Myths of the American Mind: Exceptionalism

[@MexTexican]

Wes Cecil is a national or really international treasure. I have learned so much from him. Thank you Wes! 💜❤️

[@georgezakhia125]

As an immigrant, I always found it strange how little Americans cared about those outside of America. I would be in classrooms hearing about how it is bad that the U.S. isn't doing as well as X country in a way that said "It's not bad that the U.S. isn't doing well, it's bad that X country is doing begter", and it just felt cruel. To me, the biggest problem with American exceptionalism is that it says that America must always be winning, so it isn't right for another country to do well. It makes the people who benefit from their country doing well's prosperity irrelevant and it also makes the pain of Americans irrelevant as long as America is winning. American exceptionalism doesn't push America to be good, ot pushes America to seem better, and that just isn't the same thing.

[@okra7648]

Yeah it seems to prioritize it's status rather then it's people.

[@Mulberry2000]

American exceptionalism is a racist troupe, which has not basis in sicence or history. Its a daft concept, if americans are so special why are the brits speaking their langauge before americans did lol?

[@chickenfishhybrid44]

I think alot of outsiders feel that Americans are so unconcerned with the outside world because most of them are so bombarded with US media and culture of various kinds they are aware of the US wether they want to be or not. Americans only seem unconcerned in comparison to alot of the world which is unusually focused on the US.

[@eamonc801]

Thank you . we are always richer for having our ideas challenged.

[@xiaodongwang7753]

Distorting the world, because of this tenet of exceptionalism, can be also costly to the United States. I suddenly came to such a conclusion in the early spring of 1997 (January or February) when I, as a graduate student doing archival research in Moscow, heard Michael Jackson on a loudspeaker from a kiosk in front of the Lenin Library. It was evening, and the small square at the steps of the library was deserted. The Cold War was already over for a few years, Yeltsin was behaving more and more strangely, Poland and the Baltic states had joined NATO, Fukuyama wrote his essay, and the mood of lots of Russians was changing, palpably. The popularity of Michael Jackson, I thought, signified a groundswell of respect, even love, for America by the Russian people, and people all over the world. Yet, even then, two years before Putin, I could sense the changing of mood, in Russia, and throughout the world. Why expanding NATO? Why the sudden appearance of “capitalist” in American political discourse, replacing vocabularies such as freedom and liberty? Senior Bush and Bill Clinton, prodigal sons and brothers of the greatest generation, were squandering the inheritance fast. Only if Wes had given them such a lecture then!

[@coreygossman6243]

This comment is an actual example of the myth! Incredible!

[@Mulberry2000]

The speaker distorts american poverty to being the level of the France or Holland but in them countries, you would have better benefits, better wages with holidays, better welfare state, better health care

[@ongobongo8333]

And poverty in the rust belt or like Mississippi is on part with third world nations. Living off the land and owning nothing with no opportunities.

[@winston2015]

Read The Post-American World by Zakaria edit 42:00 The Federal Reserve is a transnational banking cartel headquartered in Switzerland at the BIS. If you dont realize that the ability of private interests to regulate the value of money, in essence through counterfeiting, of that the fractional reserve system is as corrupt as it gets, then look closer. James Corbett's _A Century of Enslavement A History of the Federal Reserve_ is a good start.

[@Mulberry2000]

The problem with speakers' poverty rate is that in the US the poverty rate is absolute, in France is relative. The key here in France the poor do not have to worry about health care.

[@S489_20mg]

I agree and pray to be able to learn a language and culture to move to that has universal healthcare. There are dogs in the United States that receive better treatment than most Americans who pay taxes.

[@chickenfishhybrid44]

The poor and low income are the Americans who qualify for free Healthcare via Medicaid.. Medicaid is a Healthcare plan funded by taxes. The US has had this since like the 1960s I believe.

