avva | статья об Америке (англ.)

http://www.cis.org.au/occasional/harries030402.htm

Длинная, интересная статья об Америке и американцах. Автор стремится развенчать несколько расхожих мифов об Америке и у него это довольно хорошо получается. Некоторые его утверждения кажутся мне слишком полемически радикальными или чуть наивными, но думаю, что этот риторический стиль был выбран им сознательно, чтобы сделать ещё более убедительными опровержения "всем известных" фактов про Америку.

Цитата:

Take another thing that we ‘know’ about America: that it is a ‘young country’, usually with the connotation that it is immature and naïve in its ways, especially in comparison with an old, more mature and more sophisticated Europe (not to speak of China). To take a typical example, James Callaghan, a one time British prime minister and not normally a silly man, once loftily declared that ‘Europeans have a better understanding of the complexities of the present world difficulties than the United States.’ This air of patronising superiority towards America’s alleged naivety and innocence is by no means confined to the political Left; there is a well-established tradition of right wing anti-Americanism in Europe.

The fact is, though, that the United states is an older country than Germany, Italy, and a dozen other European states, not to speak of Latin America, Africa, and most of Asia. It is the oldest extant democracy on earth, the oldest republic, and the oldest federal system—as well as the largest, most complex, most open and most tested (something that one might not readily have grasped from the facile attempt to ridicule and patronise America during the last disputed presidential election). Consider that during the time that this supposedly young country has existed, France, that epitome of European sophistication, has gone through five different republics, two emperors, two monarchies, and a puppet regime. How sophisticated can you get.