Plus, why bees sting you, why wolves hunt in packs (but bears don't), juiced baseballs, and Charles Darwin cleaning Navy SEAL blood and guts off the wall.
All your essays are very thoughtful and thought-provoking, but I believe this is your best essay yet. It's a very profound insight that is simply and thoroughly explained. Like any other powerful tool, gossip can be used for both good and evil. That is why the 9th commandment insists, "You shall not bear FALSE witness".
One of the main reasons for the success of the United States has always been that one becomes an American by swearing to support and defend the Constitution, rather than a sovereign or even the Motherland or Fatherland. Of course, prejudice doesn't naturally disappear, but it's widely acknowledged and practiced that my Indian-born Sikh friend, or my Chinese-born co-worker is just as much an American citizen as i am. (Yes, many people fall short, but it's remarkable that those are the exceptions rather than the rule.) No one has to renounce their heritage, just their allegiance to "any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty". No one outside a few scattered nutjobs believe that Irish Americans can't celebrate St. Patrick's Day or Mexican Americans can't celebrate Cinco de Mayo and still be the most loyal American citizens. In fact, it's traditional for Americans who don't directly share such cultural heritage to celebrate with them.
Clearly, attempts to tribalize Americans based on their ethnicity by shunning and shaming others for appreciating it, especially coupled with the insistence that we not be bound by that "obsolete document written by old white men" are profoundly anti-progress and even anti-human.
Fair point... but there are other things going on in Europe that create social trust and there are other things going on in Latin America that destroy social trust. It's sort of like how basketball players are generally taller than regular people, but every now and then there's a short basketball player and a tall regular dude.
You could make an argument that regular church attendance makes for a more cohesive community. Maybe Europe just has cities which better enable social interactions. American cities aren't so great in that area because whenever you're going from point A to point B, you're in your car.
All your essays are very thoughtful and thought-provoking, but I believe this is your best essay yet. It's a very profound insight that is simply and thoroughly explained. Like any other powerful tool, gossip can be used for both good and evil. That is why the 9th commandment insists, "You shall not bear FALSE witness".
One of the main reasons for the success of the United States has always been that one becomes an American by swearing to support and defend the Constitution, rather than a sovereign or even the Motherland or Fatherland. Of course, prejudice doesn't naturally disappear, but it's widely acknowledged and practiced that my Indian-born Sikh friend, or my Chinese-born co-worker is just as much an American citizen as i am. (Yes, many people fall short, but it's remarkable that those are the exceptions rather than the rule.) No one has to renounce their heritage, just their allegiance to "any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty". No one outside a few scattered nutjobs believe that Irish Americans can't celebrate St. Patrick's Day or Mexican Americans can't celebrate Cinco de Mayo and still be the most loyal American citizens. In fact, it's traditional for Americans who don't directly share such cultural heritage to celebrate with them.
Clearly, attempts to tribalize Americans based on their ethnicity by shunning and shaming others for appreciating it, especially coupled with the insistence that we not be bound by that "obsolete document written by old white men" are profoundly anti-progress and even anti-human.
Thanks, I appreciate the kind words :)
On the subject of religion, that doesn't really explain why Europe is less religious than Latin America, yet has much higher levels of social trust.
Fair point... but there are other things going on in Europe that create social trust and there are other things going on in Latin America that destroy social trust. It's sort of like how basketball players are generally taller than regular people, but every now and then there's a short basketball player and a tall regular dude.
You could make an argument that regular church attendance makes for a more cohesive community. Maybe Europe just has cities which better enable social interactions. American cities aren't so great in that area because whenever you're going from point A to point B, you're in your car.