Oh goody. Is it History Revision Time again already? I mean I'm still tickled by "Hitler was a leftist", "FDR caused the Depression" and "John Lennon voted for Reagan".
From your own link:
>> Similar beliefs have existed historically elsewhere in the world, such as Whig history in Britain which held that the political system of the British Empire was the apex of human development and uniquely suited to ruling foreign peoples benignly, and Sinocentrism in China, which regarded Chinese culture as more ancient than or superior to other cultures and neighboring countries as mere offshoots of China, although neither of these views is common in the present day. <<
From RationalWiki:
>> American exceptionalism is a belief that the United States is unique or exceptional when compared with the historical development of other countries. It would be easy to pigeon-hole as nationalism, but it is more expansive and more concentrated than that. It is a popular ideal held by many American conservatives,[2] though the temptation is not entirely limited to the right. Several liberal historians and politicians have embraced certain aspects of American exceptionalism, in particular in the "vital center" and "end of ideology" views popular among American liberals in the mid-20th century. American exceptionalism is also a core belief within neoconservatism.
One major characteristic of American exceptionalism from a historiographical viewpoint is its tendency to gloss over what it would consider "bad" history, such as slavery, treatment of Native Americans, segregation, and the Jim Crow South, and emphasize or mythologize the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and George Washington, the "Wild West," or even controversial aspects of American involvement in the world wars.
American exceptionalism may view the United States through the lens of a special historical determinism for the United States, separate from broad historical trends in the rest of the world. It may, for a variety of reasons, view the U.S. as a nation that is immune (or should be immune) from things like terrorism and dictatorship — "It can't happen here." The U.S. in turn is supposed to assume an activist role around the world in promoting "freedom" or being a "shining example" to the world (the "City on a Hill"). This sort of presumptive moral superiority is virtually never welcomed by other nations, and is almost always resented, particularly when the U.S. has a long history of engaging in gunboat diplomacy itself. If an American wants to understand how the concept of American Exceptionalism sounds to almost anyone in the world who is not an American, take any speech or screed effusing the wonders of American exceptionalism, and re-read it substituting the word "white" for every instance of "American" — you'll see how bigoted and overbearing American Exceptionalism really sounds.
The belief by Americans in American exceptionalism is one of the reasons for worldwide resentment or dislike of the USA.[3] To the rest of the world it sounds less like "America is Exceptional" and more like "Exceptions should be made for America". It's effectively a form of special pleading. <<
/exceptionally offtopicOne major characteristic of American exceptionalism from a historiographical viewpoint is its tendency to gloss over what it would consider "bad" history, such as slavery, treatment of Native Americans, segregation, and the Jim Crow South, and emphasize or mythologize the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and George Washington, the "Wild West," or even controversial aspects of American involvement in the world wars.
American exceptionalism may view the United States through the lens of a special historical determinism for the United States, separate from broad historical trends in the rest of the world. It may, for a variety of reasons, view the U.S. as a nation that is immune (or should be immune) from things like terrorism and dictatorship — "It can't happen here." The U.S. in turn is supposed to assume an activist role around the world in promoting "freedom" or being a "shining example" to the world (the "City on a Hill"). This sort of presumptive moral superiority is virtually never welcomed by other nations, and is almost always resented, particularly when the U.S. has a long history of engaging in gunboat diplomacy itself. If an American wants to understand how the concept of American Exceptionalism sounds to almost anyone in the world who is not an American, take any speech or screed effusing the wonders of American exceptionalism, and re-read it substituting the word "white" for every instance of "American" — you'll see how bigoted and overbearing American Exceptionalism really sounds.
The belief by Americans in American exceptionalism is one of the reasons for worldwide resentment or dislike of the USA.[3] To the rest of the world it sounds less like "America is Exceptional" and more like "Exceptions should be made for America". It's effectively a form of special pleading. <<
