Last week I was having a discussion with my Korean friend, Anna, and my British friend, Alex, about the world's perception of Americans. Not shockingly they said that their respective countries and, more widely, the world views Americans as arrogant. I did not find this surprising in the least. But then I gave it a little bit of thought and I began to wonder if perhaps we're arrogant for a reason. Perhaps our arrogance is somehow "justified" by world's other views about America.
I should initially admit that I do think most Americans are arrogant, at least in some form. Ask any American what the best country on the planet is and I think 99.9% of us would immediately respond America without a seconds hesitation. But I don't think this revelation is enough to condemn us as arrogant right off the bat. Ask any Korean which country is the world's best and they'd respond with Korea, Brits with England, Canadians with Canada. It is natural to inflate your own view of your country of origin. But if you ask Koreans why Korea is the best they might say things like, "Well, it just is" but when you ask an American they can begin listing actual reasons. I think examining those "reasons" we give is probably the key to understanding why we hold ourselves in such a high regard.
Let's think about it. How powerful is America? What influence do we actually have on the rest of the world? I'll start with our economy. We're in the midst of a major economic crisis and we're so powerful that the ripple effect caused by our economy has hurt every other major country's economy. Now, let's instead say France was in the midst of a depression: do you really think that would affect people in Korea? In Thailand? Perhaps, but certainly not to nearly the extent of an American depression. Everyone feels our pain. We buy all their goods and services, therefore when we go down, we pull everyone else down with us. Our currency, despite its recent woes, is still the world standard. When you hear someone talk about how the Yen, or Euro, or Pound is doing they're almost invariably talking about how it is doing relative to the US$. I don't think anyone can deny that America is the world's biggest, strongest, and most important economy to date. The Chinese, all 1.3B of them, are quickly catching up but we still are on top. When your country is capable of launching a global recession and your GDP is the largest in the world is is easy to develop a sense of economic arrogance.
Language. Why am I able to come to Korea with no teaching experience and get a high paying job teaching English? Because Koreans think it important that their children be able to communicate with Australians? I think not. English is the "language of business" which I take to mean it is the language that Americans do business in. I'm not trying to slight or belittle any other English speaking country, but I think if Americans spoke Russian that would be the language of business. Sure English is spoken plenty of places, but Koreans (and the rest of the developing world) are learning English as a direct consequence of that being the language spoken in the good 'ole U.S. of A. So not only is our economy the strongest in the world and our currency the world standard, but we dictate what has developed as the universal language that the rest of the world is teaching its children for the sake of advancement.
When is the last time you heard about a boatload of Cubans washing up on the shores of Australia? OK, I'll admit the analogy is a bit misguided but I think it illustrates my point. People from all over the world dream of coming to America. Why is that? Is it a giant American conspiracy to promote ourselves and validate our arrogance? I don't think so. I mean, come on, we're actively trying to keep these people out (read: Mexico) and people are still literally killing themselves trying to cross our borders. Now I think I am seeing a pattern where everyone else seems to think America is the best, or at least acknowledges that is the most powerful and more desirable place to live, grow, and prosper. With that is mind is it surprising that we're cocky? I'll make a sports example: If everyone else was saying, "Oh, yeah, Kevin is the strongest, best player on the team. He's dominated every aspect of the game every season" and I had every statistical record on the planet I think I would be a bit silly to not at least acknowledge that I am, in fact, probably the best. Do you think Michael Jordan is cocky? No, not at all. He was the best, we knew it and he knew it. He carried himself in a manner that, while respectful, clearly illustrated the mutual knowledge between him and everyone else that he was the best.
Finally, I think it is somehow mandatory for me to add military power. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this one but I think it is necessary to mention. When an armed conflict occurs anywhere in the world for the last 100 years we've been involved in some capacity. Now that might just be our nature to stick our noses where they don't belong but it is hard to imagine the Allies defeating Hitler without America. A tad closer to 'home,' South Korea owes its independence to the lives of American soldiers. Whether your agree with the US military decisions of the last 100 years is somewhat irrelevant. The fact is that when we flex our muscles the rest of the world has to take notice. When people are oppressed or in need of help, they look to us. We didn't amass all this power and status by being some 2nd class citizens to the rest of the world's countries. No, rather, you become the best by hard work and persistence. Our military might is unmatched and for that we deserve at least a tip of the hat from everyone else.
So, in closing, I absolutely think Americans are arrogant. But I also think we have some pretty good reason to be. Now, I'm not saying you should belittle other countries or turn your nose up at the rest of the world's population. There is a fine line between being confident and cocky, and perhaps too often we cross that line, giving off the impression of arrogance. When traveling or meeting other peoples you should be an ambassador for our country and reinforce all the positive things that the rest of the world already thinks about us. We're the land of the free, the home of the brave; let's keep it that way.
Take it easy, but take it.
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