Older Published Work
December 11, 2003 | (Scholarly Journal Publication)
The Administration of Hubris
In reading “The White Man Unburdened” by Norman Mailer a citizen is inspired to ask why we went to war and why ultimately we seem excited by the prospect of war. Mailer eloquently paints a picture of the deflated white male ego and the disparity of the economic situation in America post 9/11. He illustrates the brewing of the ideal socio-economic potion that inspires Americans to take revenge on the faceless enemy of evil. Most importantly Mailer wants the individual to reflect on what this may mean to democracy. Ultimately, the individual should reflect on his or her role in the future of democracy and the eventual fate of the United States, by applying historical examples which led to inevitable disastrous consequences.
Mailer discerns that it was not who America went to war with that the Administration was concerned with, but “only with how best to expedite the war” (Mailer 4). President Bush did not need clear examples, specific names and faces to sell war to the people of the United States. The proposition of war did not have to be blatantly made, because citizens were already chomping at the bit to exact revenge upon the enemy, whoever or whatever that enemy may be. There is a clear recollection of buzz words and catch phrases used by the media just after the Twin Towers fell. “Weapons of mass destruction, the war on terror, you are with us or against us,” just to name a few. The terrorist threat was something that struck an incredible amount of fear into the hearts of Americans. The media blasted special reports about ending terror and terrorism in the world. Later, the “war on terror” became the quest to commandeer weapons of mass destruction. With no weapons of mass destruction to be found, the argument devolved into a witch hunt. In searching for the truth about this war of ideals one might come to the conclusion, as Mailer did, that it may simply be the ache for revenge in the human condition that drove the United States to war. This war was, as the author suggests, the political bonanza that President George W. Bush used to deliver the appropriate sense of revenge to the many millions of people who watched from their couches and desks while people jumped to their deaths from the burning world trade towers on television. The attacks punched a hole through our cushy little existence and hit America where it really mattered, the bank. It makes sense to use this “war” as a marketing tool meant to inspire Americans to subscribe to the war effort. The obvious fault seems to be that destroying another culture because it destroyed a part of our culture is not the best moral message we can send to the rest of the citizens of the world. Indeed, we as Americans have no wiggle room to judge another culture on the treatment of its people when we have starving, undereducated citizens, and unjust treatments alive and well right here in our backyard.
Could this political direct action bring an end to our democracy? Has America become a tyrannous nation such as that it is fighting? Mailer suggests that the real reason we went looking for war was because we were likely to be good at it. The contemporary values of this society suggest that those that are victorious are heroes. If that is true then by what do we measure this victory? Is it victorious to destroy and rebuild a nation because they don’t subscribe to the same values as another? If that is true, it validates the very attack on the trade towers. Has the United States evolved into a colonizing super power? The United States was born out of the struggle to secede from England because of the mighty colonizing tyranny that the founders of this nation no longer wanted to be associated with. Mailer proposes that now “that the ardor of victory has begun to cool, some will see how it is flawed” (Mailer 4).
I believe that the citizens of the United States have been duped into fighting a war that is not in their best interest. A developing democracy has to grow and evolve into something better all the time. Mailer writes that, “It is the mark of maturation that we do not try to profit from our early lacks and vices but do our best to learn from them” (Mailer 4). I believe that history has proven that those that do not learn and cultivate truth from mistakes are destined to repeat them over and over again. It is true that Western history is particularly Jimmy Carter, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, wrote on the just war theory stating that “war can be waged only as a last resort, with all nonviolent options exhausted” (Carter 13). It is obvious that not all nonviolent options have been considered. The administration did not need to consider a good excuse to convince the American populous that war was the only option. I have been told that this war is protecting my rights and is essential in order to maintain the American way of life. All evidence points me to the inevitable doom that is hanging over the States while I watch nations publicly scold the U.S. for unjust actions in Iraq. I see the death of due process with the birth of the Patriot Act and unilateral military action. It is my hope that with the pressures of the global community and the direct action of ordinary citizens, the administration will be forced to confront unjust actions and ultimately eliminate the hubris that is being used in order to destroy and dominate other nations.
Works Cited
Jimmy Carter. “Just War – or a Just War?” The New York Times. March 9, 2003,
Sunday. Section 4, Page 13, Column 2.
Norman Mailer. “The White Man Unburdened. The New York Review of Books
July 17, 2003. Volume L, Number 12, pp. 4 & 6 .
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