"The problem is not the fact of American nationalism-a huge surge of nationalist sentiment was inevitable in the United States after the appalling events of 9/11-but the in-your-face coarseness with which it is increasingly being expressed. A psychologist might wonder how much this is driven by the need to deny the inevitable relative decline in America's power over the coming two or three decades, as first the Chinese economy and then the Indian grow to rival the US economy in size. In any event, triumphalism has become a normal mode of expression right across the US political and media spectrum in the past few years."
This guy is full of it.
> I don't know what the hell his problem is...
It's right there in the first sentence:
"... SpaceShipOne, designed, built and flown by American
private citizens ..."
This "London-based independent journalist" evidently
would have preferred that the prize be won by the
nationals of some other country.
And it could have been - the contest was open world-wide -
but it wasn't.
The ironic thing is that the SS1 success is both grand
and embarassing for the US. Yes, US citizens did it,
but they also did their whole program, with three
launches, for less than the incremental cost of one
Space Shuttle launch, and probably less than the
adjusted program costs of the X-15.
Next the Amish!
This guy doesn't know much about Americans does he?
It could be that our love of country is why we pull other countries out of trouble instead of them helping us out.
When Americans do something exceptional they boast about it and thank God for it. That's something a modern European doesn't get, so they watch our achievements and write articles whining about our nationalism.
Volatile mix of envy, jealousy, and frustration.
Once again, a uro-peon doesn't like being second to Americans. How's it feel to sleep under an AMERICAN moon? It ain't your flag standing on the surface.
to deny the inevitable relative decline in America's power over the coming two or three decades, as first the Chinese economy and then the Indian grow to rival the US economy in size
The U.S., like every other country in history, will decline and eventually fall (a process that is being hurried along by adopting just the sort of social beliefs Mr. Dyer holds) but it takes a sick mind, twisted by all consuming hate, for a westerner to gloat over the prospect of China becoming the world's most powerful nation.
Let us imagine for a moment that it had been a Japanese team, not an American one, who were the first to get their space vehicle up twice in a fortnight and win the Ansari-X prize. And suppose that the successful pilot had then climbed up on his vehicle, unfurled a huge Rising Sun flag, and thanked his ancestral gods that he lived in a country where such a thing was possible. You might not have said anything out loud, but what would you have thought in private? Not a damn thing, Gwynne. Not a damn thing, other than 'attaboy.' But I do get a nice snapshot of your own point-of-view from your question....
I've seen & read some of his other works he is basicly a socialist pacifist who thinks that folks that want freedom instead of the socialist utopia are knuckle dragging oafs . If you are willing to fight for your country you are a special kind of idiot.