American culture compels flattery and resists truth-telling about itself

Evidence

In the proudest nations of the Old World works were published which faithfully portrayed the vices and absurdities of contemporaries… But the power that dominates in the United States does not understand being mocked like that. The least reproach offends it, and the slightest sting of truth turns it fierce, and one must praise everything, from the turn of its phrases to its most robust virtues. No writer, no matter how famous, can escape from this obligation to sprinkle incense over his fellow citizens. Hence the majority lives in a state of perpetual self-adoration; only strangers or experience may be able to bring certain truth to the Americans’ attention. — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 65

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the external-observer vantage of Changez in ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ and maps onto Tocqueville’s earlier claim that outsiders see America clearly. — connects to: The culture industry predetermines discourse so that truth itself becomes implausible. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 122; American culture signified freedom and defiance during the Occupation. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 536