A few years ago an acquaintance asked me, "Are you ashamed to be an American?" At the time I could not answer the question, but I leaned towards, "yes, I am". I've thought a lot about this question over the years and I've realized that my answer, and I believe everyones' should be, is "yes" and "no". That is, being human implies making mistakes and anyone with any self-awareness has some shame about his/her mistakes. Feeling ashamed sometimes about one's country is a healthy expression of regret over collective mistakes and an indication of room for improvement. So, in the spirit of patriotism (defined as the belief that one's country is capable of good) I offer this list of my nation's greatest mistakes and successes.
Shamefuls
- Salem Witch Trials
- Slavery (the last western nation to abolish chattel slavery?)
- Eugenics movement, including forced sterilization of perceived inferior types of people
- Exploitation of the working class and worship of Capitalism
- Destruction of Native American Nations and Culture
- The fouling of our Nest (anti-environmentalism)
- Failure to move wholesale to renewable energy sources starting in the 1970s
- Racism during WWII including; US Japanese civilian internment, racial quotas preventing Jewish immigration including the Evian Conference, failure to destroy rail lines serving Nazi death camps.
- Anti-intellectualism and anti-reason values
- Worship of Individualism/Selfishness/Greed
- Worship of and comfort with Violence
- Persistent moral, political and economic hypocrisy.
- Persecution of homosexuals
- Pervasiveness of religious thinking
- Intolerance of differences; racial, religious, sexuality, etc.
Pridefuls
- The abolition of slavery (although quite late)
- The Internet (However, the WWW was invented at CERN in Europe)
- The early labor movement
