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Normal history classes in the USA are nearly 100% about atrocities, from the large and obvious down to the trivial and questionable. Hardly anything positive is
by tropo 10y ago
Normal history classes in the USA are nearly 100% about atrocities, from the large and obvious down to the trivial and questionable. Hardly anything positive is ever said about the USA. One might even get the impression, as you seem to have, that the USA is an especially evil country.
The reality is that every nation, every ethnicity, and every culture has been build upon a hill of skulls. As these things go, the USA has been less vicious than most.
- RodericDay 10y agoWhat's a "normal" history class? Is that sufficient to impart the attitude on the population at large? The USA is, on the whole, an extremely, extremely unrepentant country. Your average american will admit to a good number of crimes, but immediately contextualize so as to not really feel guilt about it. "Why should I pay for the crimes of my ancestors" type stuff, a disconnect from te past. This is why talk of e.g: reparations is incredibly, incredibly controversial.
- tropo 10y agoBeing unrepentant is different from forgetting. You said "America is allowed to forget", but that just isn't true. We are constantly reminded. It gets shoved down our throats all the time by self-loathing types, and most of us reject the guilt trip. Mostly, the rest of the world is far more awful, and we are thus justified in our national pride. The whole thing is like an original-sin (inherited, as from Adam and Eve) version of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-criticism#Communism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-criticism#Communism Groups that fail to build a large enough hill of skulls end up being part of a hill of skulls. There is no shame in being on the winning team, but there is plenty of shame if you undermine the success of your team and thus snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.