S.Smith wrote:

I've been quietly sitting here on my hands for days now, quietly wishing that a small handful of smug, sanctimonious individuals would just fucking TRY to remember once in a while that George W. Bush is not synonymous with "America" and imperialism/colonialism is not synonymous with "America" and McDonald's is not synonymous with "America."

But that is what we're working with/against now---those modes of commerce/politics are basically what dominant in the way power works in our country. Aside from the rhetorical excesses of the inevitable bilious minority, it's worth noting that for at least those of us who are Americans, we are in a better position to criticize the shortcomings of our own culture than someone else's, and it needs to be done. There are more people spraining shoulders congrtulating themselves on living in this wealthy unstoppable juggernaut of a nation. Dubya IS synonymous with America to billions of people, and---quite unfortunately---American citizens are responsible to one degree or another for what happens while he presides over our government (the same applies in a less iconic way to our legislative bodies in general). There's nothing smug about pointing out that America does whatever it wants to (this driven home by two hardly-critical political scientists on NPR just yesterday evening), due to its peerless economic and military strength; and what our military, corporate, and political institutions does comes home to roost for normal people, powerless individuals, working people. Questions of tone notwithstanding, how is it "smug" to question what's happening? Because I don't see that happening on TV, and I don't hear it happening on the radio, and public discourse is a wasteland for anything resembling humility or autocritical dialogue.

But to the next person who wants to flog "us" with 'Fast Food Nation' (a brutally fascinating book, BTW),

Please. Myself and one other listmember mentioned the book, and not in a sanctimonious fashion. Our mentioning it might, however, qualify as a public service. It's an amazing, essential, terribly polemical read. I still eat flesh without losing sleep, but FAST FOOD NATION is a powerful reminder of how diets are molded for profit on a massive level, with serious impacts that will roost on our grandkids' heads. After reading that book, the "uncritical acceptance" (paraphrasing Patrice) of McD's by European youth starts to take on the patina of masochism exploited, or novelty used as fulcrum...kind of like trading everything for trinkets and beads because of one's own "naive" sense of value. Some of the things America invents, or perfects, also yield disastrous consequences here first; America would beat the world to the "finish line", at which...the abyss. So here some of us come running, back toward the world, saying, "Turn back! There's NOTHING THERE!"

...please try to remind yourself that wherever you are, chances are good that someone near you chose to apply for that McDonald's franchise instead of opening a quaint little local eatery, capice?

Oh, I'm reminded wherever I go, as are many of my friends in Europe, China, and elsewhere. Many people think this fact, this choice, is a crying shame, and that the cards are increasingly stacked against the "new", unfranchised restaurants from the get-go.

...and yet I still say that this seemingly shallow little mongrel un-culture has a lot more going for it than most lapsed empires of the world care to admit.

I am not a big fan of the American philosopher Richard Rorty's work, but it is interesting, and more significantly, Rorty seems to position American ideas prominently among both analytic (Anglo-American) and continental European thought, shaping a bold and socially conscious new political philosophy. He's one of many who trace lineages of brilliance, improvisation, and contribution back through America's history, and he does so without appearing to feed the fires of jingoism. I don't think we need to be apologists for the non-choice and no-future being peddled by fast food culture, in order to assert that America is a remarkable country with great achievements. -----s __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com