One of the things I find most interesting in
this brave new world of ours, where telecommunications/the Internet and a globe-sprawling mediaverse have so connected
us, is how people from different countries perceive one another. We all hold our own stereotypes of people. I know I
will often make jokes about the French or the Germans or the whoever. Everybody does. But of course I’m aware these are
mere stereotypes, often said in jest, and it is silly of me to ever judge an individual based on what country he/she
comes from.
Along these lines, I can’t tell you how often I’ve traveled somewhere and heard someone from
another country deliver a stereotype about Americans. These days, especially, people have notions of what America is
and who Americans are that are so addled with stereotypes and generalities and, well, pure wrong-headedness, that I
sometimes wonder how these people get by in the course of a day. I mean, if you’re making business decisions
and/or decisions about everyday life based on flimsy notions and half-truths, it seems like you’re not going to
get very far. And to hear these things from fellow travelers is always a disappointment, since I’ve long
considered the fraternity of adventurers one that is dedicated to ridding the world of ignorance and judgment.
All of this is to discuss, or at least to mention the new book out by Bernard-Henri Levy called American
Vertigo : Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville. The book grew out of several very insightful and
entertaining essays that Levy wrote for the Atlantic over the course of the last year. I specially called out several
of these because I thought they were so good. I assume the book will be just as superb. What made the essays so fulfilling was Levy’s real sense of
wonderment and curiosity about America, and how his writing was filled with critical, brilliant and often funny
observations about America and Americans. His final assessment of our nation, at least in the essays, was a very
positive one. And why shouldn’t it be? While America has lately endeavored to nation build and has engendered a
great deal of international scrutiny over its efforts in Iraq and elsewhere, it is still a nation of high ideals that
puts those ideals into practice everyday. It is, in my opinion, and in the opinion of Levy, I think, if you read
between his lines, it is a nation based on humanity. That is, it is a nation where the purest expression of human
pursuit and folly are manifest, for good and for ill. But mostly for good. Because a judgment about America, I think,
is a judgment about the goodness and or evilness of human nature. I come down firmly on the side of goodness. That man
wants to be happy and he ants to ultimately live in harmony with other people. And I believe, too, that is what America
is about. And so it is with real enthusiasm that I look forward to reading Levy’s book.