CAN YOU IMAGINE IF YOU ASKED A FRENCHMAN WHAT FRANCE IS ALL ABOUT AND HE WENT OOO WE'RE A NATION OF WINEMAKERS AND CHEESEMONGERS THAT'S SUCH A PATHETICALLY SHALLOW EXPRESSION OF SELF CONCEPT FRANCE IS THE NATION OF FRENCHMEN, CARRYING WITH THAT THE FULL WEIGHT OF THEIR HISTORY, CULTURE, AND IDEALS (ACTUALLY FRANCE MIGHT BE A BAD EXAMPLE BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN GETTING FAGGED UP SINCE THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR WITH THE WHOLE IMPERIAL FRANCOPHONE IDENTITY THING, BUT YOU GET THE PRINCIPLE) AMERICANS ARE NOTORIOUSLY SHITTY AT DEFINING A HOLISTIC SELF-CONCEPT, I SUSPECT BECAUSE OF INFERIORITY COMPLEXES THOSE OF US TRAPPED IN THE UNITED STATES HISTORICALLY FELT AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX TOWARDS EUROPE AND DEFINED OURSELVES IN OPPOSITION OR ON THE BASIS OF DISTINCT PECULIARITIES RATHER THAN HOLISTICALLY THE DEMOCRACY STUFF, AND SHINING CITY ON A HILL, MASONIC DRIVEL, AND PROTESTANT THEOCRACIES ARE ALL OF A KIND -- THEY'RE SHALLOW SELF-CONCEPTS BASED ON A PARTICULAR DISTINCTION IN WORDENLAND WE SLEEP ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE BED, YOU SEE BIG WHOOP AND THOSE OF US TRAPPED IN CANADA FARED EVEN WORSE WITH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX TOWARDS THE UNITED STATES, CREATING SHALLOW SELF-CONCEPTS BASED ON PECULIAR DISTINCTIONS FROM THEM THIS ATTITUDE PRODUCED SUCH HITS OF SELF DESCRIPTION AS "WE'RE THE BEAUTIFUL LOYAL AND MORAL LOSERS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR" "WE'RE SUPER LOYAL SUBJECTS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, LIKE THE INDIAN RAJ" AND "WE'RE MORE LIBERAL AND PEACEFUL AND COMPASSIONATE THAN THE UNITED STATES" ALL SHALLOW IDENTITIES THAT RELY ON AN EXTERNAL ENTITY AS A DATUM POINT TO REFERENCE BUT UP IN THE HILLS THERE ARE WAYS THAT ARE DARK THERE LIE BONES OF THE RAVEN THAT FLEW FROM NOAH'S ARK, AND BONES OF MANY A MAN KILLED BY BEAR OR FELLOW MAN THERE SAVAGES DRANK BLOOD AND FLAYED CHILDREN ALIVE, AND NOT ALWAYS THEIR OWN OR THEIR TRIBAL NEIGHBORS THERE'S VASTNESS INDESCRIBABLE, A LAND SO OPEN THAT TO WALK INTO IT IS AS TO WALK INTO THE OPEN SKY THERE ARE ANCIENT WARS, OLD NOT BY REMOTENESS IN TIME BUT BY HOW POORLY DOCUMENTED THEY WERE THERE ARE RECORDS OF BIBLICAL CATACLYSMS THAT CAME AND WENT, AND OF MEN WHO SURVIVED THEM AND OVERCAME, MEN WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN THE DIVINIZED ANCESTRAL HEROES IN A BRONZE AGE SOCIETY OF A COMPARABLE SIZE, BUT ARE COMPLETELY OVERLOOKED AND FORGOTTEN IN THEIR OWN HOMELAND BECAUSE IT WAS A TRIFLE, JUST SOME FRONTIER WILDERNESS ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD EVERYONE WAS TOO BUSY WATCHING NAPOLEON WRANGLE THE INBRED BLUEBLOODS OF EUROPE TO NOTICE THERE IS A GREATNESS HERE THAT WAITS THAT CAN BE PICKED UP, AND WHEN IT IS -- IT WILL RECIPROCATE IT WILL BEAR US ALOFT LIKE A PEGASUS AND THIS ISN'T SOMETHING NEW, MANY MEN HAD FELT IT BEFORE AND WROTE OF THAT BUT NAPOLEON WAS MORE IMPORTANT, AND THE WORLD WARS WERE A PARTY THE GREAT SLAVE ARMY OF OUR FOREFATHERS HAD TO BE CORRALLED AND GOADED TO ATTEND BUT THAT'S OVER NOW. SOON, PERHAPS WITHIN A CENTURY, THERE WILL BE NO MORE UNITED STATES OR CANADA AND THEN PERHAPS WE COULD SADDLE UP THE PEGASUS SO PATIENTLY AWAITING