Are Americans the new Victorians?

It struck me today, as I was returning to the hotel, how the grandiose gothic architecture of large American cities evokes in me the feelings that I have always imagined Victorian architecture would in visitors to London during the mid 1800's. The architecture of Victorian London was designed to impress upon the visitor the natural superiority of the British, to dwarf them physically and to belittle their sense of self. Conversely it was designed to bolster the sense of self importance, of belonging to something greater than the common man for the gentleman member of Victorian society, It was even designed to say to the poorest member of society - "You are part of this". Admitedly, in their case it was to re-inforce their sense of failure, of failing society (through the poor house), but still, the effect was there. The story of Dick Whittingham reinforces the idea of London being a place where the very streets cry out the superiority of the British so it takes little to imagine how much more impressive it's buildings were.

And so it is with America. Gothic, thrusting, bulging buildings designed not for function but for effect. They scream "we are superior" to every visitor, they are the physical manifestation of the American traits of loud, brash insensitivity. They are certainly in poor taste - the last great cultural revival to use gothic themes to assert national superiority was the Third Reich. And yet many of these buildings are from that period, the 20's and 30'. I wonder whether the buildings reflect the modern American or vice versa.

---------------------------------------------

It is certainly interesting to be here. As a people the Americans are so internationally unaware, and yet they dominate the international scene. Today on the radio a caller was bemoaning the fact that the Department of Homeland Security's seal imposes the US Eagle Seal on a Star of David - hinting at the "zionist conspiracy" (FWIW - I worked out what he was on about - the wings, head, branches and tail feathers make the points of a Davidian star if you stretch the imagination a bit - see the seal here). Of course the irony that the USA is the biggest single supporter of the State of Isreal was lost on the caller. The next caller was bemoaning the fact that the third world doesn't want to engage in fair trade. This uninformed caller obviously has never heard of how the US subsidises it's farmers, and then exports it's heavily subsided goods (such as cotton and maize) to third world countries who have been forced to stop subsidising their own farmers by the American led IMF. This is obviously a new definition of fair that I wasn't previously aware of. It is staggering how people can not know these things. Outside of these borders these are the political hot potatoes that are being tossed in the newspapers, on the TV, the Radio and the 'net. It is so frustrating.

-------------------------------------------------

Generally my trip here has, as any trip to the US does, made me angry about the sheer volume of the politically uniformed population. It appears to be a very vocal majority. A majority who have made criticism of the State a thing which is labelled as un-American. Do they not realise that this is the very defining characteristic of their nation, without which the USA would not exist. Have they never read the letters of PUBLIUS? The federalist concerns vis a vis the British state concieved the nation. The war of independance birthed it. Criticism of state is key to what Hamilton, Madison and Jay were trying to communicate. Whatever happened to this popular need to challenge the state?

Today most Americans cannot see beyond their own borders to understand the immeasurable harm that their ignorance inflicts upon the world. The average American seems to live in a Utopian world that denies the dystopia that their lifestyle inflicts upon the rest of the world. Don't get me wrong - I am not anti-American. There are intellectual giants here, and political heavy weights. It's just that the majority of people don't question, don't think. In a horrible reversal of Romans 8:36 They can be accounted like sheep leading the world to slaughter.