If you've only lived in the United States, then you've no way to understand.
You think this is arrogance, but that's not true. You've taken this statement as a Greek and therefore out of context.
This is a cultural value that runs pretty deep. I tell you, you put a speech about democracy in a movie, and just watch how the Americans respond. Watch. People either tear up, or sit up straighter.
Most Americans feel that this country should represent democracy. That this is what we're about, above and beyond the petty politics and personal issues and splits between the Republicans and Democrats. It's a common thread that holds this country together: this belief that the definition of America is democracy.
People who react to this comment don't understand Americans. We use the two words differently. There is a distinction.
The United States is a place, it has 52 states, and it's leaders fuck-up, and usually fuck-up big.
But "America" on the other hand, means an ideal, Jeffersonian in tone and scope. It's the Declaration of Independence, it's the Constituation, it's the Bill of Rights. "America" is what this country should be about, what we're shooting for.
This isn't arrogance. This is saying that we value something that is bigger than these 52 states, and our own plot of land, and this or that politician in office. It's bigger than ourselves. This is good, not arrogant. It's not about us, you see.
America to Americans is an archetype.
No one here would say the United States invented democracy, no more than we invented freedom. But "America" is something bigger.
Don't tear down the ideal and the value, thinking we're saying we're better. Values and ideals will always supercede the people who are trying to represent them.
It's sounds to me like Europeans don't know the distinction between these two words, and may not even know that - in various versions- we hold these ideals, represented by the word America.
Re: I had the title above, because I certainly didn't want this to get nasty!!!
You think this is arrogance, but that's not true. You've taken this statement as a Greek and therefore out of context.
This is a cultural value that runs pretty deep. I tell you, you put a speech about democracy in a movie, and just watch how the Americans respond. Watch. People either tear up, or sit up straighter.
Most Americans feel that this country should represent democracy. That this is what we're about, above and beyond the petty politics and personal issues and splits between the Republicans and Democrats. It's a common thread that holds this country together: this belief that the definition of America is democracy.
People who react to this comment don't understand Americans. We use the two words differently. There is a distinction.
The United States is a place, it has 52 states, and it's leaders fuck-up, and usually fuck-up big.
But "America" on the other hand, means an ideal, Jeffersonian in tone and scope. It's the Declaration of Independence, it's the Constituation, it's the Bill of Rights. "America" is what this country should be about, what we're shooting for.
This isn't arrogance. This is saying that we value something that is bigger than these 52 states, and our own plot of land, and this or that politician in office. It's bigger than ourselves. This is good, not arrogant. It's not about us, you see.
America to Americans is an archetype.
No one here would say the United States invented democracy, no more than we invented freedom. But "America" is something bigger.
Don't tear down the ideal and the value, thinking we're saying we're better. Values and ideals will always supercede the people who are trying to represent them.
It's sounds to me like Europeans don't know the distinction between these two words, and may not even know that - in various versions- we hold these ideals, represented by the word America.
Icarus