Post by firefly on Dec 1, 2009 17:20:25 GMT -5
A very long time ago, I heard Gore Vidal give a speech on Cspan. I can't remember the occasion or what was going on politically at the time, but one sentence stood out because I had so often witnessed the process it described.
First, let me explain, it was the first, and only, time I had ever heard Gore Vidal speak. I've read a few of his books, but never considered him a favorite author.
What he said during this speech, paraphrased, is this:
He went on to say that Americans seemed incapable of recognizing that when people of other countries visited America they might find some "but's" to say about America. He inferred, suggested, questioned, whether Americans were aware of the consistency with which they sought to diminish the excellence of another countries qualities with some American "but..."
Having had family members and friends who had traveled abroad and had returned to describe the wonders of another country and, indeed, had inevitably ended the session with a "but," or several "buts" all intending to put the visited country "in it's proper 'inferior' place", I began to pay attention to others reporting on their visits to other countries.
Gore Vidal seemed to be right on the money.
This was long, long before the phrase "American exceptionalism," came into being.
In looking up the speeches of Obama in other countries, I came across another person discussing the use of the word "but..."
He uses it in connection with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and aimed particularly at the Palestinians.
'I was powerless'
Twenty-one years ago, Daniel Gaede, now director of educational activity at Buchenwald, was a 22-year-old living in Israel as a volunteer at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Authority. Like many Lutheran youth he was involved in peace activities between Israelis and Arabs and between Jews and Christians. His brother Christoph, then 19, had come to visit, and together they embarked on a visit to the West Bank city of Nablus.
During a stop in the trip, a Palestinian terrorist had planted an explosive on the bus. Gaede's brother and a female volunteer were killed, and six others were injured. "I knew exactly what needed to be done to save my brother, but in the hospital in Nablus, they couldn't help him. I was totally powerless," he said. Gaede himself lost his left eye, and his right eye remains severely damaged.
Several years ago, Gaede told Palestinian students visiting Buchenwald from the Gaza Strip city of Rafah that to truly understand the pain of the other, they must learn to stop saying the word "but." He said the students would claim it's true the Jews suffered, "but" today it's they, the Palestinians, who suffer.
Gaede tried to convince them to replace the word "but" with "and": The Jews suffered, and the Palestinians suffer. The ability to respect the tragedies of others without ranking them is one of the primary educational goals he set for himself when he began working at Buchenwald 15 years ago.
Close to 600,000 visitors arrive at the camp annually, the majority of them German students.
The main message Gaede seeks to impart to them is not to construct their lives at the expense of others. It seems the U.S. president expressed something similar in his own remarks.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090916.html
(That link didn't want to work for me, but if you Google "Obama visits Buchanwald Ha'aretz" to find the article I took this from.)
I think it is noteworthy that human nature does make a habit of thinking itself being broad minded, tolerant and accepting, but so often we don't even realize the other "but" that somehow excuses in ourselves something which we condemn in others.
We may speak of the human rights violations in China, for instance, including the slave wages paid to many workers. But, we look at our underemployed, unemployed, homeless, etc., as people who are causing their own low station in life. It isn't OUR fault, or OUR nation's fault. And we have no hesitancy in buying the goods made by that "slave labor."
We see oppression of women in some countries, but we fail to see oppression of dark skinned people in our own. We have taken no extreme measures to stem or eliminate the growing practice of "white slavery," as indulged in by some of our prosperous citizens.
We see oppression of religion in some countries, but we fail to acknowledge evidence of the same thing in our own. We have taken no noticeable measures to stem the proselytization of our military and our governmental employees by Christian pressure groups. We accept as perfectly rational and worthy of time spent (by our secular, separation of church and state, elected officials) arguing about legislation based upon religious ideologies, such as abortion and homosexuality.
The mass killing and destruction which occurred during the Holocaust is real,but and so is the mass killing and destruction of the Palestinian culture real.
I post this just so maybe some more folks might start noticing the "but..." when they are ready to slip into a judgment or a condemnation.
