From JOMOBlog.com:
Condoleeza Rice Never Read Charlotte's Web
In an interview today on Meet The Press, David Gregory asked Condoleeza Rice whether she thought the world viewed America as "humble". The context was an October 11, 2000 George W. Bush comment from his first presidential campaign:
"It really depends on how we conduct ourselves in foreign policy. If we are an arrogant nation, they'll resent us. If we're a humble nation but strong, they'll welcome us."
Rice responded to Gregory by saying she believed we were "a place to be respected"; she suggests we are popular in countries like China and India, the "most populous" countries. Let's ignore the fact that "a place to be respected" is not quite the same as "a place to respect" and move on.
When pressed on the humility issue, Rice said,
"I think it's very humble to believe there is no man, woman or child who should live in tyranny. That people who say, well, maybe Arabs aren't ready for Democracy, or maybe Africans are just going to have corrupt government - that seems to me arrogant. To say that those people deserve the same life that we have, the same freedoms that we have; that seems to me humble."
Let's check out the first two definitions of HUMBLE in Merriam-Webster:
1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission (a humble apology)
In Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, a cunning spider writes "HUMBLE" in her web as a final message to describe Wilbur the pig. He's low to the ground; as Wikipedia would put it, he is an "unpretentious and modest person [pig], someone who does not think that he or she is better or more important than others."
To suggest that other people would naturally want to live like us and not the way they currently do - that is pretentious. To assume that other people would want what you want simply because you want it - that is arrogant. It's a twisted, self-centered arrogance that generates its own faulty logic to justify its conclusions. Why should we replace their system of government with ours? Because ours is better, obviously. This is arrogance and self-absorption; this is not humility but an excess of pride.
No one says the Arabs aren't ready for democracy; just who ARE "the Arabs" anyway? Is that like "The Persians" or does she just mean "the Middle-East except for Israel"? Perhaps the Middle East as a region is too unstable to sustain all but the strongest and best-armed democracies, but that's another matter.
Trust me; I'm a self-centered guy and I recognize a self-centered conclusion when I hear one. Condoleeza Rice's comments on Meet the Press demonstrate just how arrogant the Bush Administration is, has been, and will continue to be for another few weeks.
America is a place to be respected by the international community but not to respect; we are not welcomed in the international community as much as we are feared. And respect through fear is no respect at all.