The U.S. as God in Monrovia

Hearing news reports on the situation in Monrovia today got me thinking about the perception of the U.S. there. People are getting pretty angry at the U.S., even laying dead bodies in front of the U.S. embassy to make a point of some sort. So why, I ask, are they mad at us? Especially when it's a pretty universal assumption that if we walked in with Peacekeeping troops right now, they'd worship the ground we walked on.

My thought here is that America has become a God-figure for them. First off, there seems to be feelings that (even though this a very far stretch of the truth) the U.S. is the fatherland of Liberia. So there's part one of the God-figure: America as a point of origin. Number two, as in many other parts of the world, there's an idealization of America. Like it's a perfect society that everyone should emulate. And three, they perceive American power as the ultimate power in the world. No one, in their minds, is greater than America. Therefore, who better to solve their problems; problems they are unable to solve themselves.

Therefore, them getting angry at America is akin to someone getting angry at God. America/God did nothing wrong to them. Their pain and suffering is either self-inflicted, or an unavoidable consequence of circumstance. But like someone who curses God for all his/her problems in life, Liberians are angry because this power, that has the ability to intercede and make things better, chooses not to.

Part of me suspects that this anger at an American-God figure is somewhat behind anger at America throughout the world. Such as in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. America's done very little, if anything, to deserve anger because of its role in the conflict--but that's the problem. The Arab world suspects that we could do so much more to fix things. And then, take Iraq and Afghanistan. The anger is not so much at the American way of life, but the fact that we abandoned them in their time of need. Of course, this is an over-simplification of the anger, as resentment also plays a big part. Plus, in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, it's very easy to point to many things that we've done to deserve their anger. But at any rate, I still think the anger-at-America-as-God complex is an important part.

Which leads to a very disturbing question--what good does it do to be angry at God. It's self-destructive, that's all it is. It first of all says, "I'm too lazy and/or incapable of solving my own problems, and the only person that can solve them is God, thus I won't even try to solve things." And second of all, it says, "God, my creator, that which defined my existence: since you are here every minute, taking over my life for me, I'm going to stop believing in you altogether." (Although in the case of America, maybe this sentiment is what the world needs. Maybe this disillusionment with America will empower people, like the Liberians, to take control of their own lives).

And then, there's the question--should we intervene? Well, I think that revolves around the question of how we perceive ourselves. If we truly believe we are the better society that we advertise to the world, then yes, we need to intercede. Otherwise, we will have abandoned the human race. Or at very least created a new, global class system, one which must inevitably be overthrown. The backlash will continue to grow more dangerous against us. The world will stop "believing in us," and replace us with something us, until we no longer exist. If, on the other hand, we are not a better society, then we have to stop advertising ourselves as such. And we have to get out of everywhere else in the world and turn inwards--fixing the inner-self first.

Personally, I think we need to be in Liberia, and quickly.

Posted July 22, 2003 (02:04 PM) | Comments (1)