount of variety in this country. We are less tradition-bound than many
other societies, and more apt to learn and change. Of course, one would like
to see this ability show itself with more alacrity -- especially given the
enormous and now dominant military power we have -- but I still would place
my bets on this being the country that most advances human civilization over
the next fifty years or so. This does not mean that we will or can do so
alone: the world would greatly benefit from a cooperative effort amongst
many peoples. We are in difficulty, right now -- no doubt about it. The
executive branch of our government has been overtaken by Christian
fundamentalism, but this is a temporary situation. The markers of the
failure of their vision are beginning to manifest themselves.
I would hope that our European friends and all others would hold on,
maintain a helpful dialog with the US, and keep the doors open to a healthy
cooperation and mutual education.
Best regards,
Lawry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Jeremy Bradley
> Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 6:13 AM
> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Why Europe is so Contrary
>
>
> Snip..........Kenneth wrote
> >You 're getting panaroid folks !
> >And like 9/ 11 indicates you have good reasons to be, but don 't
> >compare Europe to your home country, we' re different and I like
> >it to stay it that way.
> >Maybe we're in the wrong and the future will tell, but don 't try
> >to get us hooked on the terrorism- meme.
> >Denile maybe works for us, let us be !
> >Fights your wars, but leave us out of them.
> >
> >Kenneth
> >
> Yes folks
> What Kenneth has expressed here is the way world thought is going. Is this
> meme evolving from 'Europe is Being Contrary' to 'The US is Being
> Contrary'? With world opinion swinging against Dubya and his hawks, it
> would seem reasonable, should we wish to further study this case (and I
> think that it is getting better as a case study of memetics all the time),
> that we change the thread name to 'Why USAnia is so Contrary'.
> Jeremy
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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