Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Jun 8, 2016 9:09:58 GMT -5
First of all, I don't think anyone "won" WWII, everybody lost but business. Anyone claiming to have won such a clusterfuck is IMHO doing himself a disservice.
As a frenchman, this is highly interesting discussion as we over here mostly always picture USA as a republic as opposed to a true democracy. Sure, the USA has become a representative democracy if not a constitutional democracy since 1965. This actually dillutes the meaning of the word democracy by a lot, since in the latter case, you could as well say a constitutional republic and it would mean the same for most americans.
The USA surely haven't been the first or sole selfless nation to try to impact values of hope, freedom and justice to the modern world, and that is probably at the core of some of the dissension here. Business and charlatans usualy are the builders of nations throughout history, and the USA is no stranger to that (Ther Will Be Blood is a remarquable metaphor of this), so in the end, a sentence as "the American Way" or the british or french one, it's just a slogan, it is advertising. Hell, at it's core it was explicitly concieved as such. AS we want and hope to project a selfless picture of our people despite the dramatic foundations of all nations, when the times command it, broad and empty slogans emmerge. The fact that it makes us "feel" something positive while watching Richard Donner's film has more to do with his talent then with the supposed meaning of the slogan.
If it invokes patriotism, fine, that's the productive result, but anything that lands into nationalism becomes a tool of darkness as nationalism mandates ignoring facts in favor of emotion.
Most european countries also had segregation during the XXth century, mostly towards women, and most are republics at their core (France is at its fifth version of a republic, officialy), but I guess the making of a democracy is when its highest principle surpasses the one of a mere republic. So we all more or less attempt at being a democracy, but it wil remain just an ideal, especially in this modern world where few industries control the media (freedom of media is required in democracy).
So all in all, when I read "the american way" in a comic book, I don't laugh, i justunderstand it as a more or less required slogan, a very usefull tool mainting the illusion or hope of a democracy.
I must just add that of very recent history, i was struck when a GOP representative told the truth on national television : when the GOP's RNC still was hopping its rules would prevent Trump from getting the nommination despite popular vote, he candidly justified this by saying "we're not a democracy". I know it's not as simple as that, but If you had a european grill of analysis, this would just make it even clearer that republicans want to live in a republic and democrats in a democracy. In the end, I guess i just proves how anachronic "the american way" or "JLA" are to this new global world. It almost feels like this is all a dada theatre play where all the spectators are ok with believing the fairy tale as long as it's good and entertaining (Superman), less so when it's not (ID4).
As a frenchman, this is highly interesting discussion as we over here mostly always picture USA as a republic as opposed to a true democracy. Sure, the USA has become a representative democracy if not a constitutional democracy since 1965. This actually dillutes the meaning of the word democracy by a lot, since in the latter case, you could as well say a constitutional republic and it would mean the same for most americans.
The USA surely haven't been the first or sole selfless nation to try to impact values of hope, freedom and justice to the modern world, and that is probably at the core of some of the dissension here. Business and charlatans usualy are the builders of nations throughout history, and the USA is no stranger to that (Ther Will Be Blood is a remarquable metaphor of this), so in the end, a sentence as "the American Way" or the british or french one, it's just a slogan, it is advertising. Hell, at it's core it was explicitly concieved as such. AS we want and hope to project a selfless picture of our people despite the dramatic foundations of all nations, when the times command it, broad and empty slogans emmerge. The fact that it makes us "feel" something positive while watching Richard Donner's film has more to do with his talent then with the supposed meaning of the slogan.
If it invokes patriotism, fine, that's the productive result, but anything that lands into nationalism becomes a tool of darkness as nationalism mandates ignoring facts in favor of emotion.
Most european countries also had segregation during the XXth century, mostly towards women, and most are republics at their core (France is at its fifth version of a republic, officialy), but I guess the making of a democracy is when its highest principle surpasses the one of a mere republic. So we all more or less attempt at being a democracy, but it wil remain just an ideal, especially in this modern world where few industries control the media (freedom of media is required in democracy).
So all in all, when I read "the american way" in a comic book, I don't laugh, i justunderstand it as a more or less required slogan, a very usefull tool mainting the illusion or hope of a democracy.
I must just add that of very recent history, i was struck when a GOP representative told the truth on national television : when the GOP's RNC still was hopping its rules would prevent Trump from getting the nommination despite popular vote, he candidly justified this by saying "we're not a democracy". I know it's not as simple as that, but If you had a european grill of analysis, this would just make it even clearer that republicans want to live in a republic and democrats in a democracy. In the end, I guess i just proves how anachronic "the american way" or "JLA" are to this new global world. It almost feels like this is all a dada theatre play where all the spectators are ok with believing the fairy tale as long as it's good and entertaining (Superman), less so when it's not (ID4).