Mon. Apr. 17, 2023
I was watching the RBC Heritage golf tournament on Sunday. There was a sudden-death playoff at the end because there was a tie between Jordan Spieth, the American, and Matt Fitzpatrick from Ireland. I’m not really a golf enthusiast, except when Tiger Woods is in the hunt; but I saw that at the end these two golfers were competing for the championship, so I had to watch! Now golf has this atmosphere of reverence, a gentleman’s game, quiet and reserved for the most part. In the middle of this sudden-death playoff the crowd started chanting USA, USA, USA! I was both surprised and disgusted by this total lack of sportsmanship by the spectators, even though it was in South Carolina, and it was golf, not the Olympics! It was so unprofessional; and although I was rooting for Spieth, I was glad the Irishman won, just to spite those yahoos.
I thought about that outburst and it suddenly occurred to me that America has a serious inferiority complex! The greatest country in the world, except for the Jewel, Belize, for those of you who don’t know what the Jewel is! I say this without reservation. They have the greatest military might, it is the richest country in the world, financially, technologically, and especially geographically. Most of the greatest inventions were born in America, with the help of imported minds, but nevertheless are American, beginning with airplanes to the bomb to the internet to computers to Hollywood to sports! Some will disagree, but it is the greatest military in the world; look at Israel, Ukraine, it’s American military weapons and intelligence that keep them from losing their identities, period!
And yet, in spite of all that power and influence, or maybe because of it, they are always hiding under the banner of victimhood! The anthem “We are no. 1” is a kind of self-affirmation in the face of its doubts in itself. The same with the USA chant, even in a sport as mundane as golf. If you are confident in your status as the world power, you shouldn’t have to turn it into a mantra; you should leave that to the Chinese, who aspire to that power, which they will probably achieve in the next 50 years!
Instead of being comfortable with this incredible power, they look for perceived enemies, brown people trying to migrate into America, books that they consider harmful; they try to suppress free elections, marginalize women and all those people whose definitions take up half of the alphabet! They’re mad at the world for no other reason than, just because!
It hasn’t been always that way; she used to be welcoming and magnanimous in her charity, her kindness, in her humanity. But the times they are a changing, and the insecurities grow, more obvious and louder every day! Most Americans have never left their country, they haven’t seen the rest of the world. Maybe that’s the reason why they repeat those mantras at every occasion: We’re No. 1, USA, USA, USA!
There’s one reason I know for sure why America is the greatest country in the world. It can never be invaded; everybody is armed and not afraid to use those guns! We’re killing our own without reservation; imagine what would happen to the invaders, unless they’re aliens from another planet. Bacteria would kill them. USA, USA, USA!
Glen