Dazdraperma | Deposit Phots |
Of course, and those are just the tip of the iceberg. Women were also discriminated against. And in the early years of the 20th century, immigrants who would be considered white by today's standards were thought of as different, lesser races -- including people from Ireland, Italy, and China. Virtually all 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II; many of them, like actor George Takei, were born here.
We have done shitty things to other countries, too. That noted expert Wikipedia says, "The U.S. has engaged in nearly 400 military interventions between 1776 and 2023, with half of these operations occurring since 1950 and over 25% occurring in the post-Cold War period." That doesn't even count covert CIA actions to destabilize governments, in South America and elsewhere, often to make it easier for US corporations to do business there. The Iran-Contra affair is just one example of us mucking around in other countries' self-governance to benefit ourselves.
But if we could dispense with criticism for a moment, I think it would be safe to say that the US had been considered exceptional around the world -- if for no other reason that immigrants have historically flocked to our shores to escape whatever atrocity was going on in their own countries (whether we caused it or not). (Of course, immigration is still happening today -- although less so, given who's running the show right now and how "illegal immigrants" are being treated by those people.)
And then there's the way other nations, especially those in Europe, have counted on the United States to protect them in case of an act of aggression against them by some other nation -- which is what makes Trump's turnabout in American policy toward Ukraine so hard to stomach. Sure, he's being nicer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky now, but it's hard to trust him when he's changed his mind so many times before.
We've never been perfect, and I did not mean to imply last week that we ever were. We have a long way to go to reach perfection, if we ever get there; that has always been true.
But going back to last week's topic: We were the first nation to put a person on the moon, and we're still the only nation to have done it. In that one singular achievement, at least, we have been exceptional.
***
*This blogging platform doesn't make it easy for folks who comment directly on my posts. Usually I can tell who an anonymous poster is; in this instance, it could be one of several folks. No need to out yourself, sir or madam. I'm just explaining to others who might wonder.
***
These moments of exceptional (in several senses of the word) blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Stay safe!