Going Around, Coming Around

WE ALL HAVE NOTICED how reliably our words and deeds come come back to "haunt us" later, for better or worse. A long list, the things we said but probably shouldn't have. Along those lines, there has been traditionally a very strong self righteous sanctimonious streak in American culture, which might stem partly from its Puritan roots, and partly from the attitude we inculcate and deeply embed within our children and hence ourselves; that the United States of America is special, a "shining city on a hill", as Mr. Reagan said, a nation destined by fate, nature, or divine providence to be a nation among nations, the greatest nation on Earth or in history, what we often call "American exceptionalism". America has since its inception offered itself as a role model for the world, in nearly any way, shape, or manner conceivable. American missionaries spread out all around the globe, hoping to bring the "unsaved" to the true religion, the true savior, and the true God. We praise our freedom and democracy as if we are the only people in the world to possess or enjoy either. We hold up something vague we call "the American way" without ever truly knowing or defining what the term means. We are particulalry accomplished at encouraging other nations to embrace "human values", to treat their own citizens in the manner we beleive they should be treated. All this does not come without certain traps and risks. We are all familair with the Biblical metaphor of "glass houses". That is exactlly the sort of structure American culture, with its confident, self gratulatory, self promotional culture presents to the world; one of transparency, due to its open, accessible nature. The United States of America was founded to a large extent upon genocide and slavery; arguably the nation could not have existed and grown as it has has without either. This history is quite sufficient to tempt foreigners and foreign nations to label the United States "hypocritical". Arguably, they have a point. Ill treatment of formerly ensalved persons continues to this day; racism remains a powerful force in American culture, despite all efforts to fight and eliminate it. Native civilizations barely managed to survive their European imposed holocaust, but certainly not intact, but rather, isolated, impoverished, outside the mainstream. Recently some Americans, paying closer attention to the small Arab nation Qatar, which is hosting the World Cup soccer tournament, have criticized Qatar for banning homosexuality and generally suppressing women. As if the United States didn't once itself behave identically, and that, not so very long ago. Qatar has indeed expressed its view that western nations making such criticisms of their country and culture are "hypocritical", and should pay more attention to there own shortcomings. Understanding why they feel that way does not require any monumental act of understanding or empathy.