First, let me explain, it was the first, and only, time I had ever heard Gore Vidal speak. I've read a few of his books, but never considered him a favorite author.
What he said during this speech, paraphrased, is this:
Just once, I would like to hear an American say--after visiting another country--"Oh, the food (or the scenery, or the people, or the history, or the transportation system, or the museums) was wonderful... without adding BUT..." and then immediately inserting some American custom, institution, service, or whatever that was superior.
He went on to say that Americans seemed incapable of recognizing that when people of other countries visited America they might find some "but's" to say about America. He inferred, suggested, questioned, whether Americans were aware of the consistency with which they sought to diminish the excellence of another countries qualities with some American "but..."
Having had family members and friends who had traveled abroad and had returned to describe the wonders of another country and, indeed, had inevitably ended the session with a "but," or several "buts" all intending to put the visited country "in it's proper 'inferior' place", I began to pay attention to others reporting on their visits to other countries.
Gore Vidal seemed to be right on the money.
This was long, long before the phrase "American exceptionalism," came into being.
In looking up the speeches of Obama in other countries, I came across another person discussing the use of the word "but..."
He uses it in connection with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and aimed particularly at the Palestinians.
'I was powerless'
Twenty-one years ago, Daniel Gaede, now director of educational activity at Buchenwald, was a 22-year-old living in Israel as a volunteer at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Authority. Like many Lutheran youth he was involved in peace activities between Israelis and Arabs and between Jews and Christians. His brother Christoph, then 19, had come to visit, and together they embarked on a visit to the West Bank city of Nablus.
During a stop in the trip, a Palestinian terrorist had planted an explosive on the bus. Gaede's brother and a female volunteer were killed, and six others were injured. "I knew exactly what needed to be done to save my brother, but in the hospital in Nablus, they couldn't help him. I was totally powerless," he said. Gaede himself lost his left eye, and his right eye remains severely damaged.
Several years ago, Gaede told Palestinian students visiting Buchenwald from the Gaza Strip city of Rafah that to truly understand the pain of the other, they must learn to stop saying the word "but." He said the students would claim it's true the Jews suffered, "but" today it's they, the Palestinians, who suffer.
Gaede tried to convince them to replace the word "but" with "and": The Jews suffered, and the Palestinians suffer. The ability to respect the tragedies of others without ranking them is one of the primary educational goals he set for himself when he began working at Buchenwald 15 years ago.
Close to 600,000 visitors arrive at the camp annually, the majority of them German students.
The main message Gaede seeks to impart to them is not to construct their lives at the expense of others. It seems the U.S. president expressed something similar in his own remarks.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090916.html
(That link didn't want to work for me, but if you Google "Obama visits Buchanwald Ha'aretz" to find the article I took this from.)
I think it is noteworthy that human nature does make a habit of thinking itself being broad minded, tolerant and accepting, but so often we don't even realize the other "but" that somehow excuses in ourselves something which we condemn in others.
We may speak of the human rights violations in China, for instance, including the slave wages paid to many workers. But, we look at our underemployed, unemployed, homeless, etc., as people who are causing their own low station in life. It isn't OUR fault, or OUR nation's fault. And we have no hesitancy in buying the goods made by that "slave labor."
We see oppression of women in some countries, but we fail to see oppression of dark skinned people in our own. We have taken no extreme measures to stem or eliminate the growing practice of "white slavery," as indulged in by some of our prosperous citizens.
We see oppression of religion in some countries, but we fail to acknowledge evidence of the same thing in our own. We have taken no noticeable measures to stem the proselytization of our military and our governmental employees by Christian pressure groups. We accept as perfectly rational and worthy of time spent (by our secular, separation of church and state, elected officials) arguing about legislation based upon religious ideologies, such as abortion and homosexuality.
The mass killing and destruction which occurred during the Holocaust is real,
I post this just so maybe some more folks might start noticing the "but..." when they are ready to slip into a judgment or a condemnation.