Y HALO THAR!

Ahem. I suppose I shouldn't be making 4chan (a link you should not click if you are offended by anything or under the age of 18) jokes as topics/titles, but I'm weak.

I've been thinking a while now about resurrecting my otherwise very infrequently used blog as a secondary forum for discussing things that get shut down elsewhere.

Specifically, the Independence Day thread has made its less than triumphant return, and if anybody wishes to discuss it they may do so in the comments. I would especially like to see if Moriarty has anything to say.

Although it's usually a mistake to attempt to have a collegiate level debate or discussion on the INTERTRON, like I said before, I'm weak, and I'm bored out of my mind. (Right now I'm being paid to do this for chrissake. During this particular contract job I'm working, I literally have HOURS of time to myself on the clock.)

I want to answer Bagheera (which I did in the thread but DT deleted it) even though I know he doesn't talk to me because he's deathly afraid of facts and logic. Bagheera accuses Americans of being big-headed, cocky, and self-important, and because of this other people dislike Americans. These attitudes which are usually considered "negative" are considered to be opposite of the "positive" attitude of humility.

However, I say that humility is only (honestly) virtuous to those who are not smart enough to see it for what it is. It is a means of creating and maintain order in society by creating a "virtue" of self-diminishment. It keeps those weak of will or talent from becoming restless, after all, why be bothered that you have nothing to be proud of if being proud is socially unacceptable anyway?

Humility is demonstrably a negative thing because it can be said to be achieved only after one of two possible conditions has been brought about: ignorance or dishonesty.

In the first instance, a person or group does not know that they are better than they believe themselves to be. Their ignorance prevents them from realizing their full potential and are therefore less valuable to humanity thanks to their being categorically "humble."

In the second instance, a person or group does know that they are better than they portray themselves to be. This allows them to use talents as they see fit so long as they lie about what they can do or are doing. This sort of deception is also categorically "humble."

By this reasoning, America is not only objectively superior in capacity, but morally superior in that it is honest about that capacity. The annoyance of the world is underlain by the fact that not only is America cocky, but deserves to be so.*

*This desert or entitlement and the envy and jealousy that it causes is abstractly discussed (as a sociological element rather than nationalist or culturalist) by Robert Nozick in Anarchy, State, and Utopia pp.239-246. I'd recommend anybody read the whole book. It's The Prince of the 20th century.