The Immigrant Strain
I'm currently dropping in and out of Letter from America by Alistair Cooke.
The following passage from The Immigrant Strain, the first essay in the book and dated 6 May 1946, jumped off the page for obvious reasons:
If you feel baffled and alarmed at the prospect of differentiating one American type from another, you can take heart. You have more hope of success than Americans, who shuffle through every stereotype of every foreign culture as confidently as they handle the family's pack of cards. Americans are not particularly good at sensing the real elements of another people's culture. It helps them to approach foreigners with carefree warmth and an animated lack of misgiving. It also makes them, on the whole, poor administrators on foreign soil. They find it almost impossible to believe that poorer peoples, far from the Statue of Liberty, should not want in their heart of hearts to become Americans. If it should happen that America, in its new period of world power, comes to do what every other world power had done: if Americans should have to govern large numbers of foreigners, you must expect that Americans will be well hated before they are admired for themselves.
Apart from the now-dated reference to families shuffling cards badly — families no longer shuffle cards much — Cooke's prophecy seems strikingly accurate today.
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“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
- Abe Lincoln
I have lived in Canada now almost 10 years longer than I lived in the US...so, I'm probably a little out of touch with what it's truly like to be American anymore. I still believe that Americans are quite misunderstood and also sadly victims of being widely stereotyped...for example, I have never lived in a household (and never will) that owned a gun. None of my family members who remain in the U.S. own guns either. There's just "more" of everything in the US, including really great things like Universities and humanitarian NGOs. Unfortunately, there are also more radical left and right wing people who have had a lot of freedom to create chaos and hatred toward others.
I usually try to form an opinion about people from all around the world, on an individual basis, and by the way they treat others. Everyone has a unique story and my life is richer the more open-minded I am to each storyteller. It’s the fear of differences and lack of compassion and education about others that creates the most problems in the world.
Not to put you on the spot or anything but...I'm curious, do you still think 80% of the world is not worth knowing or have the new chapters of your own life changed that opinion?
Having lived in Canada now for 27 years, I still find that Canadians have more in common with Americans than differences and I can truly appreciate the wonderful things that both countries have to offer. My two children will be citizens of both countries and hopefully kind and responsible global citizens…time will tell!
Be well,
Carrie
Hi Carrie,
Thanks for the comment. It's nice to hear from you.
Please forgive my recent anti-American post. I was simply amazed to find such an accurate analysis dating from 1946. I haven't visited Canada since 2000, so I'm out of date. However, my impression is that prior to September 2001 Canada was becoming more like the US. After the events of September 2001, which pushed some extremist neo-conservative American views to the fore, Canada and the US apparently began to drift further apart. Either way, it's clear from the results of the last American election that the US is a significantly divided country. You don't have to make international comparisons to find dissension or debate these days.
I don't remember making the comment about 80% of the population, but I can easily see my twenty-year-old self saying something similar. At the moment, I feel like the proportion might be a little high but not by much. The difference between then and now, is that now I'm sufficiently tactful to keep my politically incorrect comments to myself!
Kevin
Kevin:
Thanks for your response. Great to hear from you as well!
Just to reassure you, I was not offended by your anti-American post(s). I just felt compelled to respond. I too find writing helps to free me of the thoughts and ideas that go swirling round my brain.
On 9-11 I was reminded of my US upbringing in strange and unforeseen ways. At the time one of our departmental secretaries had a son working in the Pentagon. It took her a couple of days to find out whether or not he was alive and unharmed. Fortunately he had escaped injury. However, as we all awaited some report of his fate, I experienced this tremendous sense of shame and guilt, just for being American. I felt the impact of the hatred towards the US and how this was affecting someone that I knew on a personal level. Even though I abhorred being judged as an American by the decisions that the US Government might have made, I was carrying the heaviness of some distorted ethnocentric rearing. Gratefully, in the coming weeks I was also comforted by the show of support and concern demonstrated by Canadians and many others across the globe. I was absolved of my “sins” for simply being an American. At the time I even wrote a very sappy, patriotic poem called "The Terror of Freedom".
So Kevin, don’t become too sufficiently tactful. The world still needs your thoughtful insights and discourse. It’s the American way!
And you still need to free-up your brain cells for the other, abundant details of life.
Best regards to you and y’all,
Carrie
P.S. I have quite enjoyed reading your blog and am envious of your proximity to such amazing places for family excursions. For now, we will just have to enjoy our trips to my mother’s home in the foothills of the Adirondacks.
Carrie,
What's your email address? Please send it to me at kml@kevinlaurence.net.
Thanks,
Kevin