Jump to content


Photo

reflections


  • Please log in to reply
20 replies to this topic

#21 MJ

MJ

    Veteran

  • Members
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 3,343 posts
  • Location:New York City
  • Interests:Theology, Tennis, Jazz, Modern Art, Red Wine

Posted 01 September 2001 - 08:26 AM

ara baliozian
Member
Member # 271
posted July 01, 2001 12:03 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXPLAINING AMERICA
********************************
To say that America is the source of all evil in the world today and to equate Reagan, Bush Sr. and Jr. with Stalin, Hitler, and Saddam is to condemn oneself to understand very little about America and human nature in general.
Americans don’t mind admitting that America was founded by Europe’s rejects – the oppressed, the persecuted, the insulted and injured, the downtrodden, the poor, the underdog and the scum – who fought the Indians, the British, one another (in one of the bloodiest civil wars of all time) and two world wars in Europe and Asia. Which is why it is extremely difficult for an American to understand or sympathize with a people that allows itself to be bullied by despots. (I am reminded of Karl Marx: when asked what he despised the most, he replied: "Subservience").
After the Russian Revolution and the advent of fascism in Europe, some of the best brains of the continent emigrated to America and enriched its identity and culture –a few random names that come readily to mind: Stravinsky, Rachmninov, Nabokov, Toscanini, Fermi, Einstein, Thomas Mann….
What makes America the mightiest empire in the history of mankind is not its weapons and dollars but its ability to absorb and adapt features from all the cultures of the world.
--------------------

ara baliozian




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users