America IS Exceptional And That Needs to Be Cured

But the need to feel superior seems to be very strong, for many people. Throughout history, writers have spoken of ways that “man” is superior to all the other animals, or species. But primatologist Frans de Waal has said,   ” humanity never runs out of claims of what sets it apart, but it is a rare uniqueness claim that holds up for over a decade.” He has shown that primates demonstrate caring, sharing, fairness and many kinds of cognition that have been attributed to “only humans.”

I asked him why people have the need to feel superior to animals. He didn’t really have an answer. After all, he studies primates, not people. Of course, there’s religion, which puts man ahead of animals, claiming that only man is moral. But de Waal and other researchers have clearly shown that, indeed, animals are also moral, that it’s built into the DNA, not just of primates but of all mammals and even birds. Still there are probably hundreds of millions if not billions who feel they are superior to animals, more deserving of being treated specially.

[pullquote] Putin is far from a saint. His treatment of gays and critics is abominable. His goals for writing his op-ed probably included protecting Assad and impeding Obama’s efforts to support Assad’s opposition. That doesn’t change the fact that what he’s written is true.  [/pullquote]

Daniel Quinn wrote a best-selling novel, Ishmael, that described leavers and takers. In my interview with him earlier this year, he described what they are:

” Leavers are people who leave the rule of the world in the hands of the Gods, and takers who’ve taken the rule of the world into their own hands.”

Quinn points out that there have been religions, animistic religions that took that “leaver” approach, but they have not fared as well as religions that advocate that humans are superior, and deserve to be the “superior” “takers.” He told me, in our interview,

I have this theory that there have been hundreds of more religions than the ones we know about, and the ones that survived are the ones that fit in with our cultural mythology: that fit in with the vision of humanity as the most important thing in the universe, that endorses the idea that humans are here to rule the rest of the living community.  The ones that didn’t, for example, Animism, which was the practically the universal religion of Leaver Peoples, and still is, wherever they are still found, does not support it [our cultural mythology], and so it is not one of our religions.  It’s hardly known, but it doesn’t say anything about that.  Animism is a religious world view rather than a religion, a world view that sees the world as a sacred place, and humans as belonging in a sacred place.  This is not an idea that fits with our civilization’s, our culture’s vision of the world and humanity, and so it doesn’t appear as a religion to us.”

I asked Quinn, who also wrote a book, Beyond Civilization, ” Do you think there’s a possibility that the next stage beyond civilization could be a spiraling evolution up towards another bottom up way of being?”

Hierarchy is all about superiority in different forms, about power over, wealth, control. We live in a nation that celebrates hierarchy, supposedly based on merit– a meritocracy. But Chris Hayes, in his book, Twilight of the Elites, and other writers and thinkers, have torn that American claim to shreds It is an illusion and a fraud.

Perhaps the selling job that has been done for capitalism and consumerism has worked to get many Americans to have a greater need than other nationals to feel superior to the people of the rest of the world. I would agree with Putin that this  is dangerous, particularly for the ninety nine percenter Americans who have bought into this view of America, tying it to their egos and identities.

Putin says,

“There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too,” he wrote. “We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.”

I’ve come to believe that American exceptionalism is bad for America. It creates a sense of privilege and a dangerous jingoism that American politicians, TV pundits and some religious leaders, in particular, seem to need to manifest.

Putin is far from a saint. But his words are wise and worth heeding, almost spiritual in nature.

We have other models and examples to lead us, besides the “leavers” idea that Daniel Quinn’s book, Ishmael, which every American should read, describes.  For example, the Dali Lama advises that we “practice warmheartedness,” which, on reading his writings, means to me, simply being compassionate to others. Robert Fuller  former president of Oberlin College and author of Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, has coined the term “rankism” and is a leader in the worldwide quest for human dignity. He wrote about the problems, how people are humiliated, bullied, describing these ” as abuses of rank–more precisely, the power attached to rank.”

Perhaps we could set some new exceptional goals– to be humble, to be kind, to treat all living creatures as deserving to live in a safe, ecologically healthy environment. There ARE visions out there, of equality and justice.

The fact is, the world has radically shifted, over the past two hundred some years from feudalism, monarchy and authoritarianism to democracy. Democracy and regulations and rules have been put into place not just to create fairness– like Frans de Waal and other researchers have shown “lowly” animals demonstrate, but also to protect the majority of people in the world from the predators– the psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists and paranoids who live to embrace hierarchy and rank, control over and domination.

We have progressed dramatically in the past two centuries. But that progress has always been fought by the top down powers, the “takers,” as Quinn describes them, and in the worst cases, the psychopaths.

When it comes to Obama tapping that idea of American exceptionalism to sell his goal of an attack on Syria, he is drawing upon the darker side of America. Mythologists, symbologists and poets explore the “shadow,” which we all have. The energy for American exceptionalism comes from America’s “shadow.” Wise, evolved, mature people get to know their shadows, and learn to manage them. America needs to do the same, starting with our leaders, instead of pandering to our shadows.

Still, there are American exceptionalism realities that we SHOULD face and talk about. There is American execeptionalism we should do something about.