In 2006 American journalist, Paul Salopek, spent 34 days in a secret Sudanese prison where he was repeatedly interrogated and accused of being a spy. The Sudanese government has rigid laws regarding journalism, so in their terms he probably is a spy. But what stuck with me while listening to his NPR interview was that his captors referenced techniques used at Guantanamo Bay.
The fact that our secret prison is being referenced by interrogators at a Sudanese secret prison should just about sum up what the Bush administration has to done to our perception throughout the world. It’s difficult to encapsulate a world view of the United States, but with our waning economy, endless war, and short sighted president, it’s easy to see why people from around the world wouldn’t instantly conjure images of Elvis and James Dean when thinking about America.
We probably never were the idealistic “land of the free” that school kids learn about, but we’ve always had an appealing identity based on the granule of hope that anything was possible. We’ve had bad presidents, bad laws, bad taste, bad wars, and enough political corruption to fuel 50 other bad governments. Through all that, we managed to keep the United States brand name in tact. I don’t think that’s so anymore. Our reputation has taken such a beating to where it’ll be difficult to completely recoup the identity we used to have.
We can lay the bulk of blame at the feet of the Bush Administration, but not all of it. Everyone who allows the conversation to remain on divisive and stagnant issues, and anyone who remains willfully ignorant are to blame. Anyone who repeatedly makes the same mistake of buying into party lines and shallow arguments is to blame.
Who could have imagined that seven years after 911 we’d still be having the same dumb competition for who’s more patriotic? That somehow you’re less American for not wearing a flag lapel pin or not saluting the national anthem. That a person like Jeremiah Wright can serve in the Marines, the Navy, and serve as a medical technician to the president and still have his patriotism questioned. If there is ever a person who has earned the right to judge his country it would Jeremiah Wright. He and others like him have offered everything up for the sake of progression. Which is more than most can say.
We are now 40 years out from a year of great cultural change. 1968 is a year that many people refer to as the year America lost its innocence. As tarnished as our image is, and as cynical as I am, I do believe 2008 can be known as the year America lost its ignorance. I believe within the realm of politics the voice of the youth will come through, and that we can shuck the motto of “fat and dumb with guns.” And I do believe we have come to a point where so much is at stake that petty arguments and shallow talking points will not be a major factor in deciding political outcomes. However, it’s very possible that I’m way off base with all this hope stuff, so as an American I still reserve the right of cynicism if I’m wrong.
