THE END OF HISTORY PLAGUE:

Is America sick? (Sydney Morning Herald, December 15, 2003)

In "Stupid White Men" and "Bowling For Colombine", Michael Moore introduced millions of readers and moviegoers worldwide to some of America's ills: guns, corrupt politicians, fearful citizens, unchecked corporations, crumbling social services. These are big problems for a nation that plays such a dominating international role.

Understanding them is one thing, but what can be done to fix them?

In his unpublished manuscript, The IHO Syndrome, Julien Ninio suggests the best way to understand America's ailments is to study their symptoms, in the same way a doctor examines a patient - and that the diagnosis is of a disease that can be cured by both Americans and non-Americans.

In the five excerpts here, Ninio examines America's self-image: the "cradle of democracy", the "land of plenty", the "beacon of justice", the "best way of life", the "land of the free". He finds gaps between the self-image and the reality, which he calls the "symptoms" of the disease. He argues that the symptoms can be traced to a powerful cocktail of ignorance, hypocrisy and obedience - the "IHO syndrome". As a cure for this disease, Ninio proposes that people replace ignorance with knowledge, hypocrisy with sincerity and obedience with resistance.

As globalization demonstrates, the disease has no cure. Americanism (liberal democratic capitalist protestantism) has infected the whole planet, some of the victims will survive and be better for it, others will succumb. Deal with it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 17, 2003 12:30 PM