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IMHO
There is only one darling of the US media and it had been always that way. No matter when, no matter what the topic, no matter the circumstances this particular entity is always unconditionally praised. Even Jesus Christ is not sacrosanct but this entity is. This magnificent, everlasting, super-smart and over-powerful entity is His Majesty THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Of course, people of America pay the bills and that means the media people's salary. But there's something bizarre, something unlimited, something scary in the perpetual howling of the media when it comes to the People. One person can be a bastard; People are always good. One person can be rich and greedy; People are always generous and loving. One person can be a murderer; People are always defending themselves. One person can be a dufus or a douche bag; People are always smart and charming. US media is in love with the US populous en masse. As soon as the word "poll' is mentioned every person's face on the political show shines pure admiration. It borders on the religious faith. In populous we trust no matter what. Since when? Why?
To answer this question we need to go a little deeper and uncover the two particular qualities the American Populous is being praised for: goodness of heart and work ethics. Americans in general are considered by the media as the most productive, generous and honest people on Earth. All of that is the result of them being free, of course, the only truly free folks under the sun. Where did I read or hear that before?
In the reminiscences of the ostarbaiten, Russian kids forcefully sent to slavery in Germany during WWII this motive was the first and over-prevailing. That was the first thing they were told- that Germans were the most hardworking, disciplined and BEST people in the world. They were told that God had chosen Germans to civilize everyone else and teach other people the everlasting German values. Not that those eastern people could ever hope to master those in full because Germans were superior beings. They were told that every German was good and gentle and sentimental at heart but that the sense of duty and discipline was paramount for the German nation and that's why they (Germans) were the born masters of the Earth. That's what was written in the German newspapers, in the German books and promoted by the German rulers. And there were references, lots of them, dating down to the times of Niebelungians. All the abovementioned authors off the Russian slave- memoirs share a common observation- that those diatribes sounded very natural, without any effort, to consider thus that those who promoted that nonsense really believed it and were proud of it. This brings us to the $64K question- do average Americans believe in all that ooze of love coming from the media? Does that flattery work?
Oh, yes. I looked into a lot of comments, notes and letters-to the editor. I listened to the debates. I perused the blogs. So far I had not found even one comment from the outraged reader or listener demanding from the loving media folks to stop licking the public butt. No, there is a plenty of articles and books on the subject of the lack of reason in the US populous but when comes to vox populi there is an overwhelming, " Yes, we are the best, the brightest, the smartest and the most hardworking.' No wonder we are so screwed, folks. In the old road- robber song it says that "You don't need the knife to get the stuff from the buffoon. Just flatter him a little bit and he will give it to you.' What a revelation! Our anchor- people earn millions exactly because of that. Flattery goes a long way.
So apparently there seem to be a connection in the psyche here, the one that transfigures you and me, so to speak, the one which does not care for geography, the profound connection. Where did that come from? To try to answer to this question we should address one of the German geniuses Heinrcih Heine. Heine was a romantic poet and author. Among other things he wrote a magnificent memoir " Germany, The Winter Fairy-Tale'. There he describes his childhood during the Napoleonic wars. He tells a story about a French regiment which stayed in his town. The sergeant of the regiment was also a compulsive drummer. He developed an ability to explain his perceptions about countries and people through different tunes on the drum. Like when he wanted to tell about France he would play La Marseilliese. Once, as Heine recalls, the sergeant wanted to mention Germany and played a melody resembling the doggy - dance. And the young poet says,
- I got angry but I understood him.
The evangelic branch of the Lutheran faith found a good soil in Germany. One of the advantages of the Lutheran religion is that it lowers the standards abruptly. In fact, the main reason for its creation was the simple fact that Catholic faith seemed too complicated, too uppity for the reemerging trade bourgeoisie. Catholicism firmly detached God from the flock and placed him into the Gothic Cathedral. A person had to go there and listen to all those Latin litanies. Then there was an issue of commitments and donations with no control. Also Catholic Church required education and promoted a sense of conscience and a strive for change to become better. At the meantime the whole point of becoming a merchant, a burger was not to become anything else, to remain who you are. Money was becoming the only criteria; it pushed away morals and honor. The new way of faith adjusted to it- it placed God firmly at the service ot the flock, made him a property. You could have God for yourself only and your riches could be associated with the perception that God serves you quite well. God blesses your deals and your coffers, He watches over you and you are in control up to donations and commitments.
