 |
Are we special? Just ask us! Who's the Fairest of Them All?By Rick Horowitz
We see committed. They see aggressive. We see assertive. They see obsessed. We see courageous. They see intrusive. We see determined. They say, "Give it a rest!" We're looking in the mirror again, and we're pleased with what we see. And why shouldn't we be? We're the greatest democracy the world has ever known, the land of freedom and opportunity. Our economic power, our military might, our cultural influence leave the others in the dust. They're watching from behind the mirror, and they don't appreciate dust. We're pleased to be such a plainspoken bunch. We say what's on our mind and let the chips fall where they may. The feathery phrases and squishy sentences of diplomacy? Somebody else's style, not ours. In America, we call a spade a spade. We call evil evil. And we know that the rest of the world appreciates it, even if they can't always find the words to tell us so. This time, for instance -- this whole business with Iraq. The rest of the world hasn't gotten around to telling us how much they appreciate it. In fact, they seem less inclined to tell us with every passing day. We try not to take it personally. They want us to take it personally. We stand up for principle; even a glance in the mirror reminds us of that. Not that we need any reminding. We're constantly thinking about our principles, and applying our principles. That's something we especially admire about ourselves. The world would be a much better place if everyone stood up for our principles the way we do. They think we're self-righteous. We understand that being the world's only superpower carries with it certain responsibilities. We don't shrink from those responsibilities; we welcome them. We're happy to have other countries' help in carrying out those responsibilities, but if they're not interested in helping us, that's OK, too. We're perfectly capable of doing what needs to be done all by ourselves. (We may even prefer it -- we're so much better at it than anyone else is.) If they don't want to help us, they should just get out of the way and let us do what we have to do. They aren't inclined to get out of the way. They're more inclined to stand right in the middle of the road, talking. And then talking some more. Some of them even drop nails in the middle of the road -- nails and banana peels. They don't like the idea that the world has only one superpower, and they're doing everything they can to slow us down, to make us slip. It makes them feel important. They like feeling important. We have long memories. We're not the type to carry grudges, but we do have long memories. But we also have eyes that see the world fresh every day. When we condemn Iraq for having weapons of mass destruction, for instance, we're perfectly able to forget the fact that once upon a time, we helped Iraq acquire weapons of mass destruction. That was then, this is now. When we say dictatorship is bad and democracy is good, we're perfectly able to forget all the times we've found dictatorship convenient and democracy a threat. They remember. They sniff the air for hypocrisy, and they're sure they've caught a whiff of it. They wrinkle their noses. They keep their distance. (They make a great show of keeping their distance.) They treat us like we're something disagreeable, something large and loud and vaguely embarrassing. We're looking in the mirror again. And we still don't see what they see. Posted 3/6/03. Tell
your neighbors: Rick Horowitz's award-winning commentary is right here
twice a week!
|
  |
Rick Horowitz
