The End of Exceptionalism

[varun]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/43356

The United States has always thought of itself as exceptional, but nowadays we are standing apart for the wrong things.


...But nowadays we are standing apart for the wrong things. America has typically been seen as the place where the boundaries of personal freedom were being stretched, where women's liberation was forged, where wacky new lifestyles and crazes were most enthusiastically adopted. For much of the world, America was the future. That is not the impression you would come away with, looking at this survey. For example, America has an unusually regressive attitude on whether homosexuality should be "accepted," a much tamer question than whether to approve civil unions or gay marriages: 49 percent say yes, and 41 percent, no. On what has become a crucial test of a society's inclusiveness and tolerance, the United States lags well behind every Western European country, as well as many Eastern European and most Latin American countries. Catholic Mexico is far more accepting, with 60 percent saying yes, and only 31 percent, no...