SPEAKING FRANKLY ABOUT AMERICAN IMPERIALISM - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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Reader comment on:
The Imperial Appetite
in response to reader comment: Re: America's cover imperialism

Submitted by Patrick D.Hazard, Feb 13, 2008 10:26

I've just now had a chance to read "Frankly Speaking".It is a very thoughtful response for which I am grateful. If I gave the impression of smug condescension from my temporary German roost, I am truly sorry because my convictions are 180 degrees from such a slant. Incidentally, I'm here in Germany to write a book on the historical status of the idealism of the Bauhaus as well as its present influence. I have asserted on more than one occasion that the Germans have done a much better job of owning up to their cataclysmic failures, especially in the twentieth century, than, say, the Japanese or Russians. As a professor of American Lit I know very well how often our major writers warned us of subverting our own values, and, indeed, how widely our great writers have been ignored, even vilified. I am a committed believer in American meliorism. That is why I deplore that historical tick by which we try to ignore our historical failings by mouthing inanely infantile slogans about America as the greatest country in the history of the world. Only psychotic narcissists talk such piffle. The true task of the American clerisy is to put more and more common Americans in fuller and fuller possession of our tradition of meliorism..I'm grateful to "The Sun" for allowing me to clarify my position. Patrick D.Hazard, Weimar, Germany.

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Other reader comments on this article

Comment	By	Date
The Puritan rhetoric (our City on rhe Hill syndrome) which has kept median Americans from realizing how imperialistic we've covertly... [MORE]	Patrick D.Hazard	Feb 8, 2008 12:03
self-delusion on both an individual and collective basis is crucial for the human psyche. Russians remain proud of the might... [MORE]	Frankly Speaking	Feb 9, 2008 22:19
The imperial appetite of certain countries has never ended, indeed if anything it has grown. What has changed are the... [MORE]	Siddhartha S.Bhadrakumar	Feb 10, 2008 23:40
I wonder if Mr. Hazard would have the courage to spout the same if America hadn't saved him and his... [MORE]	Glenn Smith	Feb 12, 2008 18:15
I've just now had a chance to read "Frankly Speaking".It is a very thoughtful response for which I am grateful....	Patrick D.Hazard	Feb 13, 2008 10:26
Don't be so quick to assume America is about to elect either a woman or an African American man as... [MORE]	BklynGal305	Feb 14, 2008 17:38
Dear Mr.Smith: I came not to bury American Exceptionalism but to raise it:-- from Ideals to Realities. I used to... [MORE]	Patrick D.Hazard	Feb 21, 2008 03:00
Hey Sidd, what have you been smoking? Do you really think China is the victim of imperialism rather than the... [MORE]	ricardo maxwell	Feb 21, 2008 08:51
Upon reading Patrick Hazrads article I kept looking for substance, concrete unambiguous facts that would stand alone without the distraction... [MORE]	Michael Rodriguez	Mar 4, 2008 14:05
So, the burden of the intelligentsia is to show the poor masses the errors of their ways and to enlighten... [MORE]	Paul McCord	Mar 10, 2008 10:30
I'm not sure exactly what the poster said, but I am sure he said everything he knew about the subject. BTW... [MORE]	gxb	Mar 10, 2008 10:38
Mr. Hazard I know that you have the best intentions in your heart and it behoves me to respond. American... [MORE]	Gene Guffey	Mar 15, 2008 10:58
Besides the oft quoted rationale of 'opening new markets' abroad (with all the dubiety that it sometimes involved) was there... [MORE]	SD Goh	Feb 8, 2008 10:10
Perhaps, in the case of the Spanish, who in 1491 had just finished 700 years of expelling the Muslims who... [MORE]	D	Feb 8, 2008 15:03
I'd just like to point out that "arrogance" is hardly a Western monopoly. It is fundamental to the Chinese worldview;... [MORE]	D	Feb 8, 2008 09:24
I think D makes some very good points (see "This book is an attempt to frame..." above). To get close... [MORE]	Billy Smith	Feb 12, 2008 11:29
The European superiority over China was substantially due to technology and industry. Europe also became superior in science. Here are some... [MORE]	John McCarthy	Feb 8, 2008 04:29
Darwin's seeing the predominant ruling form for mankind throughout history as 'empire' no doubt takes a page out of the... [MORE]	Shalom Freedman	Feb 8, 2008 02:11
"The West" has made great strides in science, technology and economic achievement. Western Europe's recovery from the devestation of two... [MORE]	Karen Ways	Feb 8, 2008 21:58
In the long history of human civilization, lies a impulse to have war. Jane Goodell in her research of chimpanzee... [MORE]	C	Feb 9, 2008 21:19
I enjoyed all the comments regarding this subject. Varied and informative. Especially agreed with Karen Ways "Social and Spiritual Dismantling". I... [MORE]	Patrizia von Lutzow-Vorbeck	Mar 16, 2008 16:46