[@Mulberry2000]

@@chickenfishhybrid44 They do not get all their heath care cost covered

[@AHerderOfCats]

Wes Cecil with respect, while I agree on your content, I must object to the tone. I take exception with the implication that American exceptionalism is itself exceptional. Americans are surely not the only people who are taught that they are special. And yes, they are taught, conditioned by institutions and agents approved by their rulers, who are ultimately responsible for this condition. Has there ever been a ruler of any nation-state who was not a (seeming) strong nationalist? Haven't they all promoted, even created, ideals that spoke to the unique nature of their own people? I know this series is called 'Myths of the AMERICAN mind", but imo it's important to stress that exceptionalism is not just an American myth, or problem. Appreciate your content. Thank you for making your lectures available. I look forward to the next. Peace : ) > -

[@wescecil3920]

AHerderOfCats This is the point I was trying to make with the comment on China - Exceptionalism is an unexceptional belief - many nations have had this outlook. However, we are peculiarly insular and our thoughts are still blinkered by our failure to consider the rest of the world.

[@userMB1]

AHerderOfCats You are absolutely right. Show me a nation that thinks of itself as a nation like any other. You can't.The image that every nation has of itself is a romantic painting rather than a photograph.

[@AHerderOfCats]

Wes Cecil Thanks for your reply. "Peculiar" is synonymous with "exceptional" ;) ... but I'll not belabor the point. All the best to you and yours. : ) > -

[@RichInk]

AHerderOfCats It doesn't matter what you think, and it doesn't matter that others may think they are special. It matters that educated people know how to think around the lies that the leaders feed the people.

[@dettoist]

AHerderOfCats Excellent point. I would go even further and say that exceptionalism is a natural expression of value by those who believe in that particular form of life. We can talk about Islamic or Marxist or socialist exceptionalism as well (not to mention HIV exceptionalism which indicates that it should be treated differently from other contagions). No different. I would say that Jingoism is not synonymous with exceptionalism. But the points made about the blinding effects of exceptionalism are valid.

[@Silverhand290]

I'm always amused by the statistic that appeared a few years ago that the richest country in the world came 87th in the list of literacy of it's inhabitants, below some African countries where most people don't even have shoes.

[@waynepatterson5843]

@Silverhand290 ---- The literacy problem stems from a combination o factors such as millions of illegal immigrants who too often have no desire to assimilate with American language and culture, people who choose to engage in criminality and illegal drugs rather than educate and improve their lives, and an American educational system that has been trying increasingly for the last two centuries to adopt the European socialist authoritarian model of education with consequent poorer results. The teacher's unions even proposed to nationalize all U.S. education along the authoritarian Prussian model in the 1860s, which was rejected by Congress. Undaunted by that defeat, the teacher's unions which ultimately became today's NEA (National Education Association) has succeeded in making formal education in the United States an increasingly authoritarian, incompetent, and socialist indoctrination failure. The professor posting the KZbin video that is the subject of this thread is a shining example of the incompetence of the socialist educational system responsible for his credentials. The all too evident failures and incompetence of the socialist indoctrinated educators is now increasingly inspiring a backlash and repudiation of those teachers, their socialist teacher's unions, and their usurpation of parental roles. If this reaction to the socialist failures continue to build, the American Exceptionalism is very liable to rise up to develop a truly new and exceptional model for education surpassing the existing models in the United States, Europe, and around the world.

[@demoncard1180]

Yes, everyone who isn't a democrat or republican is a socialist, and socialism is to blame for your country's social problems. This isn't real commun- I mean, uh American Exceptionalism, real American Exceptionalism has never been tried! Wayne, Wes does make some generalisations, especially when it comes to Germany, but that essay you wrote proved his points.

[@TheFamousMockingbird]

the concept of those countries not having shoes is american or at least western chauvinism at its finest

[@johnpoulsen7582]

Politicians use "exceptionalism" as a way of manipulating Americans to vote for them. Germany did this as well.

[@gammaraider]

Imagine being an ambassador for years and not even bothering to learn the local language... It's just mindboggling to me as a European.

[@glock49s]

I have listened to every lecture, and I would have to say this is the one that struck a cord with me. As a history major, I couldn't agree with you anymore. Keep up the good work professor!

[@hoplite100]

+weston gentry ....."couldn't agree with you anymore".....You may be a history major but you need to take a remedial course in English Grammar and Composition. I would recommend something along the 6th or 7th grade level. What in the world does that phrase mean? Parse it out. It makes no sense. Also, if you are going to use clichés spell the words properly. You stated, "that one struck a cord with me." The word is chord not cord. Cord is generally descriptive of a measure of wood. Chord is a musical term connoting several notes struck simultaneously for harmony. As such, one strikes a chord...a harmonious or agreeable tone, means that one is in agreement. If one strikes a cord, the implication could be that one is chopping wood. Then again, maybe you are chopping wood.

