tp53.xml
Title
tp53.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-02-24
TomPaine Story: Story
The Innocents Abroad
"You can't blame the innocent," wrote Graham Greene in The Quiet American, touching on a central tenet of the American psyche. "Innocence is a kind of insanity." Schizophrenia might be a more precise diagnosis for a nation that, amidst constant self-reassurance of its status as a "lone superpower," doesn't need much convincing of its own innocence. As Lewis Lapham outlined in a timely Harper's article shortly before the terror attacks last year, Americans tend to see themselves as the citizens of a "virtuous empire," heirs to that fabled city on a hill?a conception that the attacks have only served to strengthen.
If the events of September 11th should have taught us anything it is that
America isn?t seen by much of the world as it is by itself. Recent
skirmishes with our allies over the Rome Treaty and American peacekeepers have continued to underscore this notion, signaling a resurgent drift toward unilateralism. But nowhere is a continued perception gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world more pronounced than on the threat of a possible invasion of Iraq. Without a clear reason to go to war, the Bush administration finds itself without a single supporter. ""But after all"", it seems to say, nodding over at Saddam, ""we?re the innocent ones here!"" Given that preemptive force contradicts the international norm of collective defense, it?s no wonder our allies aren't falling into line.
Writing in Granta shortly after September 11th, Ian Buruma (a European)
eulogized America's semi-conscious forgetfulness by noting that "the
promise of freedom in America is precisely to be liberated from the past."
To this I (an American) can only say: "Those who forget the past are
condemned to repeat it." Has America forgotten the lesson of September 11th? We sure seem to be trying our hardest.
"You can't blame the innocent," wrote Graham Greene in The Quiet American, touching on a central tenet of the American psyche. "Innocence is a kind of insanity." Schizophrenia might be a more precise diagnosis for a nation that, amidst constant self-reassurance of its status as a "lone superpower," doesn't need much convincing of its own innocence. As Lewis Lapham outlined in a timely Harper's article shortly before the terror attacks last year, Americans tend to see themselves as the citizens of a "virtuous empire," heirs to that fabled city on a hill?a conception that the attacks have only served to strengthen.
If the events of September 11th should have taught us anything it is that
America isn?t seen by much of the world as it is by itself. Recent
skirmishes with our allies over the Rome Treaty and American peacekeepers have continued to underscore this notion, signaling a resurgent drift toward unilateralism. But nowhere is a continued perception gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world more pronounced than on the threat of a possible invasion of Iraq. Without a clear reason to go to war, the Bush administration finds itself without a single supporter. ""But after all"", it seems to say, nodding over at Saddam, ""we?re the innocent ones here!"" Given that preemptive force contradicts the international norm of collective defense, it?s no wonder our allies aren't falling into line.
Writing in Granta shortly after September 11th, Ian Buruma (a European)
eulogized America's semi-conscious forgetfulness by noting that "the
promise of freedom in America is precisely to be liberated from the past."
To this I (an American) can only say: "Those who forget the past are
condemned to repeat it." Has America forgotten the lesson of September 11th? We sure seem to be trying our hardest.
Collection
Citation
“tp53.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/780.