The Man in White

I've been reading Tom Wolfe's Hooking Up, a set of non fiction essays from the award winning man in white. It's good, witty, thought provoking work, and I'll have to read more from this author. In this volume he bios the founder of Intel, and skewers modern art, late 20th and 21st century literary criticism, "intellectuals" and more. I don't always agree with him, but the writing is almost second to none.

In one chapter he talks about how intellectuals in this country, continuing to learn from European counterparts, just can't stand to see anything positive happen. Despite America's ascendancy in the 20th century to by far the most powerful and influential nation in the world, despite America's key rule in defeating both the Nazis and the Soviet Communists, despite the incredible standards of living enjoyed by most Americans, some people can only find fault with their own nation. Even though they're often ignorant about the matters that they protest, it doesn't stop them from looking down with skepticism, cynicism, and contempt from their lofty perch of righteous indignation.

Do I think our country is perfect? Absolutely not! There are many things we could improve. We have made mistakes, some of them big ones. Corruption still exists. Our lawsuit happy society drives me nuts. We had apparently crappy intelligence telling our government that Saddam had WMDs. That's just for starters. Yet we have a lot to be proud of too. Anyone can be a naysayer. You don't even need to have a clue what you're talking about. To be fair though you should also recognize the incredible accomplishments of these United States.