[@stuartjnorth]

+Michael Marcus I wonder if it occurred to you that it might be possible to correct a person’s English in a supportive and constructive way? From the tone of your comment, however, I suspect that you are more motivated to demonstrate your superiority than in assisting other people.

[@hoplite100]

+Stuart North ...I wasn't interested in being supportive or constructive. I was more focused on providing a lesson in history and grammar. Could it be your intention to teach me a lesson in humility? Are you looking to pick a argument by advising me that my critique was too harsh? Question: was it on-point? Mr. Gentry's positive feedback to this lecture are (his)drivel on top of (Dr. Cecil's) babble. Gentry indicts his own intellectual capacity in 2 sentences. In the first sentence he misuses the colloquial phrase wherein he spells chord as cord. The use of a colloquialism is problematic but not fatal, but to then use the wrong word? Please. Gentry's second sentence is so convoluted as to be nearly nonsensical, yet he begins it with a proclamation of intellectual authority; he is a "history major". Words and writing are the life blood of a historian yet Mr Gentry can't put together 2 sentences without embarrassing himself in the fundamental tools of a historian. Finally, Mr Gentry (apparently) agrees with the lecturer's bombastic belittlement and ridicule of the US. Mr. Gentry has now finalized his position as an unthinking boob. Gentry deserves to be clobbered. In the event that you do not understand this third point I recommend that you read my previous post wherein I critique and refute Dr. Cecil's lecture. Cecil's lecture is pure 1960's anti-American drivel. He pontificates and belittles rather than address the question that he has posed: why is America not exceptional. His lecture misses the whole point of his own question. Exceptionalism is not a question of perfection. It is an analysis and ranking of good/better/best. I argue that American exceptionalism is evident in the great achievements of this nation. Cecil argues film industry, sports, pop-culture, etc. These are not the great events and achievements that speak to exceptionalism. Mr. Gentry's inability to discern true, valid argumentation to a topic show him to be vacuous, unthinking and focused on entertainment rather than scholarly dialogue. So if Gentry wishes to applaud Cecil's comedy act, that's all well, but don't throw the words history into that discussion, as historical facts are clearly missing from Cecil's discussion. And therein is the reason that I eviscerated Mr. Gentry's commentary.

[@Angelllro]

+Michael Marcus Imagine how much time of your life you waste on the internet policing other's grammar.

[@glock49s]

Michael...you sound like an ultra nationalist. lol Maybe you should listen to Cecil's lecture on Max stirner!

[@phacker7967]

Great as all ways!

[@TheFamousMockingbird]

24:00 is a strawman wes, you know it is too. people who complain about the 1% and poverty and not expecting to eradicvate poverty, it is a real and accurate systemic criticism.

[@jahnkuiper4421]

This reminds a lot of Native speaker Mark Charles' platform, yet he comes from the Native American perspective. It be cool to see a dialogue between these two. This is such a timely and umbrella issue. Mark has a youtube and fb, good stuff.

[@socratesestmaxime]

Ich verneige mich vor ihnen First of all i adore your style of lecturing, and i was really pleased, when i got an american perspective on this. It must be quite a sensitive topic among a few people, glad you have chosen it nonetheless. Secondly we germans reflected quite a lot on the war, we built memorials of shame ( Berlin city centre) and we are open to talk about it, for nobody these days is guilty anymore , so why not talk about it? Feel free to contact me or others. Keep going, i enjoy and appreciate what you do, greetings from Hamburg Martin

[@hoplite100]

+Martin Hahn Gutten tag. I'm not really sure that this is an "American perspective". This is the perspective of a segment of the American political spectrum that we Americans call either leftist, socialist, anti-capitalist, or progressive, depending on your particular viewpoint. Personally, I disagree with the Professor position most strenuously. See my response above. I would urge to listen carefully and critically. His lecture is an exercise in denigrating the Americans not in contrasting and comparing. His arguments are lacking in factual support. He merely critiques US mistakes (illusory or real, take your pick) and concludes that America is not exceptional because of these mistakes. His linkages from statement of fact to causality do not flow, e.g. "We don’t translate foreign literature into American language BECAUSE those foreigners don’t have literature.” Where does he get that linkage? What data support such a statement. This man is filled with a nasty mix of hubris, leftist nonsense and a visceral dislike, nay loathing, for the US.

