{"id":280,"date":"2003-10-29T23:23:12","date_gmt":"2003-10-30T06:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stefangeens.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2003-10-29T23:23:12","modified_gmt":"2003-10-30T06:23:12","slug":"biting-the-bulletin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stefangeens.com\/2001-2013\/2003\/10\/biting-the-bulletin\/","title":{"rendered":"Biting the bulletin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The entrance to my apartment building in Stockholm has a bulletin board. On it you will find a memo about the drying cabinets in the laundry room, an ad from a locksmith, one from a real estate agent, and then it has a small poster depicting a world painted in the American flag, subtitled En annan v\u00e4rldsbild<\/a> \u00e4r m\u00f6jlig<\/em>, “another conception of the world is possible” &mdash or, “another idea of how the world should be is possible.” It’s been there for at least a month, ever since I moved in.<\/p>\n

\"prikbord.jpg\"<\/p>\n

I don’t disagree with the literal message on this posterNov 3,2003: Clarification:<\/strong> What I mean is, it is trivially true that other conceptions of the world are possible; it is a non-normative statement.<\/span>, which is one reason why I think it fails as a piece of propaganda art. What is<\/em> clear is that the person who posted it holds assumptions that do not bear closer scrutiny. Something compels me to list them.<\/p>\n

1. The world is currently like that:<\/span> It is not. American ideas hold very little sway in most parts of the world (Sweden being an obvious exception).<\/p>\n

2. A world like that is undesirable:<\/span> It is not. Attaining American levels of corruption, crime, due process of law, freedom of speech and democracy would be a huge improvement in the quality of life of an overwhelming majority of the world’s population (Sweden again being an exception).<\/p>\n

3. The American flag symbolizes American imperialism:<\/span>Leave aside for a minute the absurd idea that the US is a cultural<\/em> imperialist, forcing its films and fast food on unwilling victims.<\/span> To indict the American flag \u2014 and the entirety of the American project it represents \u2014 on the grounds of Bush’s foreign policy is like condemning the Swedish way of life on account of a profitable arms industry, or its neutrality during World War IIWere the poster in question to date from 1944, with not a letter changed, it would have done an admirable job rallying support against Nazism.<\/span>. It is not unlike condemning all of Islam on account of its more radical strains.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I resist the use of the American flag in the context of this poster because I do not think of the US as a nation state, of the same mold as European countries. Bash the French flag, and you bash France. Bash the Italian flag, and you bash Italy. But reproach the American flag and you cannot help but lash out against a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

This is because \u2014 unlike nation states \u2014 America is not founded on a myth of common provenance, but on a myth of common arrival. And while we can never choose our provenance, we should certainly be able to choose our destiny. Many millions of immigrants have done just that, becoming Americans by sheer force of will. Try that in Germany. Or Denmark. America is not so much a country as a state of mind; a subscription to a set of parameters within which an inclusive democratic society would be built.<\/p>\n

Spreading this meme \u2014 painting the globe with the American flag, if you will \u2014 is<\/em> a worthwhile cause, as far as I am concerned. Of course, I completely disagree with the neo-cons on how to go about it.<\/p>\n

Which still leaves me with that poster on my doorstep every morning. The concept of a free-speech zone in every hallway holds great appeal to me; it’s a very American thing, really. It reminded me of this highly entertaining piece<\/a> by Mike Adams, an American college professor who earlier this year documented his testing of the limits of tolerance of speech at his university. He turned his office door into a free speech zone, and allowed anyone to post anything on it, waiting to see who would be the first to fail the testIt was a feminist student who complained first; she objected to the sticker “So you’re a feminist?… Isn’t that cute”.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

In that spirit, I’ve now made my own contribution to the bulletin board. On my way back from New York, I bought a 79c postcard of the Statue of Liberty and that poem<\/a> by Emma Lazarus“Give me your tired, your poor,
\nYour huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
\nThe wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
\nSend these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
\nI lift my lamp beside the golden door.”<\/span>. I put it up late last night. Oh, I know, it’s corny, and I feel guilty for stooping to the challenge like that, but I no longer feel like I implicitly agree with the poster’s sentiment every time I walk by it. And whoever put it there no longer assumes that I do.<\/p>\n

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