No Great Shining Light

I was reading Kristopher's post on the deportation of John Demjanjuk, and it put me in mind of another article I read some weeks ago on Guantanamo Bay. It seems there have been a lot of things coming out of America which all seem to be pointing to the same conclusion.

It's over, now, you know? America, I mean.

It's no longer the "great shining light" it tried to be for so long. For four centuries the American people stood up and swore black and blue (or, at least, red-white-and-blue) that they were the greatest, best and most noble nation in the world.

They were never right about that, but they were trying - and that meant they were close. The dream of America was the dream of a group of people who were always striving to be the greatest good.

When they fought for independence against the British Empire, they set themselves up as the great champions of freedom. Even their own Civil War (although having many non-freedom related factors and causes) became linked to the fight for freedom - the freedom of slaves.

Every big and great movement that has happened in America over the years as been a step closer to a better, freer, nobler, more enlightened society. Every victory in their history has been a victory for the "better man"...

Or, at least, that's what the "press kit" they've been issuing in their popular culture has been trying to say for the last few centuries.

Like many people who aren't American, but have had the American culture ladled into their lives in great doses thanks to films, television, books and other sources, I've always had the opinion that Americans "think more highly of themselves than they ought".

I've always thought they weren't quite as magnificent and shiny as they like to think they are, even though I've always liked the fact that they tried.

But... I'm not sure the people who count were ever really trying.

When you look at what the government actually agrees to do to people (through it's various agencies and policies), you realise they aren't quite so shiny when it comes to the crunch.

Truth be told, they're no better than the Germans/Russians/insert-country-with-unsavory-period-here, and they're just as likely to do something incredibly unjust.

You look at what they are actually doing - how poorly it fits with the image of the "great good", and you realise the Americans could easily become the things they claim to hate most - and they probably wouldn't even notice they were doing it. In fact, they'd probably still think they were acting as the "great shining light".

After all, the Germans/Russians/insert-country-with-unsavory-period-here-s thought rather well of themselves during the first years of their worst periods. Heck, the Russians still think rather well of themselves.

I hate to say it, but I think at some point the big "rogue state" is going to be the United States - they aren't as far away from Germany just before the Nazis or Russia just before the Soviets as they think.

I only hope it doesn't get as messy as I think it probably will.