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talkpoliticsOne of the key transitions in the history of ancient Rome occurred when a uniform standard was forced upon the subordinate martial companies throughout the empire. Each ethnic group was denied its traditional military insignia and required to adopt the flag of Jupiter, father of the gods. The Roman mascot can be seen wherever martial prowess is valued over human intellect. This is especially the case in the US and in other Romes away from Rome.
During my time working in Europe I had numerous opportunities to observe other American visitors to that war torn territory. There were a number of occasions when I was quite embarrassed by the conduct of my fellow visiting country folk. It was an ugliness I had heard about from European immigrants to the US but had not yet seen up close and in person. The worst of the bunch were GIs stationed in Germany with tourist retirees coming in a close second. I will never forget a busload of elderly Americans trooping through the cathedral of Notre Dame waving small US flags and paying no attention to their surroundings.
America ugliness manifests a phenomenon that is similar to the gondola kitten experiment were kittens reared in the confines of a gondola develop more poorly than kittens allowed to wander freely. This tendency can be followed back in history to the Roman ambition to make the rest of the world conform to its uniform standard. American visitors want to bring back tokens of an alien culture, but they do so without leaving their own culture at home. American military service people eke out most of their time overseas within a bubble of Americana in a hermetically sealed base environment. When they sally out for encounters with the local culture they bring enough of America along in order to feel comfortable. This includes such American institutions as gang fights over prostitutes.
The gondola kitten mentality extends into the political domain with the export of American political institutions to places and peoples where it does not belong. Woodrow Wilson sought to extend constitutional protection to American citizens who assisted the British in their efforts to subdue the Kaiser. George Bush engaged America in a crusade to bring American political hegemony to Afghanistan and Mesopotamia. Now there is a movement to bring Syria, Iran, and North Korea into Washington's bankrupt orbit.
What experience do you have with the American cultural gondola and its pesky gondola kittens?
Links: Alexander Cooley on American military bases (2005). Bradford Plumer's observations on Cooley's article and on the US military base situation. Daniel Aldrich reviews Alexader Cooley's book Base Politics.
During my time working in Europe I had numerous opportunities to observe other American visitors to that war torn territory. There were a number of occasions when I was quite embarrassed by the conduct of my fellow visiting country folk. It was an ugliness I had heard about from European immigrants to the US but had not yet seen up close and in person. The worst of the bunch were GIs stationed in Germany with tourist retirees coming in a close second. I will never forget a busload of elderly Americans trooping through the cathedral of Notre Dame waving small US flags and paying no attention to their surroundings.
America ugliness manifests a phenomenon that is similar to the gondola kitten experiment were kittens reared in the confines of a gondola develop more poorly than kittens allowed to wander freely. This tendency can be followed back in history to the Roman ambition to make the rest of the world conform to its uniform standard. American visitors want to bring back tokens of an alien culture, but they do so without leaving their own culture at home. American military service people eke out most of their time overseas within a bubble of Americana in a hermetically sealed base environment. When they sally out for encounters with the local culture they bring enough of America along in order to feel comfortable. This includes such American institutions as gang fights over prostitutes.
The gondola kitten mentality extends into the political domain with the export of American political institutions to places and peoples where it does not belong. Woodrow Wilson sought to extend constitutional protection to American citizens who assisted the British in their efforts to subdue the Kaiser. George Bush engaged America in a crusade to bring American political hegemony to Afghanistan and Mesopotamia. Now there is a movement to bring Syria, Iran, and North Korea into Washington's bankrupt orbit.
What experience do you have with the American cultural gondola and its pesky gondola kittens?
Links: Alexander Cooley on American military bases (2005). Bradford Plumer's observations on Cooley's article and on the US military base situation. Daniel Aldrich reviews Alexader Cooley's book Base Politics.
(no subject)
Date: 16/7/13 04:01 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 16/7/13 04:08 (UTC)