What a creepy concept, thanks, I will try to remember that.
Damn, I need a new roll of paper towels for the mess all ROFLing over this has caused.
Except for one thing–most Americans are the descendants of people who quite literally risked their lives in order to get here.
So? not a rare feat. The Polynesians sailed and settle all over the pacific. I’m sure there was a lot of risk when people migrated to Australia or the people who came over the Bering strait. Merchants putting themself at risk on the Silk Road. Our way way way back ancestors who climbed down out of the trees and had to avoid getting eaten by Lions. All of our ancestors took risks.
Well, few countries have as good a reason to feel as special as Israel. The Jews are God’s Chosen People, whether you take that script as fact or fiction. You just can’t take that away from the Jews, though it has earned them plenty of animus over the years. A nation of God’s Chosen People? Exceptional! I’m not being ironic. Look at the shit Israel has gone through and come out on top. Not the typical “humans form society, society descends into chaos” scenario you see so often.
Americans may not be God’s Chosen People, but there has been a fair bit of religious fervor/inspiration going on. The Manifest Destiny is my cite. I view this as a sort of common experienced miracle to the people of the time. I think when religious conservatives want to go back to a time in America’s history, it is this mood they want to recreate. The American miracle was palpable at that moment. There was a destiny for America, and it was being realized in the present!
But we’re talking 1789- 1867 or so. Pretty old history. But the railroads got built here first, on a grand scale, and that set the stage economically for America’s advancement and enhancement. This is, I think, the trend that crescendoed at the climax of WWII, a move that put America in the highest catbird seat there ever has been, if you wanna look at it in those terms.
America could get knocked out of that catbird seat, but so far it hasn’t happened. So there is an argument for American exceptionalism.
I guess I’ll take a stab at the con position in 12-48hrs.
Most of this superiority in quantity is due to one simple fact-namely that the United States is the most populous of any developed liberal democracy on the planet and twice that of its nearest competitor, Japan as well as triple that of its third closest rival Germany.
But not all of this can be reduce to population or technology. US per capita charity, for example, is widely considered an outlier compared to all of our peers. And the US overwhelmingly dominates lists of the world’s top universities. There’s likewise no reason why US guarantees of religious freedom and free speech should be dependent on our population.
I’m actually glad you brought this up, because its one of the stronger points in favor of American exceptionalism. People all over the world watch Hollywood films, listen to American pop music, eat fast food and dress like Americans. The fact that from the every corner of the globe people are striving to be like Americans is a pretty strong point in favor of an exceptional culture. I don’t even know what country comes in second in terms of cultural influence: perhaps China, or maybe Britain or France.
Or maybe you’re one of those snarky Europeans who believe “America has no culture.” Either way, you’re wrong.
Also, your use of the acronym “ROFL” dates you as 5-6 years out of date. The kids nowadays are semi-ironically using “kek” or “lel”, while “lol” remains as always a timeless and sensible option. Abbreviations should be avoided in formal writing. And if you need to clean spilled liquid (?) off your floor, I suspect you either misunderstand what ROFL means or live very differently than most people.
[QUOTE=The Joker and the Thief]
Also, your use of the acronym “ROFL” dates you as 5-6 years out of date. The kids nowadays are semi-ironically using “kek” or “lel”, while “lol” remains as always a timeless and sensible option. Abbreviations should be avoided in formal writing. And if you need to clean spilled liquid (?) off your floor, I suspect you either misunderstand what ROFL means or live very differently than most people.
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Or when eschereal rolls on the floor and laughs they should be wearing Depends to ensure less mess. :o
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Damn, I need a new roll of paper towels for the mess all ROFLing over this has caused.
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Well, here, have a Coke for your troubles. 
The US became a nation unto itself in 1776, but let’s be fair and count it from the end of the revolutionary war, so 1783. Seven decades on from that is 1853. To use your argument, if the US really was better, we should expect the US to have been the pre-eminent world power by that point. Was it?
You can stipulate that, though I tend to disagree. But if we’re saying that actually the war powers weren’t greatly crushed by the lingering effects of the war - then it seems fair to stipulate that Stringbean’s suggestion that the US could simply go out there and conquer is wrong, too.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has had years of war, political instability, and all the fun of European colonialism to deal with. If you want to compare, sure, but it seems like the most similar period of time to compare with would be Civil War and Reconstruction-era America - though even a comparison like that is fraught with problems.
Let’s look at the list of the top-grossing films;
1 Avatar
2 Titanic
3 The Avengers
4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
5 Frozen
6 Furious 7 (wow, that’s doing well for itself)
7 Iron Man 3
8 Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon
9 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
10 Skyfall
I make that 7 American films, 2 British films, and one New Zealand. Certainly a win for America. But as for your overall point that this shows “people want to be like Americans” - I think you fall down. None of those films showcase American life to be emulated.
Top selling musicians;
1 The Beatles
2 Elvis
3 Michael Jackson
4 Madonna
5 Elton John
6 Led Zeppelin (huh, wouldn’t have expected them)
7 Pink Floyd
8 Mariah Carey
9 Celine Dion
10 Whitney Houston
That’s 5 American acts, 4 British, and a Canadian. Not a particularly exceptional record.
Not uniquely American.
What articles of clothing are popular that are particularly American? I mean, right now I’m wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I’m sure there’s lots of Americans wearing something like that right now. But likewise, lots of Brits, and I’m sure plenty of Canadians, French, German… etc. How is it you can say that people around the world dress like Americans, and not dress like… well, all the various people who dress like that too?
