Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup metatuning American Empire as Gated Community

This comes from
http://www.counterpunch.org/eno1230.html

American Empire as Gated Community
by BRIAN ENO

The American edition of Time will not be running the piece, as apparently
they think that even the mildest criticism from our warmest friends will
be too much for a U.S. audience to handle. B. Eno

"Europeans have always looked at America with a mixture of fascination
and puzzlement, and now, increasingly, disbelief. How is it that a
country that prides itself on its economic success could have so many
very poor people?

How is it that a country so insistent on the rule of law should seek to
exempt itself from international agreements? And how is it that the
world's beacon of democracy can have elections dominated by wealthy
special interest groups? For me, the question has become: "How can a
country that has produced so much cultural and economic wealth act so
dumb?"

I could fill this page with the names of Americans who have influenced,
entertained and educated me. They represent what I admire about America:
a vigorous originality of thought, and a confidence that things can be
changed for the better.

That was the America I lived in and enjoyed from 1978 until 1983. That
America was an act of faith--the faith that "otherness" was not
threatening but nourishing, the faith that there could be a country big
enough in spirit to welcome and nurture all the diversity the world could
throw at it. But that vision is being eclipsed by a suspicious,
introverted America, a country-sized version of that peculiarly American
form of ghetto: the gated community.

A gated community is defensive. Designed to keep the "others" out, it
dissolves the rich web of society into a random clustering of
disconnected individuals. It turns paranoia and isolation into a
lifestyle.

Surely this isn't the America that anyone dreamed of; it's a last resort,
nobody's choice. It's especially ironic since so much of the best
newthinking about society, economics, politics and philosophy in the last
century came from America. Unhampered by the snobbery and exclusivity of
much European thought, American thinkers vaulted
forward--courageous,innovative and determined to talk in a public
language.

But, unfortunately, over the same period, the mass media vaulted
backwards, thriving on increasingly simple stories and trivializing news
into something indistinguishable from entertainment. As a result, a
wealth of original and subtle thought--America's real wealth--is
squandered.

This narrowing of the American mind is exacerbated by the withdrawal of
the left from active politics. Virtually ignored by the media, the left
has further marginalized itself by a retreat into introspective cultural
criticism. It seems content to do yoga and gender studies, leaving the
fundamentalist Christian right and the multinationals to do the politics.
The separation of church and state seems to be breaking down too.
Political discourse is now dominated by moralizing, like George W. Bush's
promotion of American "family values" abroad, and dissent is unpatriotic.
"You're either with us or against us" is the kind of cant you'd
expectfrom a zealous mullah, not an American president.

When Europeans make such criticisms, Americans assume we're envious.
"They want what we've got," the thinking goes, "and if they can't get it,
they're going to stop us from having it." But does everyone want what
America has? Well, we like some of it but could do without the rest: the
highest rates of violent crime, economic inequality, functional
illiteracy, incarceration and drug use in the developed world. President
Bush recently declared that the U.S. was "the single surviving model of
human progress".

Maybe some Americans think this self-evident, but the rest of us see it
as a clumsy arrogance born of ignorance.

Europeans tend to regard free national health services, unemployment
benefits, social housing, and so on as pretty good models of
humanprogress. We think it's important--civilized, in fact--to help
people who fall through society's cracks. This isn't just altruism, but
an understanding that having too many losers in society hurts everyone.
It's better for everybody to have a stake in society than to have a
resentful underclass bent on wrecking things.

To many Americans, this sounds like socialism, big government, the nanny
state. But so what? The result is: Europe has less crime and less poverty
and arguably higher quality of life than the U.S., which makes a lot of
us wonder why America doesn't want some of what we've got.
Too often, the U.S. presents the "American way" as the only way,
insisting on its kind of free market Darwinism as the only acceptable"
model of human progress." But isn't civilization what happens when people
stop behaving as if they're trapped in a ruthless Darwinian struggle and
start thinking about communities and shared futures? America as a gated
community won't work, because not even the world's sole superpower can
build walls high enough to shield itself from the intertwined realities
of the 21st century.

There's a better form of security: reconnect with the rest of the world,
don't shut it out; stop making enemies and start making friends. Perhaps
it's asking a lot to expect America to act differently from all the other
empires in history, but wasn't that the original idea?"

Brian Eno is a musician who believes that regime change begins at home.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

🔗John Starrett <jstarret@...> <jstarret@...>

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "X. J. Scott" <xjscott@e...> wrote:
> on 1/4/03 2:38 PM, David Beardsley wrote:
>
> > Europeans tend to regard free national health services, unemployment
> > benefits, social housing, and so on as pretty good models of
> > humanprogress.
>
> It's funny but when I go to Europe and find that a 6 oz bottle of water
> costs $7 and I have to pay $.50 extra for a teaspoon of ketchup with my
> fries and I have to pay extra if I want ICE in my soda, I consider Europe to
> be primitive, backwards and repressive.
>
> With the money you save on ketchup and ice in America, you can pay for a
> lot of health care.
>
> And actually, we have free health care for Americans over 65 and socialized
> health care for everyone who makes less than twice the poverty level in
> Tennessee and it's pretty good health care we have here in the US. A lot of
> fundamental research takes place here so even the poorest people have a
> chance of seeing the greatest doctors in the world. My cousin who is not
> wealthy is dealing with cancer and is able to go to the Mayo Clinic and be
> treated directly by the best in the world. The same can not be said for
> Europe unfortunately.
>
> - Jeff

Where the hell do you go in Europe? When I go to France or Italy, a six pack of 1.5 litre bottles of water costs 2.5 euros! Extra for ketchup? I have never paid extra. As far as ice in your soda, well ice is not used that much there. I have never asked for it, so I wouldn't know. Seriously, are you staying at the Paris Ritz? Try staying in the countryside *anywhere* in Europe and meet real Europeans. I had my wisdom teeth taken care of by the head of the medical school in Split, and it cost me *nothing*. I think you been had, boy.

