Has American exceptionalism been replaced by sheer bullying?

[joeybee12]

I'm certain that threats, dirty deals and abuses of power have been part of the political and governmental process going back to Caligula – or Zeus. But some of us prefer our titans of intemperance to be historical figures, dressed up in hyperbole and embellished with mythic meaning, not some 21st century, Tea Party-abetted congressman from Staten Island whose nickname is "Mikey Suits" – like, straight out of Goodfellas or The Sopranos.

Then again, maybe in 300 years, long after the fall of the American empire, when all three of the remaining polar bears have found the last ice floe and Jeff Bezos has set up a small colony of Asperger's Anonymous to live with their moon-beam powered Kindles on Mars, US Representative Michael Grimm will have earned an enduring place in the pantheon of bullies, crooks and ego-maniacal gods.

For anyone who missed it, Grimm is the congressman who, after President Barack Obama's state of the union address, took offense to a question from a reporter who had the audacity to ask about an investigation into alleged campaign contribution fraud. So close he could spit into the reporter's nostrils, Grimm threatened to throw the man off a balcony and, well, break him: "like a boy".

This is the state of the state, circa 2014. Social media, 24-hour news cycles, divided government, reality TV, a consumer economy married with out-of-control former marines, sitting governors, US prosecutors and, well, the rest of us have all conspired to make our current and collective mode of behavior a living hell.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/29/michael-grimm-new-american-bully

[Aristus]

1. Bullying is all 'American Exceptionalism' ever was.

The flag-flailing 'patriots' out there who insist that America's wealth and power were ordained and provided by God overlook, or simply dismiss, the fact that everything we have, we stole from someone else.

That's theft, pure and simple. There's nothing exceptional or God-like about it.

Now, I love my country, too. But that doesn't mean I'm obliged to turn a blind eye to our past national crimes.

Leet's make this a country worthy of the effort and sacrifices by people of good will who came before us.

[1000words]

2. +1

[PowerToThePeople]

3. I agree

All of humankind's wealth is blood money.
All that we 'have' is build off of death and abuse of weaker people. This is the history of man-kind. (there still may be a few pockets of indigenous people where this is not so)

We all need to accept this fact. We all need to think on this fact. In the end we all need to divorce ourselves from this and start a new history of mankind. One where we help the least among us instead of abuse them for personal gain. One where we do not kill another for gain. One where we wash off the stain that is our present and past economic systems based on abusing those less powerful than ourselves.


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EDIT

My point being - there is so much talk about wealth, inequality, etc. It is a primary topic of this board and the world as a whole. We need to remember that this wealth is all built on the blood and lives of the unwilling. We were not the "superstar" who created our own wealth free and clear of these abuses. It doesn't not belong to us. It belongs to those who paid the price for it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359578

[joeybee12]

6. Naw, we asked the Native Americans nicely if we could share the land!

How is that bullying? It's not like we pushed them out and massacred them like some liberals want you to believe!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Kinda like replacing pickles with pickled cucumbers.

[frazzled]

5. Did the bully bully the wrong person + Political bullies not unique to America

Meek looking reporter Michael Scotto's uncle happens to be former Gambino crime family boss Anthony Scotto.

http://pagesix.com/2014/01/29/rep-grimm-couldnt-intimidate-scotto/

To equate individual bullies, even members of the government, with national policy is a really inapt metaphorical comparison. Nonetheless, American politicians are hardly exceptional in the bullying department (British newspapers should beware pointing fingers). Here's an entire website full of videos of parliamentary fist fights and bullying the world over. (Latest entry: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, just for laughs)

http://parliamentfights.wordpress.com/