Saturday night arrived. I, prepared to rage, went to a certain fraternity’s annual and infamous “America” party. Amidst the patriotic apparel and multitudes of mini flags, I noticed a poster which instantly dampened my mood. It pictured the United States in stars and stripes surrounded by the words: “America: Back To Back World War Champions.” Sure, it’s just a party. But, to me, these and similar statements are indicative of a larger, more troubling issue at hand.
These six words represent and promote a political ideology which imagines the USA as a nation above nations and considers war a high-stakes sport at the expense of the dignity of the individual. Especially when coupled with an hatred of liberal politics and politicians, the sentiment degrades political and historical discourse.
This disturbing conception of our country creeps about American conservative culture. Many display an almost religious devotion to their ahistorical ideal of “America,” whatever this might mean. Some celebrate a vision of the United States as a “Christian nation,” the country to redeem and sanctify the wider world.
Others believe that a divine connection exists between our founding documents and thus they deify and idolize them and their authors. Some promote exhaustive diplomatic and militaristic maneuvers alongside the extension of globalized, industrial capitalism. Overall, however, these beliefs promote the idea that America is the greatest nation on earth and concurrently the world’s last and only hope.
These underlying ideas promoted by the aforementioned poster distract fellow citizens from the utter degradation and evils of war, instead promoting and capitalizing upon the American cause as some sort of multinational game. Truly, it is not. War leaves no champions. This year marks the centennial of the start of the First World War. Can any intellectually honest human being call that victory a championship? Say that to the millions of souls who fought and died in these horrific wars as well as the millions of innocent civilians both sides (including Americans) mercilessly silenced.
Such slogans demean and dehumanize the individuals from all nations involved who gave their lives for one reason or another and the countless others who survived the terrible wars never to speak of their own experiences again. Neither how much we love our country nor how much we despise certain politicians leading it can let us forget the dignity and good of each human life.
Believers of this “America!” mythos easily brush aside our country’s massive failings in lieu of its grand success and mission. They whitewash legitimate history from their collective consciousness, dismissing our country’s history of ethnic and religious persecution — even its exploitation of the working classes. Because these are significant buzzwords for the socially-conscious liberal, conservatives deny the significance of these incriminating narratives.
After dismissing the United States’ outplacement of Native Americans, exclusion of the Chinese laborers, and confinement of Japanese-American citizens, ideological politicos justify horrific war crimes with the ethic of “the ends justify the means;” e.g., We must end World War II, therefore the United States must kill 200,000 innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bomb. Modern warfare necessitates the perfection of a specific calculus in order to succeed, but when the math includes the murder of civilians and the torture of rebel extremists, the architects of war deny the dignity of each individual human person and lower themselves to the place of the foe. Historical precedents exist for each of the above issues and more. When American citizens proclaim this devotion to America, they do a great disservice to the past, the truth, and the matters at hand.
I do not hold a vendetta against this country. I only believe we must not prop up any American ideal above the individual human person. Why is America great? It is the vast and rich home to millions; this is their place, where we can live together in community and pursue the natural goods essential to human flourishing. We must admit our mistakes, and actively support the aid of those in need, never again denying the dignity of the immigrant or the enemy.