John Starrett

🔗monz <monz@...>

hi Jeff and John,

> From: <jstarret@...>
> To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 11:15 PM
> Subject: [metatuning] Re: American Empire as Gated Community
>
>
> --- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "X. J. Scott" <xjscott@e...> wrote:
> > on 1/4/03 2:38 PM, David Beardsley wrote:
> >
> > > Europeans tend to regard free national health services, unemployment
> > > benefits, social housing, and so on as pretty good models of
> > > humanprogress.
> >
> > It's funny but when I go to Europe and find that a 6 oz bottle of water
> > costs $7 and I have to pay $.50 extra for a teaspoon of ketchup with my
> > fries and I have to pay extra if I want ICE in my soda, I consider
Europe to
> > be primitive, backwards and repressive.
> >
> > With the money you save on ketchup and ice in America, you can pay for
a
> > lot of health care.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > - Jeff
>
> Where the hell do you go in Europe? When I go to France or Italy,
> a six pack of 1.5 litre bottles of water costs 2.5 euros! Extra
> for ketchup? I have never paid extra. As far as ice in your soda,
> well ice is not used that much there. I have never asked for it,
> so I wouldn't know. Seriously, are you staying at the Paris Ritz?
> Try staying in the countryside *anywhere* in Europe and meet real
> Europeans. I had my wisdom teeth taken care of by the head of the
> medical school in Split, and it cost me *nothing*. I think you
> been had, boy.
>
> John Starrett

and anyway, Jeff, why would you crave soda in Europe, when you can
get wine for nearly the same price John quoted for water. (OK, so
maybe you don't drink alcohol ... but if you do, wine is a healthier
choice than soda.)

(and John, knowing your preferance in beverages, i'm surprised
that *you* didn't mention this!)

and why would *anyone* want to eat at McDonalds in Europe, with so
much better food *and* ambience available at nearly the same price?

honestly, one of the things that has really disgusted me is the
proliferation of McDonalds nearly everyone i've been in Europe,
including right at the end of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. the
very first time i went to Europe (a trip to Paris for which i had
waited 17 years), i couldn't wait to get my first glimpse of a
Paris street when i came up out of the subway from the airport,
and guess what i saw at the end of the subway stairs *before*
i even got to the street? ... yup, those ol' golden arches! :(

-monz

🔗monz <monz@...>

> From: "X. J. Scott" <xjscott@...>
> To: <metatuning@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 12:21 AM
> Subject: Re: [metatuning] Re: American Empire as Gated Community
>
>
> on 1/5/03 2:31 AM, monz wrote:
>
> > and why would *anyone* want to eat at McDonalds in
> > Europe, with so much better food *and* ambience
> > available at nearly the same price?
>
> I hate Mcdonalds. My only food for the first two days
> was the biscuit that came with a cup of coffee at the
> hostels. Then I found out where the markets were hidden
> and ate out of them. Restaurants in France were $50 for
> a simple meal like chicken and vegetables.

you must not have done enough searching. i've
eaten many fantastic meals in cozy Paris restaurants
for no more than $10 to $15, including wine.

> McDonalds was $7 for the cheapest thing -
> a fish sandwich combo. So I ate there a couple times when
> I got confused and couldn't find a market. It was the first
> time I had eaten at such a place in over 15 years. I
> enjoyed the ice. Finally met some Italians and they told
> me food was cheaper in Italy. So I went there. Hadn't
> planned to go to Italy.

i visited Italy for the first time in September 2001
when i spoke at the ISMA conference. yep, the food
there is great and cheap. in direct reference to the
McDonalds-ization of the world by America, my Italian
buddies who treated me to lunch one day consoled me,
when i wondered if we'd make it back to the conference
in time, by saying, "in Italy we do *slow* food".

> Why had I spent 3 years studying French? A lot of good
> it did me anyway since if you don't have the accent
> right they can't hear you.

i get really incensed every time i hear or read an
American complain about how the French people are
rude if you don't speak fluent French. bullshit.

i studied French for 7 years and can speak it quite
well when i'm in practice ... but in the years between
visits i get very rusty indeed, and during the first
day in France on a new trip i have to keep the dictionary
in my pocket for ready reference. on every one of these
occasions, Parisians i spoke to in the street tried
to communicate with me in French when i tried first,
but upon realizing that i was having trouble, happily
switched to English if they spoke it, even at my insistence
that they continue in French.

-monz

American Empire as Gated Community

🔗David Beardsley <db@...>

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

🔗John Starrett <jstarret@...> <jstarret@...>

🔗monz <monz@...>

🔗monz <monz@...>

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>