US: Cultural Irrigation Needed?

[adderslj]

I'd be very interested as to what US readers think of this article.

Despite being published by The Guardian, it's from a right-wing commentator, incidentally.

Comments

[point5b.livejournal.com]

This may be sketchy. I've sat and pondered for some time, and it's very late...

While Hastings talks in general terms about American disinterest in the world, the thrust of the article comes across to me as dismay at American disinterest in Europe in favor of American interest in other places. The comment about American generals struck me in particular - why would a sensible Brit want American generals thinking about Europe as much or more than they think about the Middle East?

Of course, I'm also deeply skeptical of the premise that Americans really are so relatively ignorant about the world and need to be enlightened by their wiser cousins. America doesn't lack for ignorance, but the world (and even Europe) faces no shortage either. I'm unhappy with my country's foreign policy, but I feel no stirrings of awe when I consider the policies across the pond.

Something else strikes me: I've yet to see Americans who buy the premise of special American ignorance and who are willing to describe themselves - or people who generally agree with them - as ignorant and in need of "irrigation". The ignorant Americans just happen to be other people, the ones who disagree with them. ...And very interestingly, you find a similar and symmetric view of this group of Americans among Americans who actually like our foreign policy, which is symptomatic of the things that lead me to my ultimate reaction:

While I think Europeans and Americans working to better understand each other could only be good, I think Americans more urgently need to work on understanding each other right now.