[@S2Cents]

+Martin Hahn It's clear Germans have "reflected" on The War and you have your "memorials of shame". Indeed. Seems you want to make up for being such horrible Nazis by flooding your country with millions of Muslims?

[@waynepatterson5843]

You erroneously described the professor's ill-conceived anti-American diatribe as "an American perspective", and totally omit how the Muslim nationalists you are taking into today's Germany as so-called refugees are from the same people and places who widely adopted Hitler's Mein Kampf and National Socialism as a model for their own Arab nationalism and persecution of Jews, Christians, and other people they deem to be infidels. Your saying "nobody these days is guilty anymore" under such circumstances of Arab immigration is the epitome of irony.

[@post-structuralist]

@Michael Marcus Refer to my other comment, basically saying how your criticism of him is not great because it's actually just "I don't agree with it" wrapped up in fanciful rhetoric. Pal, you are vapid.

[@ongin8520]

kind of khmats cant wait to listen to this in the morning (:

[@felipefernandes6705]

I'm scared of you for using (: and not :)

[@zax3358]

Canadian century 3k12 calling it now screen cap this and show it in future textbooks

[@peterdollins3610]

'La Strada' by Fellini is the greatest film ever made. '7 Samuria' is number two. Perhaps 'Citizen Kane' is 3rd. Now Hollywood makes crap.

[@luftballoondebarbarian1264]

I agree in general with this, but I thought it was pretty hyperbolic & sloppy.

[@olivercuenca4109]

At the same time though, I feel like the language has to be hyperbolic when you're dealing with a subject that's essentially all about hyperbole.

[@sedeslav]

hahaha :) He isn't FukEEyama. He is FukUyama! :D

[@thatwastakenagain]

when did we blew up an oil refinery cite please

[@wescecil3920]

Jon L www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-held-oil-refinery-in-syria-hit-by-u-s-led-strikes-locals-say/abcnews.go.com/International/us-led-planes-strike-isis-oil-facilities-syria/story?id=25739334

[@newtonbhatta7769]

Is Absolute vodka sponsor?😂😂

[@MG-ge5xq]

Yes, America is the greatest nation in the world. People in Europe have just 5 to 6 weeks of paid vacation per year. That is tremendously awful compared to US.

[@Kytopaify]

I love this lecture. So true. American exeptionalism is bullshit. Kind regards, a Swedish woman.

[@hoplite100]

+Kytopaify ....Read the facts, bimbo! You don't have a clue on what constitutes exceptionalism.

[@Kytopaify]

There is nothing exeptional about US. That is a local national myth. Travel the world and learn about other nations. You can learn something from them.

[@hoplite100]

+Kytopaify Read my rebuttal essay above from 2 days ago. TI challenge you to refute the facts that I have laid out regarding American exceptionalism. I urge you to speak with data rather than emotion and prejudice. READ my analysis, listen to this professor's lecture again in a critical manner. Then we can exchange a dialogue.

[@hoplite100]

+Kytopaify Oh BTW, I have travelled the world extensively, spending much time in Europe. I find so many countries have much to offer the world in their culture, their art and their spirit. However, no other nation in history has had such a positive impact on human rights and humanity than the US.

[@Kytopaify]

You mean by supporting dictators when it fit, like helping to kick away Dr Mossadeq from Iran and Allende from Chille to install dictators? On world policy the US has been a hypocrite.

[@daviddorsett7550]

I find the laughter coming from the audience to be indicative of their smug and arrogant attitude. They know nothing; but they think they understand.

[@stephenstuart9881]

There are many things about the US to admire - but American Exceptionalism is repugnant. It's like a beautiful woman or handsome man who smells really, really bad. You can see they've got some great qualities, but then there's THAT, and suddenly the good qualities are a lot less noticeable. It makes me like Americans A LOT more knowing that at least some Americans see through this BS.

