It's American Thanksgiving today. Crazy historical kids. And one hell of an experiment that they've been running down there, since the Plymouth landing. I listen to a lot of BBC podcasts, and it's fun/disturbing to hear the way commentators across the way divide on the subject of the USA, describing it as the best and the brightest, still the City Upon a Hill of world nations, but also something fallen and corrupted, a malevolent force in domestic policy and international relations. And I wonder how much good it does the rest of us, in the non-American, non-historical domain, to be give them so much attention, as if the news came down to what's-happening-in-America and now-the-boring-stuff. American culture/news now being nearly celebrity/culture/news. And how much good does this massive scrutiny/awareness do the United States itself, when it further feeds that somewhat problematic idea of American exceptionalism? Surely it must be tough to be the blonde, blue-eyed quarterback all the time, constantly borrowing for new veneers on your teeth.
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