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I don't like to pick on the Southern US, it's just that it's very easy for me to draw a straight line from the beliefs required to support slavery and the beliefs the world fears.

Probably, if you're within this system, it's hard to see what it looks like from outside.
But in the rest of the western world, when we talk about scary religious extremists, we're as likely to be talking about American fundamentalist "christianity" as we are to be talking about radical "islam". I put both of these in quotes, as they have almost no relation to the book-based beliefs.

The belief needed for slavery is that one group is superior to an entire other group, and in fact entitled to run their lives.

And then you get a very nice hierarchy: God - rich white men - poor white men - white women - blacks.
This is odd in a modern US which is a leader in flattening class and gender divides.
But that has been actually accomplished in two ways. One is radical individualism (the individual as god). The other is radical anti-elitism, anti-aspirationalism.
The world looks at the US and they see legions of men and women, fat and rich, wearing giant sweatpants and sweatshirts.
Rosanne-world. Because everything is about immediate personal comfort and satisfaction.

And we see this whole package of irrational, pseudo-religious, extremist beliefs.

Pro-
gun, war, military spending, violence, patriotism, jingoism, death penalty, abstinence, creationism, legal drug, SUV, cheap oil, consumption, large quantities bland food

Anti-
abortion, sex education, illegal drug, environment, tax, intellectual

and yet even more dementedly, at a cultural level
- vast amounts of pornography
- super-sexualization of teens particularly the females
- incredible levels of gun violence, particularly retributory violence

on the one hand, this country that talks endless about freedom and democracy
but on the other a country whose own internal democracy is weak, whose internal freedoms are perpetually being reduced,
and which interferes in other countries worldwide, often resulting in those countries losing ALL of their democracy and freedom

These views are dramatically different from the rest of the West.
The fear is that already for decades Americans have been exporting their (to us) bizarre, contradictory, illogical, and possibly destructive belief system through their entertainment and wealth.
We are now afraid they will start using their incredible military power to do the same.

I guess the main point is, from inside it's probably difficult to see the contradictions
and how different the "mainstream" views are from the mainstream in the rest of the western world.
From the outside it... ok... um... to be blunt, it looks to us like the Americans are insane.

anti-abortion plus anti-sexedu?
anti-abortion plus pro-deathpenalty?
christian yet pro-gun and pro-war?
christian yet pro-consumption and pro-wealth?
pro-legaldrug yet anti-illegaldrug?

These are trivially contradictory beliefs.
Holding diametrically opposed beliefs is, erm,
well it's quite mad you see.

They are also beliefs which are unsupported BOTH by the Bible and by science.
You see, I don't mind if you believe in the Bible. As long as you believe in the actual beliefs made clear in the actual Bible.
Which, I might add, can align quite well with an understanding of science.
As is already accepted by every major religion in the whole entire freaking world.

The closest equivalent to the set of beliefs in America is really a cult.
The Cult of America. posted by Richard at 06:19 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)