(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Recently, I had dinner at home for my students at New York University, to mark the election result 4. November. In an otherwise cheerful conversation, two of the Americans became angry with some of the foreign students as they praised the United States for electing a black man.
"So now you like us because we've done something your country would never think of," one American student snapped. "How about a little self-criticism?" "Hypocrisy," one of the others muttered in the direction of the foreigners.
A long, embarrassing break followed. I realized that the foreign students agreed, but did not know how to express it. But then I shot in: "Maybe we can see this in a positive way".
I approached the foreign students. "Thank you for expecting so much from the United States. Their high expectations reveal a far greater belief in the United States than can be found in their home countries. Whether you admit it or not, you respect the ideal of American leadership, and like you, I agree with this view. "
About half of the foreign students endorsed these views. The rest did not like to hear that they "joined" anything American. That is why I went one step further and reminded them that American innovations have a concrete history when it comes to volunteering elsewhere. By "innovations" I do not mean hip hop, fast food, ipod or women's panties with a picture of Snurre Sprett (which can be purchased in any souk in Damascus), but something far more serious.
In the thought provoking A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent Is Vital to Islam and America (2007) writes Professor Anouar Majid on the Virginia Declaration, "the world's first secular constitution." This formed the basis of the American Constitution. But even before that, the statement was quickly translated into French and Italian and spread throughout Europe, according to the author.
Of course, American behavior can also be a negative example for the world. In Moral Clarity: A Guide to Grown-Up Idealists (2008), philosopher Susan Neiman shows how Nazi Germany justified its atrocities with US segregation:
"When Adolf Hitler was criticized for his racist policies, he often mentioned how many lynchings took place regularly in the United States. In 1939, an SS body printed a poster quoting the FDR's reaction to Crystal Night: 'I could not believe that this could happen in a civilized country in the 1900th century.' But instead of depicting bloody corpses of Jews and broken shop windows from the German pogrom, the poster showed pictures of black men hanging from trees in the Southern States… In the short term, Hitler seemed parallel, as similar comparisons do today. In China, Egypt and Malaysia, repressive measures have been defended by officials there referring to the Patriot Act or Guantánamo… »
The fathers of the United States Constitution foresaw such a development and urged Americans to be vigilant. The revolutionary Thomas Paine, who in the 1700th century prepared the working classes for the liberation of the Yankees, made it clear: “He who wants to secure his own freedom must protect even his enemies from oppression. If he neglects this duty, he will prepare the ground for a practice that will ultimately affect him. "
The conclusion? I believe that the rather hated idea of "American exceptionalism" does not mean that the United States is exempt from high standards of conduct. On the contrary. The United States has a duty to live up to the highest standards because the whole world looks to the United States as a role model. It's the heaviest, and most beautiful, thing about American leadership.
Tonight's biggest provocation for the international students came when I said this: “When you state that American leadership has disappeared at a time when Abu Ghraib has taken place, you are in fact revealing a deep respect for the United States. You emphasize human rights violations in Abu Ghraib instead of, say, genocide in Darfur, because Darfur is a multilateral failure, while Abu Ghraib is in American hands. Thus, the United States is still the target of what we are capable of. "
The dinner continued into the wee hours. The students felt a strange urge to continue discussing. The United States has its own ability to engage us. Another sign of how much we appreciate the United States in our lives – and in our psyche.
Translated by Ingrid Sande Larsen
Irshad Manji is an Iranian-born, Canadian freedom of speech activist, author of What's Wrong with Islam Today and leader of the Moral Courage Project at New York University. She writes exclusively for Ny Tid.
