As a nation and as individuals, we tend to view the world through the prism of our own experiences. Over the last few weeks, Russians, Georgians, Abkhazians and South Ossetians have reminded us that ethnic nationalism and secessionism are on the rise around the globe. I worry that the American experience leaves the United States and its citizens unprepared to confront it.
Not long ago, I had dinner with a conservative media figure who seemed perplexed that I’m a student of “identity.” “What made you do that?” he asked. “I think the world would be better without it.”
I tried to explain that it wasn’t something I was either for or against but that exists and needs to be understood. And just because one may not want to “believe” in identities — ethnic groups and ethno-religious groups — that doesn’t mean that they somehow disappear from the world. Absurd as it sounds, we have a collective blind spot on the topic. And our refusal to take the issue of ethnic and ethno-religious identity seriously has helped to undermine our foreign policy initiatives.
Just look at Iraq. The Bush administration — and all the “experts,” both Americans and exiled Iraqis, who guided its policy — made a fundamental error by relying on the assumption that Iraqis were nonsectarian nationalists, more concerned with preserving a nationalism that had been imposed on them by Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party than with the position and fate of their own tribes and mullahs. As plenty of critics have observed, even the faintest acknowledgment of the social cleavages on the ground could have helped the U.S. war effort.
Funny article:
[blockquote] Our elites are so steeped in the melting-pot idea that they don’t even recognize that they see the world through the bias of the majority. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard an educated Anglo American disparaging “ethnic” — read Jewish, Cuban or Armenian — influence on U.S. foreign policy without acknowledging the implicit “ethnic” worldview of the Groton and Yale WASPS who ran U.S. foreign policy for so long. [/blockquote]
So, let’s see, precisely which ethnic group were two of the notable Sec. of States in this administration (Powell and Rice), and where did they go to school again?
Is this a “strawman” article? And for the clincher:
[blockquote] …the U.S. has by and large been successful at negotiating the divisions of religion and ethnicity. But perhaps we are the victims of our own success.[/blockquote]
Tell that to the American Indians.
[blockquote] Not long ago, I had dinner with a conservative media figure who seemed perplexed that I’m a student of “identity.” “What made you do that?” he asked. “I think the world would be better without it.”
I tried to explain that it wasn’t something I was either for or against but that exists and needs to be understood. And just because one may not want to “believe” in identities — ethnic groups and ethno-religious groups — that doesn’t mean that they somehow disappear from the world [/blockquote]
Has not this also been shown to be true about religion? — at least up to 9/11
It’s an American-Thang. We decry competition in schools, giving out ‘feel good’ trophies to the kids who come in 47th out of 47, then wonder why we don’t score higher in the olympics (or why there are only three categories of medals!)
They try to pretend all religions are equal, then wonder why militant, radicals blow up our buildings and people, and say “What have WE done to make them dislike us?”.
They say “all races are alike” but still have affirmative action programs and keep some races on reservations.
They say “Women are equal, individuals, and can do the same jobs as Men as well as Men” but if a conservative, pro-life woman gets nominated as Vice-President, those same people rake her over the coals with imagined scandals (because she doesn’t fit the mold).
There is a larger reality in the world, apart from Politically Correct American illusions to the contrary. We would do well to remember this. Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez, for bringing it to the forefront again.