[@jimmihotdog3469]

"stress that exceptionalism is not just an American myth, or problem" So Is it BOMBS AWAY as usual ?

[@FloraJoannaK]

This is an issue also because other countries compare themselves to the USA, and feel like they come short. Which means they have to prove themselves before the eldest brother, so to speak. Think of India getting nuclear weapons to join the 'club' and many countries desperately looking for Olympic golds to gain validation before the hegemon, America. At the same time, one may be extremely surprised to realize USA has problems which are not present at home. One begins to reason and rationalize why, for example, American health care is convoluted and expensive. The system works quite well in the North of Europe-- so how come not in USA? Digging deeper, one discovers long standing issues in economy and bureaucracy which are not easily solved, the kind of metal casting errors in the system, which many smaller countries in Europe simply lack. This exceptionalist thinking really hurts the USA also in that cultures which would otherwise be more warm toward America in general, only see the magnificent façade. They never really stop to consider that there are people like them over the Atlantic, who may disagree completely with US rhetoric on their arguably powerful nation, but who never gain a voice for the rhetoric being so ingrained in the culture. America is not only those in power, or those who direct trade, Hollywood and other media. It's the people also, or should be the people. It appears that the exceptional among them, bluntly put, seldom end up in positions of power out of the paradigm preserving itself stubbornly.

[@BeefT-Sq]

" The United States held that mans' life is his by right ( which means by moral principle and by his nature ) , that a right is the property of an individual, that society as such has no rights, and that the only moral purpose of a government is the protection of individual rights ." -Ayn Rand-

[@citychick4154]

Nonsense

[@michaelvitta5577]

Someone really doesn't like America, so how does every country prosper simultaneously ? I bet the kids you taught are great people know...............

[@TheFamousMockingbird]

ah, a smooth brain in the wild. Let me explain. Every country does not prosper simultaneously, and nobody is making that claim. The argument is that America does not even consider the possibilities of something amazing being somewhere else, or they assume that what we have has to be the pinnacle without any desire to search beyond itself and validate the assumption.

[@wildnites558]

Hippie talk, with Prof. Bong.

[@rosesandsongs21]

America is a continent... just saying.

[@grouchomarxist666]

Two continents, actually...

[@jimschmidt421]

A load of crap, professor! Leave

[@loteixeira]

The audience is laughing. That's not funny. If you don't live in the US, THAT IS NOT FUNNY.

[@bela8032]

right wing nonsense.

[@anwiycti1585]

How cool is it that Biden does not stress this idea :D

[@SilvanaDil]

Parents, ask for a refund from Peninsula College.

[@novapowell6976]

+SilvanaDil The Truth hearts!

[@SilvanaDil]

+Nova Powell The Truth "hearts?" I hope your parents get that refund!

[@novapowell6976]

LOL if all your arguments consist on trashing someone for mis-spelling the word, you are really screwed. By the way, how many foreign languages can you speak? Texan, Californian English do not count :-)

[@SilvanaDil]

+Nova Powell "Hearts" and "hurts" are two very different words. I speak English, Italian and French. I went to real schools -- Stanford and UC.

[@novapowell6976]

Ok but that does not prove your point. I lived in the US for little over a year and there is nothing exceptional and better than in other countries (maybe there is if you compare the US with India, Pakistan or Tunisia). Tasteless food, fake and artificial people and relationships, fashion-less, money and ego-centric society where nobody cares for anybody in fact, boring entertainment without any deeper sense or message, huge gap between rich and poor, thousands homeless people in streets (you can find this in any EU country), healthcare only for the rich, dying car industry (we won't comment on design and fashion again, or lack of it), money that is measurement of everything... Stop lying to yourself!

[@dianebillings3343]

This lecture was insipid and superficial. In the long context of several millennia, particularly the history of the Eurasian landmass and the transference of a civilization from one hemisphere to another, America is an anomaly and extremely peculiar. Some call that exceptionalism. It is something independent of excellence. American exceptionalism has nothing to do with American culture or contributions to science or art. However, it does have something to do with: 1) American sacrifices from 1860 to 1865 and from 1941 to 1945, and 2) a principle that defied the old world’s governing doctrine of the “Devine Right of Kings” (or some would say “might makes right.”)Your lecture on Goethe was very good. Please stick to literature. I will listen.