America makes much more sense once you realize that, in all of our national self-mythologizing, both the left and the right have fostered the notion that we are essentially all destined to win the lottery.
Every account of our history makes it sound like the founding of our colonies, our War for Independence, our Civil War, our World Wars and our Cold War SHOULD have resulted in our inevitable deaths and defeat, but somehow, against all possible odds, DIDN'T.
What this basically means is that most Americans - and yes, even many Americans who HAVEN'T succeeded - regard success not as a POSSIBILITY that should be protected (see also: "The pursuit of happiness"), but instead as a God-given RIGHT.
If you play the lottery enough times, this mentality, says, then you HAVE to win eventually, and when your perception of your own nation's history presents it as an endless series of Disney-worthy come-from-behind victories, it's hard for even the more sober members of our citizenry not to get caught up in the hype.
The other aspect of the American character is how much we've mythologized ourselves as completely self-made and beholden to no one. The fact that early settlers barely survived their first years here gets played up to the hilt, and yet, the fact that Native Americans essentially saved their lives gets totally downplayed. Likewise, to watch most American movies about WWII, you'd think that the Axis was defeated by America the Hiro Protagonist, with some minor support from its Widdle Sidekicks in Europe, with nary a mention of the role that Stalin played in royally fucking over Hitler on the East.
So, as far as we're concerned, we're all destined to be the ONLY ones who win the one-in-a-million jackpot, and we all believe that we thoroughly deserve that fortune and don't owe it to anyone else.
And that's why so many working-class people vote against their own interests, because they'd rather be poor for the rest of their lives than share even the smallest amount of their wealth on the SMALLEST, MOST UNLIKELY OFF-CHANCE that they themselves ever become fabulously wealthy.
At its worst, America is a nation of people who would rather be shat upon by those higher than them than relinquish the right to shit all over those lower than them.
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Why the "average person" (and even many poor people) aren't outraged:
Date: 12/4/10 23:05 (UTC)Every account of our history makes it sound like the founding of our colonies, our War for Independence, our Civil War, our World Wars and our Cold War SHOULD have resulted in our inevitable deaths and defeat, but somehow, against all possible odds, DIDN'T.
What this basically means is that most Americans - and yes, even many Americans who HAVEN'T succeeded - regard success not as a POSSIBILITY that should be protected (see also: "The pursuit of happiness"), but instead as a God-given RIGHT.
If you play the lottery enough times, this mentality, says, then you HAVE to win eventually, and when your perception of your own nation's history presents it as an endless series of Disney-worthy come-from-behind victories, it's hard for even the more sober members of our citizenry not to get caught up in the hype.
The other aspect of the American character is how much we've mythologized ourselves as completely self-made and beholden to no one. The fact that early settlers barely survived their first years here gets played up to the hilt, and yet, the fact that Native Americans essentially saved their lives gets totally downplayed. Likewise, to watch most American movies about WWII, you'd think that the Axis was defeated by America the Hiro Protagonist, with some minor support from its Widdle Sidekicks in Europe, with nary a mention of the role that Stalin played in royally fucking over Hitler on the East.
So, as far as we're concerned, we're all destined to be the ONLY ones who win the one-in-a-million jackpot, and we all believe that we thoroughly deserve that fortune and don't owe it to anyone else.
And that's why so many working-class people vote against their own interests, because they'd rather be poor for the rest of their lives than share even the smallest amount of their wealth on the SMALLEST, MOST UNLIKELY OFF-CHANCE that they themselves ever become fabulously wealthy.
At its worst, America is a nation of people who would rather be shat upon by those higher than them than relinquish the right to shit all over those lower than them.