When I was a kid, my father was very vocal in his criticisms of what the United States was doing here and around the world. He said that American political thinking relied on a certain naivete among the populace, and outright shadiness and corruption within the marbled halls of Washington.
Being an American, it sometimes felt embarrassing or painful to hear. Other countries never received anywhere near as much criticism as my own did. Yet, he was not wrong, and often knew more of these obscure facts and news stories than anyone I knew.
What this did was make me think more critically about the country. It made me recognize some things which, in retrospect, probably made me very different than the vast majority of my classmates. Firstly, it stripped me of the illusion that we Americans were, as a former eighth grade history teacher taught us, "the good guys in the white hats." My understanding of the realities in this country were already far more nuanced than that while I was still a kid.
Also, it made me aware that the rest of the world often did things differently. But that did not necessarily mean worse. In fact, often quite the opposite. He kept stressing in particular how in every western European country, healthcare was taken care of, that nobody went broke because they could not afford their medical bills. Or that Europeans had far more paid vacation time guaranteed than Americans had. Or that paid maternity leave and other things that benefited average people in a real and measurable way were taken care of or much cheaper there than it was here in the United States.
In short, that the "America way" was far from the only way to do things and, frankly, sometimes was not really the best way to do things.
Yet for many Americans - and I am talking about full grown adults here - some of these things would still be harsh wakeup calls. I know some people - and this includes college educated classmates of mine - who would not take too kindly to any kind of suggestion that other parts of the world might do some things better than we do here in the United States. Literally, they believe that the United States is the best in pretty much all categories, regardless of what it is.
And that, my friends, is the result of brainwashing.
More and more Americans are coming to grips with the idea that, yes, they indeed have been brainwashed into believing certain things about their own country. That some of the stuff that we take as perfectly normal here - things like, say, the pledge of allegiance - looks downright bizarre and even creepy to the rest of the world.
In recent years, it feels like some Americans respond almost violently to any suggestions that this country is not on top of the world in every way. That in short, we are better and doing things in a superior manner that the rest of the world watches with envy, and would do well to emulate.
To me, when I learn that some people might actually do things better than we Americans tend to do here, I feel that it is worth taking a note and thinking about. Not just the things I mentioned above, like affordable and universal healthcare. When I see Japanese World Cup fans cleaning up after themselves in stadiums, it seems to me that we - not just Americans, but we westerners more generally - can learn from that. When I heard that there is a holiday in Iceland where books are exchanged, and then you spend the rest of the evening together as a family reading those books, that feels like a charming tradition that we might also have here.
Why not?
In short, I feel we should be more aware, more mindful, of the way we do things and if there are not perhaps better ways of doing things. Instead of taking offense when they seem to do some things better elsewhere, maybe we can learn. They have done half the work for us by providing a better example of what direction we can take.
Recently, I watched this video, which was very well done and made some of these points quite well and reasonably. It is thought-provoking. Frankly, I feel we might already be a better country if more Americans were exposed to this kind of questioning of their own, normally unchallenged traditions, as well as an understanding of how these things may look from an outside perspective.
Take a look. Also, please feel free to share any thoughts you may have.
Enjoy.
Why the Rest of the World Thinks Americans Are Brainwashed Holy Koolaid Holy Koolaid
https://youtu.be/x5baPn6SAQA?si=bauYvPqyPF33uAO-
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