Welcoming America in the club of Not Good Enough countries
The Old World is used to the dark ages. Are you?
I think you were aware of the eyes of the whole world fixed on you — and you liked that. The child prodigy of a country, breaking the dust-covered customs of the Old World, spreading its God-blessed power to the farthest corners of the earth. We adored you. We hated you. We based our faith in universal freedom, equality, and human rights on your successes.
This level of overconfidence, infuriating yet captivating, can be found in little kids. We rolled our eyes at loud American tourists; we flinched at your version of history, depicting America as the hero saving the day; we despised the wars held in the name of democracy and oil. And yet we couldn’t stop watching your movies, wearing your jeans, and counting your dollars — all proclaiming the exuberant, contagious belief in your exceptionality.
It’s so contagious because no Old World country has a matching level of pride. “Oh, that’s Russia-made”, I’d say about an uncomfortable object; “Well, that’s Italy”, my local friends say about a bureaucracy vortex; “Only in Britain” will mark the things that went wrong, according to Stephen Fry. In this sea of doubtful whispers, your sonorous, assertive voice was what everyone wanted to hear— even when the facts suggested otherwise.
