We Americans

[crispy47]

I've been spending a lot time recently reading the work of modern Chinese and Taiwanese intellectuals like Lung Ying-tai (龍應台), who is amazing. I'm not sure why. I'm not talking about academic essays, but the kind of thing that, say, Chomsky (why is he the first example that comes to mind?) writes in the US-stuff made to have a public appeal, but

Comments

[crispy47]

p.s. What originally promoted this entry was a CNN poll that indicates Americans are split 49/49 on whether Bush lied about Iraq. I am always fascinated and a little disturbed when poll results turn out like that. Whether Bush lied is a matter of facts and evidence, not ideology. I'd rather have seen the stats skewed one way or the other, for some reason, although I guess it could just be coincidence that public perception turned out this way.

Anyway, that got me thinking about a lot of things, which eventually led me to the topic of this post, which was supposed to serve as a short introduction for the topic of this poll. I'm not going to go into it right now, because I need to sleep.

[milkweeds00]

I think we wouldn't be so self-conscious if we hadn't gone to Pomona for four years. That simple. Since I've been living in my hometown my pseudo-intellectual pose has mostly washed away (except when I get on LJ, of course ;))

What can be said about us Americans? Huh? Have you seen any western ever made? Ever listened to jazz? Read a William Faulkner book or seen a Tennessee Williams play? And as for... brb, Im at work

[milkweeds00]

ANYWAY, maybe the problem is how hard it is for our cultural elite to accept our cultural products as exemplary. They can never do this with contemporary products; they have to wait until the dust of history (ie silent films) or the gloss of an artiste (ie Andy Warhol) deem a product high-brow to them. But these English department critical type people are all silly. I advise you ignore them, and then you'll find yourself suddenly a lot less self-conscious.

[milkweeds00]

Oh, and when you ask "what can be said about us Americans?" are you really asking "what can I, Chris, say about us Americans?" I'm guessing whatever you might say would have something to do with divergent news media across the globe, but I'm not you.

Maybe in the same way Hunter S. Thompson had drugs fuel his writing you could have global cable news fuel yours.

[crispy47]

HAHAHAHAHAHA. God you make me sound like a loser.