sielwolf's Journal: US against all Authority

"I believe in America. America has made my fortune."

I think The Godfather is the most American of films. What it means to be an American. I've thought a while about this recently. A lot of this pre/post-Iraq stuff has forced a lot of self-evaluation articles out of the woodwork. "How are the US and UK similar?" "How are they different?" "Why do the Americans and French hate each other so much?"

Of all those things, I can't say. My ability to speak on a nations comes from my understanding of its culture. Music, film, literature, art. All that shit I obsess about in this journal. But even then I feel like a hack if I was to speak on the Brits or French. So I'll speak on the Americans. I guess this comes from MonTemplar's JE about the BBC doing a documentary on America and the World. For the same reasons I feel reluctant to spout off decisively about foreign nations, likewise I feel a bit anxious when other folks decide to sum up being American in a two hour documentary.

One of the biggest problems is that I see the US as being diverse and that many voices are lost when a single American (as in the above documentary) is going to speak authoritatively on "us" (probably everyone in the world thinks the same way). I think about countries like China where they are 98% (out of 1 billion) Han Chinese. And even they have several severe regional differences. It all comes down to some wierd sort of archtype. American as either cowboy, or yankee, or gangster.

Of course that isn't that far away from what Martin Scorcese thinks. He's pointed out in both text and documentary that there are three purely American genres of film: The gangter movie, the western, and the musical. And the differences between the gangster movie and the musical are slight. Both can generally be summarized as this:

"Small-time city boy/girl finds that there is no opportunities here. Disregarding the advice of parents and friends, he/she decides to become a gangster/singer/dancer. Of course this is a whole different world, populated with its own rules and laws. Life is tough on the inside as it was on the outside save one difference: opportunity. The kid proves that he/she is determined, hungry. And by the end he/she makes his/her own way against all odds to become the King/Queen of New York. Of course such success is bittersweet. There were many sacrifices on the way. And he/she is left to him/herself to contemplate this. End credits."

Shit, the western isn't much different either. Instead of being driven to an inner-city subculture, our hero escapes to the wide open West, determined to make his own way. Same trials and tribulations. Same pay-offs and glories. Of course I'm simplifying things. Many movies don't follow that formula at all.

But there are two themes that persist:

1. Anti-Authoritarianism
2. The Self-made Man

I think that these not only represent the American film. But also any American medium and in fact the general American worldview.

Anti-Authoritarianism

I think this one is most obvious. From top to bottom Americans have issues with authority. Even if not overt, I think there is a special place in our hearts for those who resist it. I guess its that "Country founded in revolution" thing. Modern France was founded in a revolution, sure. But they were just changing governments. Ruling classes. America was a blank slate. If not for the WASPs who founded it then for every nationality that came here, got shit, and resented it for the next twenty generations. Americans hate authority (yet realize that there is some need for it). In westerns, cowboys are harassed by evil rich land owners, robber barons, sherriffs or outlaws. In gangsters its the police, corrupt city hall, proper society, and fellow psychopath gangsters who don't follow "the code". In musicals it was the evil director or producer or the other girl who resented your talent. Hippies hated squares, punks hate cops, rappers hate cops (and each other). Its all competition, its all fair game. And there is always someone with the power trying to screw you out of shit. This is so pervasive that even middle-class skateboarders with nothing better to do have a cartoonish hatred for cops and security.

And then there is the whole UN thing. Instead of being an impenetrable class of watchmen, its now a foreign entity hellbent on taking your rights. It isn't a flotilla of red coats or anything, but the same line is drawn. Of course Americans don't have a monopoly on xeno-distrust. Fears of the ZOG, and the Jew-N are pretty common currency worldwide. But the US is one of the few countries to make it an internal institution. This isn't a "love our leaders, fear theirs". It is "fear anybody who can snuff you with their thumb." sort of thing. Authorities (official or not) only come knocking when asking you to pay taxes, go to jail or go to war. There is always somebody telling you how to live your life and giving you shit in return. So fuck 'em. Why follow their rules and regulations? I've got my friends, my people. We're going to make our millions our own way. Our big fuck you to the men on top.

The Self-made Man

So you have nothing. No hand out. If you are lucky the government/whoever just ignores you as he walks by. You aren't a part of his plan. If things are shitty he's burning a cross out on your front lawn or sending the cops to your party to bust heads. Either way, he isn't there to help you.

So you DIY. Any way you can. Being America, Land of Capitalism, you find a demand and then you fill it. As Barzini said in The Godfather "Certainly, he can present a bill for such services. After all, we are not Communists..." If it is illegal or not, well, that isn't important. It comes down to if you can look at yourself in the morning. Either way you work it out of your garage, your basement, out of the back door. If they won't give you the airplay, you make your own culture. You have your own outlets. As long as you have an audience, a dollar is still a dollar.

Even if you still slave away at your shitty 9 to 5, you don't have to like it. You don't take unnecessary shit from your boss. And if you see opportunity, you take it. Waiting around for the Powers that Be to shine down their golden light has made suckers of generations (ok, I'm getting fantastically dramatic here). You do it yourself or you don't do it at all.

