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Hmmm...interesting thread.
Quick question: alansmithee: objectivism. your take? your language choice is interesting in your earlier posts.
Carrying on, I would have to say that I think that one of the underlying factors in the current discussion is that Americans have an inherent sense of the frontier still built into our national conscious. This was, at one time, a place with unlimited possibility for expansion, and isolation due to limited communication and transportation. Those days are over, but we don't always act like it. We have a combination of an inherited sense of this isolationism, combined with the tremendous economic/political clout we yield. Other countries, or regions (i.e. the EU: power, non-isolated - Australia: isolated, non-power) may have one of these qualities, but not both. This combination fosters the sense of arrogance displayed by alansmithee (right or wrong), and I think it's ultimately what others dislike about americans.
I think that despite the fact that the us is the current world superpower, our claim on that power is somewhat tenuous, but we don't realize it. This is where I think your argument may have some problems, alan. We are increasingly dependent on the rest of the world, but we fail to anticipate the probability that knowledge of the surrounding world would be to our benefit in the future, if not now. Let's assume that the US, much like every other dominant civilization in the history of mankind, eventually falls. Would your position, alansmithee, be that the US should not worry about other countries until this happens? How would you react to the concept that perhaps this fall can be prevented or delayed by incorporating consideration of much of the world into our policies? Would you say that this is backhanded concession of power from the strong to the weak?
And no, I don't think Joe Schmoe the hot-dog vendor (no disrespect to hotdog vendors) or Ellen Bellen the secretary at the health club (no offense to Ellens either) should sit around worrying about just what in the fuck the Basque People are up to these days, but a slow incorporation of more international awareness, I feel, would be to our benefit.
For what it's worth, I don't think I'm the only person to see it this way. Learning a second language (might I recommend Spanish?) is increasingly becoming valued in educational circles and for job prospects, corporations are rapidly expanding to international conglomerations, people are travelling more than ever, and communication abilities are vasting taking off. Pretty soon, I'm not sure that we'll be able to differentiate, as easily, American concerns from international concerns. Like it or lump it, it's happening.
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