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American Exceptionalism After about 1970, cognitive dissonance carried it further than could be delivered as excellence in all things declined. Self-deception

American Exceptionalism After about 1970, cognitive dissonance carried it further than could be delivered as excellence in all things declined. Self-deception is about all that remains when many things are honestly comparable to a third-world country. The only way to "solve" it is if the "patient" wants to admit to it and then wants to solve it. There's too much false pride (future hubris) preventing self-reflection.

ElViajero 5y ago
> if the "patient" wants to admit You are being down-voted. So, I guess that the answer is "no, we do not want to admin any problem" , at this moment, here in Hacker News.
- rob_c 5y ago
  I've been noticing similar downvoting recently for calling out too America-centric topics recently so I'm inclined to agree
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  I downvoted. I did so because of this line: > many things are honestly comparable to a third-world country. I do not believe that to be an accurate assessment of the situation. It feels accurate, to some people, but it's a distorted view of reality. Which lets you classify me as "no we don't want to admit any problem", and write me off. I'd encourage you not to do that, for two reasons. First, I've been seeing a pattern here on HN rather frequently lately: Someone states fringe view X as being obviously correct, and states that everyone is willfully blind to not acknowledge it. This gets downvoted. The author then points to the downvotes as proof that people are willfully blind (and therefore that X is in fact correct). But this ignores that X can be downvoted because it is obviously incorrect, or just because the author is being a jerk. You cannot use downvotes to confirm anything other than the fact that you were downvoted. Second, assuming that everyone who disagrees is a fool or acting in bad faith is how you trap yourself in a filter bubble. But the question remains: Are you actually right, or actually wrong? Trapping yourself in a filter bubble means that, if you're ever wrong, you'll never find out.
akie 5y ago
I've seen that referred to as "Post-imperial delusion", and I believe it explains Brexit as well as Russia's belligerent behavior. Britain lost its super power status less than a century ago, Russia only in the 1990s. There are apparently quite a few people in these countries that have yet to accept that they are not as relevant as they once were, and who long for any kind of action to restore their country's status to what they think it should be. Very dangerous.
JKCalhoun 5y ago
> After about 1970 Yes, the moon landings were peak-USA. Never mind that we were mired in "world-building" in Southeast Asia as well.

ElViajero 5y ago

> if the "patient" wants to admit You are being down-voted. So, I guess that the answer is "no, we do not want to admin any problem" , at this moment, here in Hacker News.

rob_c 5y ago
I've been noticing similar downvoting recently for calling out too America-centric topics recently so I'm inclined to agree
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
I downvoted. I did so because of this line: > many things are honestly comparable to a third-world country. I do not believe that to be an accurate assessment of the situation. It feels accurate, to some people, but it's a distorted view of reality. Which lets you classify me as "no we don't want to admit any problem", and write me off. I'd encourage you not to do that, for two reasons. First, I've been seeing a pattern here on HN rather frequently lately: Someone states fringe view X as being obviously correct, and states that everyone is willfully blind to not acknowledge it. This gets downvoted. The author then points to the downvotes as proof that people are willfully blind (and therefore that X is in fact correct). But this ignores that X can be downvoted because it is obviously incorrect, or just because the author is being a jerk. You cannot use downvotes to confirm anything other than the fact that you were downvoted. Second, assuming that everyone who disagrees is a fool or acting in bad faith is how you trap yourself in a filter bubble. But the question remains: Are you actually right, or actually wrong? Trapping yourself in a filter bubble means that, if you're ever wrong, you'll never find out.

akie 5y ago

I've seen that referred to as "Post-imperial delusion", and I believe it explains Brexit as well as Russia's belligerent behavior. Britain lost its super power status less than a century ago, Russia only in the 1990s. There are apparently quite a few people in these countries that have yet to accept that they are not as relevant as they once were, and who long for any kind of action to restore their country's status to what they think it should be. Very dangerous.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

> After about 1970 Yes, the moon landings were peak-USA. Never mind that we were mired in "world-building" in Southeast Asia as well.