I think you’re taking correlation as causation.
I think you are grossly overstating the reach and penetration of American culture. People in other countries do not strive to be like Americans, from what I can tell, the opposite is mostly true. Americans as a people are not particularly highly respected worldwide, and when the people of other countries encounter Americans, those people often find the average American rather off-putting and not worthy of emulation.
Perhaps amongst the elite, there is measured adoption of American culture, but really then only in order to gain standing or a business advantage. American culture is simply not superior to any other culture in the world, everyone else in the world is aware of that, all cultures contribute to the general global culture mix.
Now excuse me while I have a nice lunch at the Maharaja Indian restaurant down the street from here.
Funny you bring this up. One of my co-workers emigrated from India about 10 years ago. When she goes back home, she tells me, everyone watches the American television shows. The only person who watches the Indian is herself–in America.
I think you vastly underestimate the prevalence of American culture and media in other nations.
The Wikipedia article on American Exceptionalism contains some illuminating history:
Other arguments for American exceptionalism point to the absence of a feudal history, the influence of Puritanism, the deliberate and conscious establishment of a government based on ideals of liberal democracy and republicanism, and the role of the American frontier. Taken together, these elements do appear to compose a national ethos that is different from that of nations that weren’t so “ready-made,” as it were.
I entered this thread earlier because I thought it was a joke question.
But now…hmm.
Is this really a recognisable phrase - “American Exceptionalism”? Would people in the USA know what it refers to? Never heard of it myself.
Continuing from the Wikipedia article:
Colonial powers always adopt a superior attitude to justify their aggression. So is there anything new here?
I’m an American, and the only people I ever hear use the phrase are American Political Conservatives. They use it as a means to express the idea that Americans (ie. They) are inherently “better” than someone else. Even if, I suppose, this implies that they were born that way.
Perhaps it has other historical connotations, but today it is used as a political weapon, like lapel pins, or the lack thereof, which I’m sure also sounds like a joke to someone not from Amarica.
Strike that “born that way” line.
Could you be more specific? In my observation, the concept is favored specifically by NEOconservatives, defined as advocates of interventionist foreign policy.
I suspect this concept throughout history has generally been a way of expressing the idea that you deserve to be dominated because you picked the wrong religion.
The underlying motivations are always power and resources, but religious appeal is the veneer that ensures steadfast support from the home population.
The concept begs the question: what other nations are exceptional?
Japan must be one immediate answer.
When Admiral Perry arrived in 1856, Japan was an isolated inwardly focused feudal (as in 12thC European) society with little technology.
By 1895 they had cowed the giant China and in 1904 set about sorting out the Russian Empire in the far East. Then they joined the Triple Entente on the side of the French and British in the First World War, gaining more territory in the process.
Then in 1931 they invaded Manchuria (arguably the actual beginning of WWII) and carried on until August 1945.
Surviving two atomic bombs, Japan has risen to be the third most powerful economy in the world today.
I believe Mr. Obama has used the phrase, which doesn’t stop right-wingers from saying “OH MY GOD! OBAMA DOESN’T BELIEVE IN AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM!” It’s just as stupid and pointless as lapel pins and the pledge of allegiance.
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Top selling musicians;
1 The Beatles
2 Elvis
3 Michael Jackson
4 Madonna
5 Elton John
6 Led Zeppelin (huh, wouldn’t have expected them)
7 Pink Floyd
8 Mariah Carey
9 Celine Dion
10 Whitney Houston
That’s 5 American acts, 4 British, and a Canadian. Not a particularly exceptional record.
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Do you mean that the artists aren’t exceptional? Because, seriously, if you don’t think it’s exceptional that two countries that make up less than 8% of the total worlds population have 9 of the 10 top selling musicians in them aren’t exceptional I don’t really know what to say. It boggles the mind.
Nope, but it’s associated with the US, and may of the fast food franchises throughout the world are US or originally US flagged companies. You can find, say, a McDonald’s in most modern countries on the planet…same goes for KFC or even Taco Bell. Oh, there are plenty of home grown fast food places in many, many countries, and many of them do better than the US versions in those countries…but not many of them are well known outside of those individual countries, and certainly nothing like the iconic US fast food places that are.
This is changing, but right now it’s the US that has more of it’s iconic fast food places in more countries throughout the world than anyone else. And this doesn’t even count iconic US products like Coke and Pepsi.
Well, jeans and tee shirts weren’t invented in the US, but they became iconic American clothes (riveted blue jeans were, IIRC, invented by a German immigrant in the US in the late 1800’s and have become rather associated with the US). However, I’d say that my own take on this is more clothing with US iconic product placement, bands or the like on them. Where this really hit me was years ago when I was traveling to a remove village in South America and I saw a bunch of the kids there wearing tee shirts with Coke on them. I asked them if they even knew what a Coke was, and sure enough, they did (and asked me if I had any…sadly, I didn’t).
Yeah, I agree…I don’t think everyone everywhere wants to be an American or act like an American. Quite the opposite. However, it’s hard to deny the impact the US has had on the world, especially for the last 50 years. This global impact, IMHO, makes the US one of the very few exceptional nations in history. As with the others I listed earlier (not an exhaustive list), this is transitory, and I’m sure there will be other contenders as the US global influence wanes (though this hasn’t really happened…yet), but I’m confident that the US will be remembered in a similar way to the other great nations in the past.