So that's what we have. If you look at it pessimistically its a selfish attitude with a persecution complex. And at it's extremes it is. No one can say with a straight face that these winners are paragons of the American lifestyle. But as a morality play in entertainment... the gangster/cowboy meme is a big idea. Eminem's 8 Mile is nothing more than the 21st century retelling of this story. The Disco-punk movement out of the Midwest (Adult., The Rapture, DFA) is building on the same underground vibe that the mainstream thought was impossible: combining the angst and thrashiness of punk with the hedonism and danceability of disco. The more obtuse to the mainstream, the stronger it becomes (like it's electro/clash bretheren although less disposable). Shit, there is even a vibrant American dancehall movement. Seen as a token form by urban radio, far from friendly confines, and completely ignored by mainstream (and even alternative) media, American dancehall is driving in new and profound directions.

So what does this all mean for foreign policy? Well there is a whole wide world out there and if you don't take it, someone else will. And if it doesn't directly affect you, leave people to their own devices. I mean we're self-made right? If they don't have the balls/whatever to do it themselves, well, that sucks but don't wait around for a handout.

And the worst possible thing is to pull us over with the flashing lights. Having the UN come up to the US and say "you should do _________" you will get a "why?" in response. Of course there are two ways of doing this: either you come bearing gifts, or you come bearing threats. When the UN says you have to cut this, pay that, send people to die here, and they can't give you a better reason than "doing it for the betterment of the world." Like Sonny said to Michael in The Godfather (regarding him joining the military to fight in WW2), THEY (the government/UN) are not family. All they do is ask and take with promises of giving back. So you have the idealists like the young Michael, the sympathizers like Clemenza, and the realists like Sonny. And it doesn't matter how big you are. Even the Godfather (Michael) had to go before the Senate committee. It is a state of mind.

So take something like Rwanda. You have a country that got itself into a mess (not 100% true) and now the UN (an Authority) wants us to go and help people who can't help themselves because we are so rich/powerful (Self-made). This repeats itself over and over again. And for all of its success, America will forever be distrustful of the honor system.

And to some extents I think that a lot of foreign countries realize this and use it in their own policy. Take the Kyoto Treaty. Basically it would have sunk a lot of countries. Yes the US, with its dependence on oil and coal, but others as well. Not only that but putting the US economy in the shitter would hurt the world economy. The wonderful thing for a lot of politicians is that they knew the Americans would never ratify it. Too many Sonnys and Clemenzas in the executive and legislative branches.

So if the US is going to veto it, why not vote for it anyway and get the huge popularity benefits? The more vetrolic your denouncement, the more your ratings will skyrocket. So voting with the popular opinion (no matter how right/wrong) when the US is going against is nothing but a win-win... for everybody else.

As Frontline showed, such a faux-rebel stance was what got Jacques Chirac on the head-on course with the US over Iraq. More insideously its what allows the Saudi princes to play our best friends while setting up madrassas worldwide preaching nothing but Anti-Western/Zionism.

In a twisted way, I can see this attitude as "giving America what it has given us". That this attitude is in fact how America is perceived: always divisive, giving nothing but grief, pursuing nothing but it's own ends. Populist and cheap. Maybe this is the great success of the American Century?

Maybe not. I'm a strong believer in game theory. Nash proved that the natural state in an imperfect ommunication game was selfishness. And for all of the implicit meanings, selfishness is without a morality. It is amoral, not immoral. But in the human mind, there are only two states, altruism and enemy. A selfish world means nothing but evil empires on foreign shores. But things now are still not worse than they were a hundred, two hundred, a thousand years ago. Everlasting Peace is a modern invention and possibly a pipedream. In ancient days chess was the winter game, played when it was too hazardous for armies to march. War was the natural state of national policy.

In the end I think that's an important fact. To step back and realize for all of the bickering and shit, things are not apocolyptic. Not all games have sub-optimal equilibriums. Life doesn't need to be a zero-sum game. We can all be rich.

Nits

[Red Warrior]

Overall, I think you're on the money, or at least in the ballpark in most of what you wrote. With that, commence with the picking of the nits:

And if it doesn't directly affect you, leave people to their own devices. I mean we're self-made right? If they don't have the balls/whatever to do it themselves, well, that sucks but don't wait around for a handout.
Interestingly enough, the American people are generous to a fault. I saw stats recently that indicated that, as individuals, we give more of our per c

American Charity

[sielwolf]

Yeah, that's what I meant by taking a pessimistic view of being American. That there's a wide berth of interpretation to this (and I like how you said Americans like to give to their charities... and not be told to). I was also going to mention religious prohibitions and the like. Americans have no problem with being conservative or liberal... but when someone tells them to do something. Well, that's what the entire beef on school prayer is about: I don't want to pray to your god but I don't want to be

Re:American Charity

[Red Warrior]

Didn't someone once say that life is just one big misunderstanding?
Yes, but they were in error. /me ducks

Excellent

[sql*kitten]

JEs like this make me wish /. had a "printer friendly page" button.