Saturday, January 25, 2025

D.L. Gardner: God Bless the U.S.A.

Every semester I lead my students in a discussion about ethnocentrism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines ethnocentrism as, “A tendency to evaluate other people, activities, cultures, etc. primarily from the perspective of one's own as being superior.”

In November 2000 I traveled to Ivanovo Russia to visit friends. They asked me to speak to an English language class at Ivanovo State University. The students wanted to know what America was really like, asking specifically whether everyone had guns, fast cars, drank a lot, and had a lot of sex. That led to some interesting conversations and comparisons with Russia.

The students were not shy about asking anything that came to mind. One student asked me whether I thought America was the greatest nation on earth. And, that’s how I generally began my discussion about ethnocentrism here at MSU.

I would tell my students I wanted to be careful how I answered the Russian students’ questions. So, I answered that as an American I believed America was the greatest nation on earth, and that I fully expected my Russian friends to believe that Russia was the greatest nation on earth.

About 15 years ago I noticed several of my students shaking their heads “NO” when I said I believed America was the greatest nation on earth. I asked whether my students believed America was great. Many said “No” and were quite sincere. Out of curiosity, I asked them what nation was the greatest on earth. No one dared to answer that question. They just agreed America was not the greatest. So much for explaining ethnocentrism.

Needless to say, I stopped using nations as examples and began using different cultures to explain ethnocentrism.

Everybody knows Donald J. Trump adopted Lee Greenwood’s song, “God Bless the USA” as his political theme song. Some of us remember that song from a film featuring Ronald Reagan at the 1984 Republican convention. George H. W. Bush used the same song in 1988. In fact the popularity of the song has surged many times since: during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

I feel patriotic when I hear, “And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me. And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today, ‘cause there ain’t do doubt I love this land. God bless the USA.”

Millions of Americans continue to sing along with millions more Americans, “‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA.” Without a single partisan note we sing, “From the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee, across the plains of Texas from sea to shining sea. From Detroit down to Houston, and New York to L.A., Well there’s pride in every American heart, and it’s time we stand and say, that I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died who gave that right to me. And, I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA!”

Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.

21 comments:

Don Drane said...

One might wonder if covering ethnocentrism in class discussions might segway right on into racism, then into Critical Race Theory (CRT), then naturally over into DEI.

Seems some are exposed to this all the way from Head Start through their sixth or seventh year of college.

Anonymous said...

I am proud to be white, to be Christian, and to be an American. And I will not apologize for any of those traits. Neither should European people who are white and may be Christian. That does not take away from other nations, religions, or races.

But, for the last 60 years, we have been told we are the source of not just wrong acts, but literally all evil. It's not just the polite mealymouthed term "ethnocentrism." It's a planned and long carried out war on the West. And that is sheer insanity, fueled by Marxism and self interest groups and their feeble minded campus, clergy, and Congressional minions.

But, as he said, Russians believe their nation is the greatest. And they should. We would crush them in a second on equal terms, but they are nearly invincible in defense. A long history and a history of education.

Yet the MSM and Marxist haters have screeched about "nationalism" in the US for 20 years as a pejorative. And then they added "Christian nationalism," howling this week at peak level, about patriots. They push Globalism as hard as the crooked Clintons and Bidens. For profit for the pseudo-elite.

What they are doing is code speak for outright racism against whites and hate for their country. To hell with them. We understand their goal: the destruction of Western European values and heritage. Go to hell, or, back where you belong, some dystopian failed nation who has hardly had a written language for 400 years. Your choice.

Anonymous said...

As with any country in the history of this earth the greatness always depends on who you ask. For some people it's fantastic for others it's hell. The USA is no different. We're just a work in progress but we're really trying to be great for as many people as possible not just a few. That's about as good as it gets in this world of selfish human beings.

Anonymous said...

9:46 Pride in accomplishment is a truly worthy trait. Pride in attributes which you did not earn or accomplish is simple bullshit, the cause of unnecessary animosity and arrogance. Shame for crimes or misdeeds which you did not commit are the same, bullshit. There should be great pride in our accomplishment and the work we do, not the race or appearance we were born to. We had no choice in that. We take no personal credit for being born this or that. But also we take no blame. I am not ashamed of being white. Why should I be? But I do not take "pride" in it any more than I take pride in being left handed. I reject false pride like I reject blame for acts I did not commit. I get along with people on that basis. Am I wrong?

Anonymous said...

Call it what you want, but objective analysis reveals some things as clearly superior. Don’t ever apologize for wanting better, expecting better, working better or especially achieving better.

Anonymous said...

A great country doesn’t pardon 1500 criminals or drop the security clearance for former government servants because of personal vendettas.

Anonymous said...

This is the most hilariously asinine thing I have ever read. Adopting the judeo sect call "christianity" has been the worst thing Europeans have ever done. It should have stayed in the desert with the reset of the bronze-age Semitic religions. The future footnote into why whites disappeared will be Judeo-Christian Zionism.

Anonymous said...

You hate yourself. You hate America. Or you have a humble brag attitude, "I scoff at other's pride." Strange, and sad.

A great country doesn't pardon child killers and multiple cop killers and 3000 dopers who included child killers, along with their entire crime family, while serving China for self enrichment. That's treason.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering what this dude would write about now that his lord and savior had been elected. Still fearmongering. America is fine. Americans who hate on America are in the minority. These are college students. DJT won the popular vote touting America first. So, yeah.

Anonymous said...

The problems just seem to always happen to me. Now I am suffering from another problem and one I never knew about. Is there some medication I should go by walmart and pick up to cure me from ethnocentrism? Or is it one of those things that $19 a month, only 43 cents a day will cure?

Anonymous said...

What fearmongering?

Anonymous said...

January 25, 2025 at 11:19 AM, I pity people like you.

Anonymous said...

I thought the magic sauce was the cost of groceries and starving grannie and the poors?

Anonymous said...

Buying memecoins can be both a prevention (don't call it an innoculation) and a cure. Only if you buy the right ones though! No need to even get up out the chair.

Anonymous said...

God Bless Us and please HELP Us use the gifts You gave us!

No country has achieved Utopia. It's not Marxism to suggest ways we can improve or borrow good ideas that work well in other countries. We have done that since our founding. Every nation on earth has borrowed things from other countries. We didn't invent f'ing everything!

Not every idea of the GOP is fascist nor all Democrats ideas socialist or Marxist. Those are party fear tactics to scare you into supporting everything they do without looking too closely at where the money goes!

To paraphrase a tweet I saw: This is a terrible time to have a brain and to be able to comprehend what you read and the ability to listen. He should have tried a dictionary for ethnocentrism and realize it includes the word "preconceptions" about other countries without knowing a damn thing about their culture. Or as the Bible would put it , it's being " puffed up". Disciples went to other countries, you know and learned to appreciate in time why some didn't eat pork ( that problem with getting worms if it wasn't cooked enough) or ate fish on Fridays ( when the boats came in and it was fresh before there was refrigeration).
Being deliberately and arrogantly ignorant is going to kill a lot of Americans. Actually, it already has.1,219,487 of us.

Anonymous said...

What country did that?

Anonymous said...

January 26, 2025 at 9:18 AM, yeah, and you probably thought the Cackle Mistress was going to beat Trump.

Anonymous said...

@ 10:49 - Please point me to any Biblical reference of 'puffed up'.

Anonymous said...

Spot on.

Anonymous said...

So we are to believe the biblical fishermen only fished one day a week so everyone could eat fresh fish on only Fridays? What were they doing the rest of the days of the weeK?

Anonymous said...

January 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM, I'm not 10:49, but the verse is 1 Corinthians 8:1.



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