undefined | Better HN

0 pointsbeepbooptheory3y ago0 comments

So, how does the U.S.A fare in this kind of thinking? There isn't such a vast history to pull from there, how can you justify an analogous nationalistic identity/moral character for it without such a big story?

Also, what is the argument for being able to collapse culture and state together, such that the state can/will manifest this trans-historic character of a group of people? Or rather, if we grant that relation either way, does the argument have anything to say about any of the tumultuous events of politics and culture in Russia or China in the 20th century? Are they just hiccups along the overall trend? Such that the CCP isn't an authoritarian regime from without which harms china now, but an inevitable symptom of some trans-historic Chinese culture?

0 comments

lambic23y ago

| There isn't such a vast history to pull from there, how can you justify an analogous nationalistic identity/moral character for it without such a big story?

Well, exactly - that explains a lot of the current political/cultural fragmentation of the U.S. population. Although you can definitely argue that though it is a "short" story in comparison, the founding of the U.S. as a revolution to gain independence from the British Crown to found a state by the people, for the people, with its own constitution and Bill of Rights is a "big" story nonetheless.

As to your other questions - good questions - one could write a whole book (or several) addressing them.

beepbooptheoryOP3y ago

Isn't this such a sad and ultimately negative worldview though? Instead of an Earth of humans, you have an array of static types. Instead of a history where there is change, where people can overcome things and vie for better world, you seem to say there is only an illusion of change, and really its all just scaling an infrastructure set in stone a long time ago. You look at people far away, and first and foremost comprehend them as a kind different than yourself. Just an entire country of millions, thought at once as a particular!

It makes me sad just knowing people hold these beliefs. It's like internalizing the world as a bad fantasy novel.

lambic23y ago

I don't see how it's so negative...there is still definitely change happening and we are not static. Thousands of years ago when we were hunter gatherers, humans would speak different languages living just 10 miles away, and tribes would battle/murder each other just a few miles away. Even as fractured as the U.S. is, we are still in the long run progressing towards are more united humanity (i.e. millions are not battling in a civil war over "differences" like in the 1860's).

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsbeepbooptheory3y ago0 comments

0 comments

lambic23y ago

| There isn't such a vast history to pull from there, how can you justify an analogous nationalistic identity/moral character for it without such a big story?

As to your other questions - good questions - one could write a whole book (or several) addressing them.

beepbooptheoryOP3y ago

It makes me sad just knowing people hold these beliefs. It's like internalizing the world as a bad fantasy novel.

lambic23y ago

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse