Barry Rubin writes a good Letter from America to Israel:
Letter from Washington: The misunderstood American character, By Barry Rubin
As US forces prepare for an assault on Baghdad, it is worth pausing a moment and considering how the much misunderstood American character has led to and shaped this moment.
For now, as America has unquestionably emerged not only in theory but in substance as the world's leading nation and sole superpower, it is more important than ever to understand this unique country.
This is especially true for the Middle East, where people constantly harp on how the US does not understand them, but have a total miscomprehension of America.
There are four basic characteristics of Americans that play an especially important role in the Iraq crisis and, no doubt, will continue to do so in US dealings with the Middle East.
First is an idealism bordering on enlightened altruism. After a century of materialistic explanations which may mark the peak of cynicism, the fact remains that the US is a country which wants to do good. To much of the world, this is a greedy war to seize oil and make profits.
Yet to Americans and, yes, even American leaders spreading democracy, eliminating and punishing a vicious dictatorship, proving that they are good, and genuinely helping others are major factors in this war.
The underlying view that by achieving these things, American interests will also benefit. Americans see improving peoples' lives as the key to stability, and showing their good will as the route to popularity. American security arises out of these two outcomes.
This may seem paradoxical regarding an action which has so increased anti-Americanism, yet there is confidence that in the end, as has happened before, their cause will be proven just and their analysis will be shown to be right. The name of this operation, Iraqi Freedom, is not propaganda. Americans take it very seriously.
Second, Americans have a powerful underlying sense that things will turn out right in the end: Goodness will triumph, the world will improve. While this can be ridiculed as a product of the happy endings for which Hollywood is known, that cinematic practice is in fact the result, not the cause, of American psychology and political culture.
It is that optimism which allows and encourages Americans to undertake great actions, and often tremendous risks. Often, they brush aside the endless advice that something cannot be done. Naturally, this leads to mistakes and costly losses, but it has hardly ever led to any real or lasting disaster. And US history has repeatedly shown this attitude does in fact succeed in the end, as is happening at this moment in Iraq.
Third is a pragmatic, problem-solving mentality. Rather than muddling through or living with difficulties, Americans want to resolve them.
Ideology does not enchain them. In coming up against complex Middle Eastern problems, where those involved often have the most opposite possible view from pragmatism, this can lead to difficulties and misunderstandings. It is also at odds with a lot of European thought and is closely linked to current misunderstandings between the two historic allies.
And yet, when all else has failed, perhaps this approach is not so irrational. It also implies a tremendous willingness to change, to try something new that others have often underestimated. Historically, every time there has been a problem that others have defined as essential, the society has altered with what has been, relatively speaking, astonishing speed to resolve it.
Finally, there should be mentioned a reluctance to engage in foreign entanglements, followed by an enormous resolve to succeed when the challenge is finally taken up. Dictators and extremists, not only those in the Middle East, have constantly misread the American character as soft.
It might better be defined as slow to anger but red-hot in its wrath. To anger America, as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have been the latest to learn, is to goad a giant into action.
There are, of course, American weaknesses and shortcomings, many of which arise from these same virtues. Perhaps these have been so overemphasized as to blind many to the other side of this reality. And in the Middle East and elsewhere, it is those who spin hostile myths about the US who will lose the most in dealing with it.
jpost.com |
