March 22, 2003
CULTURE CLASH:
The other America (Edward Said, Al Ahram Weekly, 3/20/2003)
I recall many times during the 20 years that I knew Yasser Arafat well, trying to explain to him that [America] was a complex society with all sorts of currents, interests, pressures, and histories in conflict within it and that far from being ruled the way Syria was, for instance, a different model of power and authority ought to be studied. I enlisted my late friend, the scholar and political activist, Eqbal Ahmed ... but all to no avail.
Arafat can't imagine any kind of government except absolute dictatorship. Can't say I'm surprised.
Most people throw up their hands in despair like disappointed lovers: America is hopeless, and I don't ever want to go back there, they often say, though one also notices that green, permanent residence cards are much in demand, as are university admissions for the children.
America truly is culture shock for Arabs. The barriers of language and culture are always difficult for immigrants to overcome; and it is not surprising that, with return flights to the home country so inexpensive, many return, and then blame their failure on the host country. But secretly, they know: America is the future, and I should try again, or my children should.
The difference between America and the classic empires of the past is that ... this one [operates] with an astonishing affirmation of its nearly sancrosanct altruism and well-meaning innocence....America is the world's most avowedly religious country. References to God permeate the national life, from coins to buildings to common forms of speech: in God we trust, God's country, God bless America, and on and on. George Bush's power base is made up of the 60-70 million fundamentalist Christians who, like him, believe they have seen Jesus and are here to do God's work in God's country....
All of those things converge around an idea of American rightness, goodness, freedom, economic promise, social advancement that is so ideologically woven into the fabric of daily life that it doesn't even appear to be ideological, but rather a fact of nature. America=good=total loyalty and love. Similarly there is an unconditional reverence for the Founding Fathers, and for the Constitution, an amazing document, it is true, but a human one nevertheless. Early America is the anchor of American authenticity. In no country that I know does a waving flag play so central an iconographical role.
This much is well said.
[T]he consensus operates in a sort of timeless present. History is anathema to it, and in accepted public discourse even the word 'history' is a synonym for nothingness or non-entity, as in the scornful, typically dismissive American phrase, 'you're history.' Otherwise history is what as Americans we are supposed to believe about America (not about the rest of the world, which is 'old' and generally left behind, hence irrelevant) uncritically, loyally, unhistorically.
Said hits upon a truly important cultural difference, but he doesn't get the point. Arab culture has a long memory; it is full of grudges; offenses are neither forgiven nor forgotten. It is typically Arab for Osama bin Laden to explain his terror in terms of vengeance for the loss of Andalusia to the Spaniards.
America, by contrast, has an essentially Christian spirit which emphasizes forgiveness. "Forgive us our trespasses, Lord, as we forgive those who trespass against us" -- this is our daily prayer. In the Christian vision, relationships are continually renewed in the present, constantly rededicated to love and affection. "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord" -- we are to renounce all grudges. We let old offenses slip into history, and we are rightfully scornful of those who do not. It is, to us, weakness in the Arabs that they clutch their history tightly, and never let it go.
America [is] embroiled in a serious clash of identities whose counterparts are visible as similar contests throughout the rest of the world. America may have won the Cold War, as the popular phrase has it, but the actual results of that victory within America are very far from clear, the struggle not yet over.
This is quite true. The Soviet Union fell but the contest between philo-tyrannic ideologies and freedom was barely interrupted.
Cultures, specially America's, which is in effect an immigrant culture, overlap with others, and one of the perhaps unintended consequences of globalisation is the appearance of transnational communities of global interests, as in the human rights movement, the women's movement, the anti-war movement and so on. America is not at all insulated from any of this.... There is hope and encouragement to be gained from that view.
Globalization strengthens my hope that American values will triumph in the rest of the world, as it gives Said hope that leftist values will triumph in America. We shall see. Posted by Paul Jaminet at March 22, 2003 10:52 AM
The relationship of a people to its history
is fascinating. Many outside observers,
such as Ray Billington observing Russia
(in "The Icon and the Axe"), have thought
that history was a curse on the people;
and others have thought the same about
China, or, as Paul says, about Arabs. I
note the problem with Hawaiians.
America as an immigrant country, in a
sense has not history it can refer back to;
if your ancestors came here from Japan
in 1897, the fact that Britishers kept
African slaves in 1859 cannot have any
personal resonance, can it?
Though those of us who are interested in
history usually decry the insensitivity to
history of hoi polloi, it might not be such
a bad thing, overall.
"The barriers of language and culture are always difficult for immigrants to overcome; and it is not surprising that, with return flights to the home country so inexpensive, many return, and then blame their failure on the host country. But secretly, they know: America is the future, and I should try again, or my children should. "
Well, said. I'd only point out that even during the late 19th century something like a quarter of all immigants to the U.S. returned to the Old Country, most disillusioned by life in the U.S. The Arabs are no different than any other previous group in this respect.
With that last bit, Said hits upon what has been growing in my mind, and may be the single most titanic reslut of this war, as well as an explanation for the widespread loathing of George W. Bush.
He has made the 'Red State / Blue State' battle truly global now. America is overall now a Red state, Europe Blue. And wherever your personal philosophy falls will tell you were you stand on this war, and on Americas role in the world. Bush's almost effortless but relentless victories in these battles, even on such things aas judges and taxes, must be as infuriating in Paris as they are to some in Seattle.
Have I ever mentioned my anti-history campaign: "History, the more you have, the worse off you are."
Posted by: David Cohen at March 22, 2003 2:38 PMNo, not around me you haven't.
And I am of two minds. Bush's ignorance of
history and misplaced reverence for religion
as a concept is what keeps him from identifying
our true enemy.
David,
That sound to me like the historical analogy of "Only the good die young."
And just as silly, if perhaps seductive (or comforting) in the "popular wisdom" sense (though I assume that you said it, at least partially, tongue in cheek).
The point is, that anyone who takes himself or herself seriously must live up to responsibilities. And while it is possible for an individual to run off to a Polynesian atoll (or the equivalent), don a grass skirt, and get in touch with one's true self (or the equivalent), what happens should an entire society/country decide to do the same?
(Some might say "world peace" or nirvana, I suppose. But haven't we been down that road, even if imperfectly?)
Returning to E. Said's argument, no matter what happens in Iraq--and one hopes that a US/UK/Aussie victory will be swift and that Iraq can be transformed into a viable country--one can count on fierce, if subtle, efforts by others (especially those spouting "reasonable" arguments and "truths" divorced from context) to reduce America's role in the world and weaken her ability to defend herself and her interests (which I hope can, in a larger sense, continue to be identified with the interests of good).
With the subtlety of the serpent, such people have time and time again proven their ingenuity at cloaking vileness in virtue, hatred in reasoned argument, and truthfulness in partial truths.
Which is to say, one must keep on one's toes.