AMERICENTRISM

Many Americans tend to assume that we are more important than others in almost every way. They assume everyone else in the world watches only American-made movies, listens to American-made music, and buys American-made products. And they assume that “our God” is superior to “their God”, that our political and social beliefs and ideas are superior to “theirs”, and that “they” should believe as do we. They also assume the other 95% of the world wants to be just like us, and assume they should.

If you read my post from last June you know I love The United States and believe countless factors make us great, but I’ll bet the British, Germans, Brazilians, Costa Ricans, Japanese, Koreans, South Africans, Kenyans, and others feel the same about their countries.

Americentrism is at least tangentially related to American exceptionalism, the idea that we are morally superior and unique for historical, religious, ideological, or other reasons. Since we consider ourselves exceptional, we conclude that we must do what we can to help the rest of the world become more like us.

Is The United States unique and exceptional? Yes! But so are other nations.

Why is this important?

Because of Americentrism we tend to forget about the rest of the world. We don’t understand that every other country is often facing the same challenges, crises, or successes as are we. When bad things happen, we tend to assume only Americans are suffering or that it is worse for us, and we often assume our political leaders are at fault.

Here are three recent examples:

INFLATION

I’m sure you know that inflation is the average increase in the prices of stuff we buy, from apples to zucchini, from cars to collagen, from plane tickets to Pepsi, from gas to governmental officials. When prices increase faster than wages, we obviously lose money. American politicians tend to blame each other for inflation as if it is uniquely an American problem. For example, in 2022 America’s inflation rate topped 6.5% and wages for average working folks didn’t keep pace, so politicians played the old blame game and convinced at least some Americans that their suffering was unique. A little perspective might help, so here are a few comparative 2022 inflation rates:

• United States: 6.5%

• Venezuela: 222%

• Argentina: 58%

• Russia: 17.8%

• Turkey: 69.9%

• Netherlands: 9.6%

• United Kingdom: 9%

• Spain: 8.3%

• Germany: 7.4%

• Austria: 7.2%

• Greece: 10.2%

America’s current inflation rate is 3.5% compared to The United Kingdom (3.2), Ireland (2.9), Australia (4.1), Austria (4.1), Mexico (4.2), Sweden (4.1), Egypt (33.3), Turkey (68.5), and Argentina (288). The AVERAGE projected worldwide inflation rate this year will be 5.9%. But it’s oh so easy to act as if inflation is uniquely an American problem and that OUR politicians are doing this to US. It sure makes for great political theater.

GAS PRICES

This week the average gas price in The United States is $3.63 per gallon. And yes, I am well aware that the average per gallon was $1.84 per gallon in February of 2020. Read this if you want a better understanding of those low prices.

One factor leading to the increased fuel cost is greater demand after the pandemic ended and the economy opened up; oil production and refineries can’t keep up with the current demand. During the pandemic several refineries actually shut down, so capacity decreased. Also, OPEC and other oil producers have not significantly increased their production, so they are controlling prices by keeping production lower. And yes, the “green energy” policies President Biden promoted during his first year in office had some impact, but the truth is that last year U.S. Crude oil production reached an all-time high, and Biden’s administration has approved almost twice the number of oil and gas drilling permits as was the case under President Trump.

I should also mention that oil companies have been posting record profits the last couple of years, primarily because of increased oil and gas production in The United States. In 2022 ExxonMobil earned $55.7, Shell earned $25 billion, and Chevron earned $35.5 billion. In 2023 Exxon Mobil earned $36 billion, Shell earned $28.3 billion, and Chevron earned $21.4 billion. Most of that profit went to shareholders.

Again, a little perspective is in order. Here are a few current gas prices from around the world (in liters since we are about the only country still using gallons as a liquid measure).

• Egypt: $0.281

• Turkmenistan: $0.429

• Nigeria: $0.549

• Saudi Arabia: $0.621

• The United States: $1.038

• Argentina: $1.099

• China: $1.222

• Canada: $1.434

• Croatia: $1.715

• Germany: $1.979

• Italy: $2.060

• Switzerland: $1.085

• Hong Kong: $3.202

The truth is that The United States is the EXCEPTION to this rule: Richer countries have higher gas prices whereas prices in poorer countries and those exporting oil are lower. America’s gas prices are lower than those of our peer nations, but many politicians want you to believe otherwise, and many Americans believe those politicians and media outlets when they use gas prices as a political weapon. Do they also believe American politicians control other countries’ gas prices?

MASKS

During the pandemic a portion of the country was in an uproar because various governments (federal, state, local) required masks in public. Many folks argued passionately that governments were exceeding their authority and were invading on private rights. I won’t go into all the other arguments, but I do want to make a point. OUR GOVERNMENTS WERE NOT ALONE! By May of 2020 the following governments required masks:

Venezuela

Vietnam

Czech Republic

Slovakia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Colombia

United Arab Emirates

Cuba

Ecuador

Austria

Morocco

Turkey

El Salvador

Chile

Cameroon

Angola

Benin

Burkina Faso

Equatorial Guinea

Ethiopia

Gabon

Guinea

Kenya

Liberia

Rwanda

Sierra Leone

Zambia

Argentina

Poland

Luxembourg

Jamaica

Germany

Bahrain

Qatar

Honduras

Within a few months China, Japan, France, England, Ireland, Italy, and others had also passed mask mandates. But, for some reason, folks in our country seemed to believe they alone were affected, and they attacked our political leaders for the restrictions.

I could provide other examples, but these should suffice.

America is a wonderful place, in my mind the greatest in history (I’m American, so I’m biased). However, I have traveled to a good many other countries, and I know we are not as unique as we want to believe. Americans would be well served by traveling abroad, or at least by watching travel shows and becoming more aware of the other 194 countries on the planet.

Thanks for following along.

David

HELP! HELP! HELP!

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The blog is a good outlet for me since I retired, but I’m honestly a little frustrated because I spend several hours composing each post, and for years my wife and I have paid the monthly fees to keep my website live.

Do you have suggestions? Are the topics about which I write irrelevant? Is the blogosphere saturated with social and political commentary? Are there marketing strategies I’m missing out on? Should I become a cowboy at John Dutton’s Yellowstone ranch and ride off into the sunset?

Any feedback will be appreciated.

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