Americans
From Tractatus
I wonder how many of the Greeks believed in Zeus. I mean, how many of them really believed that he came down from the heavens disguised as a bull and seduced Europa? Why did they believe such ridiculous things?
I was listening to the president of the Vassar class of 2005 speak at his own graduation, and I was struck by how he truly seemed to believe in the mythology of modern America. His belief was so powerful that he was able to reduce the World Trade Center, buildings destroyed shortly after his freshman year began, to mere symbols. He spoke of them not as something which actually existed, but as mere rhetorical device.
I do not criticise him as an individual, for he was only copying his betters. Rather he distilled for me the essence of modern America. We are honest liars. We spend our days crafting a mythology of our deeds, and then we believe that mythology.
And now, I see the ghosts around me. I see that memorials are more important than the buildings. I see that the story of America, seducer of small countries, the universally loved god among countries, is believed.
--Iain 18:32, 24 May 2005 (EDT)