For the country full of small merchants such convenient philosophy was truly a gift from God. From now on God was embedded into the egoism. A person was free of all obligations but to thyself.
It did not happen in one night. I attribute it to the huge influx of Germans to the New World somewhere in the 18th -- 19th Centuries. In fact, you can call the German immigration one of the most organized ones- there were agencies, routes defined, places to go to. John O'Hara defines inner Pennsylvania as a German Coutnry but so is North Dakota. The vast majority of those Germans were small merchants and craftsmen, the people under the same general name of Michel as they were called in the Old Country. Those Michels brought with them their convenient evangelical Jesus, the best immigrant of all. He was simple, understandable, accessible and cheap. It spread like a fire especially during the great events of the 19th Century. No matter who the person was by denomination -- Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran or Moslem- the covenant of God helping you in your efforts to become successful took over completely and became a primary IDEOLOGY of the new emerging empire and its citizens. They needed the feeling that God was with them in whether they massacred Indians or built the Hoover Dam. They needed no doubts. They needed an unconditional support. No wonder they called this country The Country of God. They wanted God to live here. I was always wondering how did Union and Confederacy coped that controversy until I saw Pat Robertson- a German to the core. The matter is solved.
Germanization of this nation is a great equalizer. Racce does not matter. They can show us black folks dancing in their churches as something very original. That is because they do not know about Passion of Jesus shows in the medieval Germany ( they still do that in Bavaria). There they sing songs, dance and perform every year. It is a tradition. Of course, here , the African heritage added its flavor to the boredom of the German Almighty but the essence stays the same.
Not only German Jesus proved Himself great for the US masses; he sold Himself to the Elite big time. He was and is first and foremost God of obedience and humility in front of authority. Every person knows that it is very difficult to obey another person; it is much easier to obey God. So God is associated with that another person -- when you obey your boss you obey God, follow His rules. It is my suspicion that the religious spiritual soup fed to the African slaves here was predominantly evangelic; it is unlikely any black slave- child received a Catholic communion. Evangelical Christ was OK with slavery the same as He was OK with anything; no commitment, remember? As in France they said that the bourgeoisie was everything, in the US it transformed into a "salesperson is God', and who are we all here but salespeople?
Whoever read the great book "To Kill a Mockingbird' might have noticed how the seemingly religious town of Maycomb did not pay much attention to God. The great world of God for the Humanity did not exist for those people. It is because they thought that God lived there, in that town. They did not have to go seek Him. In fact such attitude is pagan. Historical Chronicles tell us about the pagan mountain tribes in Caucasus who when they were introduced to Christ, merely included Him into the group of mountain Gods they worshiped. From that moment he became a tribesGod and resided on some High Mountain from which He looked at them. They did not need to go to the Cathedral- it was all there.
US is one of the least religious places in the world. It is the revenge of this Land. It belonged to pagans. When the newcomers destroyed those pagans the Land in her fury transformed their original faith into pseudo- faith, made it pagan, reduced Jesus to a symbol, a totem. The people of the US are truly born again but they are born again at the Pet Sematary from Stephen King's novel. They are resurrected as pagans.
That explains a lot. Pagan Christianity is the cause of that sick narcissism of ours, of our love of flattery, of our exceptionalism and our shallowness. It is in our love and our hate. German perception of faith became the most vulnerable to the intrinsic transformation exactly as it proved itself vulnerable to the takeover by the Nazi concept of occult. German Jesus is the only one who adapts. Other Jesuses do not. That's makes Him the one and only American God, the same as an apple-pie.
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