Originally posted by texasblue
I don't think it's a matter that "US" MD's think they are superior -- I think part of it is the nature of country. The US is a country of rankings -- we rank ourselves in comparison to EVERYONE on EVERYTHING. Read these posts. "What is the best UK school?" Britons, Aussies, etc. don't THINK like Americans do.
I think texasblue is right on spot here. Interesting that I've recently been drafting (still in draft stage, so be nice) something exactly along these lines for submission to a mag, so I thought I'd post it here. I hope some find it both insightful and explicitive of the American psyche texasblue points to...and an enjoyable read too!
---------------------------------------------------
No Lords but Us
Stephen Ewen
"In cool mornings, before the sun was fairly up, it was worth a lifetime of city toiling and moiling, to perch in the foretop with the driver and see the six mustangs scamper under the sharp snapping of a whip that never touched them: to scan the blue distances of a world that knew no lords but us."
That is how Mark Twain, after ruminating on his past experiences up against the ones he was having in Nevada at the time, constructed them for his contemporary readers. First published in his book
Roughing It in 1872, his true-ish creation was deftly tailored to hit a chord among his mostly Eastern, urban audience. It was a chord that his perceptive mind well knew existed, since he had only to look within himself to find at least a fair measure of it. In a world of urban ?toiling and moiling,??of busyness and schedules, of clutter and crowding, and of trying provide for loved ones amidst what, for far too many, had already become a growing exploitation at the hands of various ?bosses??Twain knew precisely the antidote to prescribe. It was to create something that would strike at a chord in human nature, with its desire for unfettered freedom and the need to in way or another pioneer something; it was to depict
a place for his audience where, if they would only but allow hope to prevail over fear, they too could say, ?We are in a world that knows
no lords but us.?
No lords but us. Interfacing with a part of natural human desire, it is a phrase that perhaps best sums up the underlying past and present impetus that so fed and continues to feed the myth of the American West. But it is also much more. Those who created ?the world,? the place of the American West, and constructed a certain sense about it within their larger culture, were only following the much more gravid precedent of which they were heirs. Indeed, the myth of the American West is much more than just the sense of one particular place perpetuated during a certain era of the American Experience. In its underlying motif, the myth of the American West is a driving force that has energized
the whole of the American Experiment.
The myth of the American West sought and still seeks to instill its telltale signposts in the minds of its consumers. These signposts say to them, ?This is the American West?: John Wayne-like men who sport guns that never run out of bullets; strong-willed but enchanting women with obedient children at their sides, both within the protection of covered wagons; idyllic though challenging expanses that beckon all to come and live the dream, and many more could be mentioned.
Similarly, the broader brush of other eras in American history had their own markers?markers where, it should be added, the lines between myth and reality were not always so clear.
When early European settlers came to the shores of the American continent to form colonies, many were cultural heirs of Europe?s feudalism, with its attendant lords and serfs. Many were also heirs of persecution from synthesized State-religious authorities. The hidden message that drove them to a place where they could at last exercise liberty of conscience was,
No lords but us.
As abuses later mounted from across the shores, stirrings arose amongst the colonists for independence. They organized and debated, organized more and then articulated a vision. When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, and detailed ?the causes which impel[ed] them to the Separation;? when the Declaration?s signers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in support of each other and the document, they one and the same were declaring, in a word,
No lords but us. Excluded from the Declaration during the time were of course the hoards of enslaved Black Africans, who were held by their white oppressors under a message that said,
No lords but us.
Shortly, the new American State sought to carve out its place among the community of nations, and sought to uphold its security therein. Meanwhile, competing European powers were still trying to make a foothold within the Americas. Giving a reply that has since laid precedent for every succeeding president, Monroe declared it ?impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness,? and that it was ?equally impossible? that the U.S. ?should behold such interposition in any form with indifference.? When Monroe declared his doctrine, he was saying, in a word,
No lords but us.
After time, Andrew Jackson set lustful eyes toward the West. He forced ?in the way? inhabitants along the ?Trail of Tears.? He was saying, in a word, both to those he drove along and those who followed as the displacement left a void,
No lords but us. Through two World-Wars and many proxy conflicts abroad during the Cold War, the U.S. at root, was declaring,
No lords but us. In later creating institutions to incorporate the world into a single economic system, and in maintaining her hegemony through them, the U.S. is today saying, again and in just a word,
No lords but us.
When Jimmy Carter decreed that ?an attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force??the deepest motive beneath the present war with Iraq?the U.S. was saying, as before,
No lords but us.
From America?s roots in Europe?s feudalism with its lords and serfs to the early American colonial experiences; from the signing of the Declaration of Independence and its exclusion of Black Africans, to the displacement of peoples during ?the great Westward expansion;? from the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine to the global hegemony America maintains today?through it all, and more?we have intractably declared to ourselves and all others, and have seemed to deeply believe it ourselves, that there will be
No lords but us.
The myth of the American West lies in more than just the images and writings that drove a myth of a particular era. It traces back to idyllic images of Pilgrims in tight-knit communities; to noble men who declared Independence and the ideal type young men who fought for it. It continued on to ?noble war efforts? on behalf of other ideal type soldiers, and later to efforts to advance ?democracy and free markets for the good of the world.? What amount of myth has and continues to be a driving force in America? What amount of its influence was and is truly for the good or for the ill? Can such things even be completely untwined? What is sure is that the myth of the American West is just part of a larger myth?a myth that has, and continues to drive so much of America:
No lords but us.
-----------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2003 by Stephen Ewen
Go get them! Show them their place!
. I can see the ad now.
