American foreign policy seems stuck in the “double down” mode, whereby instead of acknowledging errors — and then correcting them — we simply ignore the mistakes and double down on the same policy elements that led to failure in the first place.
This is because America has built its culture upon exceptionalism and arrogance. USA IS NUMBER ONE.
When you have this mindset and you are entirely committed to it because it is written into the nationalist identity of the country… You are unpatriotic if you admit mistakes. You are unpatriotic if you say america might actually not be the best at something. You are unamerican.
America’s failure is written into its own culture because it literally can not self-crit. American nationalism has paper thin skin. Say something remotely critical around american nationalists and they go absolutely fucking bonkers about it. I see it all the time particularly on reddit or discord.
Compare this with european nationalists. Brits? The culture here is self-owning. It is cool to look at Britain and admit that it’s shit. Being a bit shit has become part of the national identity. Winning at everything? Nah. But that’s ok. And this ability to self-crit strengthens the longevity of British nationalism because it won’t destroy itself in doubling down over and over and over again. Same goes elsewhere. In america though? It will destroy itself before it owns up to its mistakes. Maybe this was different back when the British Empire was at the height of its power. I don’t know, I wasn’t around and it’s hard to get a feel for what a cultural zeitgeist might’ve been historically.
Another factor is probably that displays of nationalism is considered embarrassing here. Outside of sports. Whereas american nationalism seems entirely normalised to the point that not taking part in nationalist rituals marks you as unamerican. This is part of their problem. Part of the ridiculous exceptionalist NUMBER ONE culture they’ve constructed. It’s going to hurt them over and over.
And this isn’t just some quirky aspect of American culture. Millions of people have died because of this attitude. Leadership knew the Vietnam War was unwinnable years before Saigon fell, but no one could just suck it up and take the L. Which makes the bombing of Laos and Cambodia - which was done well after it was known there was no way the US could win - even more monstrous.
agree america’s hubris will be its downfall. i don’t really agree that brit nationalism has anything going for it that causes it to be more enduring, if anything the UK’s decline has been more accelerated if we measure from when that rump state of the british empire came about, they are much closer to total downfall today the way i see it.
I also think your premise is a bit flawed, British people basically invented thinking they’re better than everyone else and they still do it all the time
British Empire only really accelerated in decline because of the costs of both world wars although I expect someone might challenge me on that, this gave rise to American hegemony.
I only cite British endurance because we’ve been close to revolution at least once and not gone over the edge because our ruling class were capable of seeing it and not doubling down.
I also think your premise is a bit flawed, British people basically invented thinking they’re better than everyone else and they still do it all the time
Simultaneous belief in being better and also being able to laugh at oneselves is a stronger combination than glorygloryglory and a complete and total inability to stand even the mildest criticism or mockery. I don’t really think this is just a trait of the British though, I only say the British because I have more certainty about it. I think the French are probably better at this mindset than the British, and a few european countries are. If anything the US is an exception among the western countries in its nationalism being so thin skinned.
This is because America has built its culture upon exceptionalism and arrogance. USA IS NUMBER ONE.
When you have this mindset and you are entirely committed to it because it is written into the nationalist identity of the country… You are unpatriotic if you admit mistakes. You are unpatriotic if you say america might actually not be the best at something. You are unamerican.
America’s failure is written into its own culture because it literally can not self-crit. American nationalism has paper thin skin. Say something remotely critical around american nationalists and they go absolutely fucking bonkers about it. I see it all the time particularly on reddit or discord.
Compare this with european nationalists. Brits? The culture here is self-owning. It is cool to look at Britain and admit that it’s shit. Being a bit shit has become part of the national identity. Winning at everything? Nah. But that’s ok. And this ability to self-crit strengthens the longevity of British nationalism because it won’t destroy itself in doubling down over and over and over again. Same goes elsewhere. In america though? It will destroy itself before it owns up to its mistakes. Maybe this was different back when the British Empire was at the height of its power. I don’t know, I wasn’t around and it’s hard to get a feel for what a cultural zeitgeist might’ve been historically.
Another factor is probably that displays of nationalism is considered embarrassing here. Outside of sports. Whereas american nationalism seems entirely normalised to the point that not taking part in nationalist rituals marks you as unamerican. This is part of their problem. Part of the ridiculous exceptionalist NUMBER ONE culture they’ve constructed. It’s going to hurt them over and over.
And this isn’t just some quirky aspect of American culture. Millions of people have died because of this attitude. Leadership knew the Vietnam War was unwinnable years before Saigon fell, but no one could just suck it up and take the L. Which makes the bombing of Laos and Cambodia - which was done well after it was known there was no way the US could win - even more monstrous.
agree america’s hubris will be its downfall. i don’t really agree that brit nationalism has anything going for it that causes it to be more enduring, if anything the UK’s decline has been more accelerated if we measure from when that rump state of the british empire came about, they are much closer to total downfall today the way i see it.
I also think your premise is a bit flawed, British people basically invented thinking they’re better than everyone else and they still do it all the time
British Empire only really accelerated in decline because of the costs of both world wars although I expect someone might challenge me on that, this gave rise to American hegemony.
I only cite British endurance because we’ve been close to revolution at least once and not gone over the edge because our ruling class were capable of seeing it and not doubling down.
Simultaneous belief in being better and also being able to laugh at oneselves is a stronger combination than glorygloryglory and a complete and total inability to stand even the mildest criticism or mockery. I don’t really think this is just a trait of the British though, I only say the British because I have more certainty about it. I think the French are probably better at this mindset than the British, and a few european countries are. If anything the US is an exception among the western countries in its nationalism being so thin skinned.
well said