An American Myth

Last updated on: November 17, 2010 at 7:27 am by Dave Griffey

An American Myth 2010-11-17T07:27:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve been told by folks of a certain generation that I don’t know what it was like to be raised to believe America was the greatest country in history, that it never did anything wrong, that it was the hero in all things, and that it was superior to any country that ever was or ever will be. That’s true. I certainly wasn’t raised to believe that about America when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. But I wonder. I’m told all of America in the 50s and 60s was about pushing people to conform to this button-down society. That’s why the whole youth rebellion happened. Yet I can’t help but look at the books, the movies, even some of the television of the period and notice something entirely different. Oh, there was Ozzie and Harriet, or Father Knows Best. But there was the Twilight Zone, the comedy shows, the movies like Giant or From Here to Eternity, books like To Kill a Mockingbird – all of which were anything but blind devotion to the American Gospel. And they were all popular. If there was an attempt to conform Americans to one way of thinking, apparently there was plenty out there giving a different viewpoint that Americans gobbled up with a spoon.

I thought of this recently because someone hit me with the ‘Americans don’t know about the bad in our history’ spiel, going on to say he was never taught these things when he was in school. Problem is, he appeared to be younger than me. Yet I remember learning all about slavery in elementary school, about how we cheated the American Indians, and the questionable tactics in American expansion. That was in the 1970s. So did I just live in some fluke corner of America? Did it just start the year before I entered school? The more I look at what people were reading and watching, and about how much I heard about America’s sins; the more I wonder just how true this ‘Americans didn’t know anything bad about America, and everything tried to make them conform to button down American values‘ narrative really is.

Especially when I think of a forum I attended as a minister when an Episcopal priest stood up and said the same thing: “Americans don’t know about our history, what America has done wrong. We need to admit to America’s sins!” I thought then, what sins are we missing? This is today. The 21st century. All I hear about is the bad that America has done and is doing. And it dawned on me, is it possible that this is but a myth, a myth like ‘the good old days’ is always said to be? A myth that never was, and still isn’t, but no matter how much negative is out there, no matter how much negative is emphasized, folks who believe that myth simply dismiss it and assure us that Americans have yet to fess up and admit to our sins?

As a Catholic, I’ve discovered that confession is good for the soul. But I also know that, while it’s good to get an individual to admit his sins, it’s also bad if he doesn’t stop. If, upon admitting his sins, he plunges into the other extreme of rejecting forgiveness, or ignoring the good in their lives, it can be just as dangerous. I often wonder if America hasn’t gone from one extreme that may never have been, to another extreme that is all too real.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 16, 2010

Three teenage girls

Next Post

November 17, 2010 Catholic and Muslim leaders agree to agree

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "All things work together for good"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John James Peter Paul