Posted on 09/12/2022 4:27:16 AM PDT by MtnClimber
We went mad because we easily could. And we could, not because we were poor and oppressed, but because we were rich and bored.
Travel abroad and or talk to pro-American foreigners here, and you will be surprised at what they say. It is not boilerplate anti-Americanism of the usual cheap Euro style. And their keen criticism is not just that we are $30 trillion in debt, dependent on China, with a corrupt elite, or have gone insane inventing the most lurid crimes to put away the supposedly predetermined guilty Donald Trump.
Instead, they express disbelief, worry, lamentation even, that the one solid referent in the world has gone, well, completely rabid. They are terrified after the Afghanistan debacle that their old ally or new homeland, the once constant America, is delirious, incompetent, and self-loathing, and now there is no plausible alternative to the old American deterrence.
So, they wonder who will resist China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea—and are silently petrified to go it alone without the United States.
They seem staggered by the very ideas that now emanate from the United States: that nonexistent borders are desirable; that once rarified institutions like the FBI or CIA now function like the Stasi of old; that the very idea of meritocracy is considered racist; that one incorrect word can destroy a life-long career; that there are three or more sexes, not two; that biological men with male genitalia and physiology can compete, and destroy decades of advances, in women’s sports; that race is the sole mode of self-identification; and that half of America dislikes American customs, history—and the other 50 percent of the population—as much as do its enemies.
Onlookers no longer see American universities as free-wheeling bastions of unfettered research and expression.
(Excerpt) Read more at amgreatness.com ...
Great article. This is the result of not having a free press.
Thanks. Already shared with others outside of FR. 🙂
The level of crazy is truly dismaying. And the suddenness of it.
VDH is the perfect chronicler of the current craziness thanks to his cool style.
“VDH is not as pessimistic as you suggest here.”
I did not mean to suggest, Prof Hansen was pessimistic nor did I intend to put words in his column.
The opinion that the United States is a dying empire is mine. In September of 2022, I see more similarities to the dying Roman Republic than to the dynamic USA of less than 50 years ago.
“We went mad because we easily could. And we could, not because we were poor and oppressed, but because we were rich and bored.”
The disease of “affluenza” - Not appreciating how well you got it.
Though, the disease contains its own cure. It destroys the affluence you had, and when it’s gone, suddenly, you again appreciate what you had.
A truly great essay. VDH does a superb job of diagnosing the cancer that has metastasized all over our country.
A keeper. Need to be spread far and wide.
I’d like to be added to the VDH ping list. He is always worth reading!
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