Americans believed their nation was exempt from European history’s burdens
Evidence
America was, in short, exempt from history: from mechanics and industrialization we would derive wealth, power, and productivity; from nature, peace, harmony, and self-sufficiency. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 474
Categorization
- SEED: Angle: how the myth of American exemption from history persists in contemporary tech utopianism.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 474
- XREF: connects to: Americans mistakenly believe they are different from other nations. — Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 121; European immigrants brought developed labor traditions that shaped American radicalism. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 989; British political life conferred a leveling that America’s racial hierarchy denied. (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Americans mistakenly believe they are different from other nations.
#corroborates(0.75) — Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 121 - The US needed Islam as a foil to define itself as Western
#expands(0.60) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 154 - American school curricula systematically erased imperialist, genocidal, and capitalist dimensions of national history
#corroborates(0.55) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 352