In Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity, Dr. Robert Jensen examines the United States Empire through his alienated perspective.  He begins by questioning the assumption that the United States is the “greatest nation on Earth” and evaluating the merits of both patriotism and nationalism.  He cites the United States Congress which allocates less than 1% of the federal budget to foreign aid.  The misconception that Jensen believes many Americans have is that the United States provides more aid through its federal budget than it actually does.  He claims that nationalism, patriotism, and “supporting the troops” (as opposed to supporting a war) undermine the ability of citizens to affect change in a more global world.

Jensen concludes his article by posing questions to the reader, “Can we face the task of being citizens of the empire? Do we have the courage to stop being Americans and become human beings?”  These questions raise issues of globalization and global citizenship.  As globalization shrinks the apparent size of the planet (brings cultures and societies closer together), cultural, political, and geographical borders become more defined through conflict.  Increased flow of information, however, can ease the additional tension caused by countries becoming squeezed together.  Earlier this semester, De Souza Santos in his article Globalizations quotes Voltaire who claims, “To be a good patriot, it is necessary to become an enemy of the rest of the world.”

Setting aside some of Jensen’s self-inflation and pompousness, he makes valid points regarding the average American’s world view and global citizenship.  Many of the pillars of Americanism are, according to Jensen, not wholly American: democracy, freedom, and civil rights.  Jensen, however, poorly identifies the means to which he believes can successfully “dismantle the empire”.  He broadly calls Americans to “resist the empire” but does not attempt to outline an approach.  With this in mind, I do agree with Jensen that something needs to happen in the form of resistance, reform or revolution.  Unfortunately, as Jensen mentions, Americans, “insulated from the reality of U.S. actions abroad” and striving to maintain privilege, will probably be the last to do so.

When you explain patriotism in the discussion this week, it is explained how the amount of support citizens lead within their country can lead to barbaric policies. When I think of this, a childhood book comes to mind—The Lord of the Flies. The boys of the island had tremendous pride in their new home and island that the pride took over their actions. As patriotism can possible excel during time of war, the boys patriotism exceled on who side to take in the time of fighting each other. They spoke freely on being independent but when they started fighting, they took on barbaric roles. They were also ruled by the domination of two sides and did not create a true interdependence. A fact is quoted that probably is hard for most people to understand about elite power, “To achieve the latter (interdependence), people’s moral reason must be able to constrain the destructive capacity of elite power.” This stems deep into the world and how individuals are brought up. Most people do not constrain the destructive capacity of elite power because they are taught to believe that elites are role models, elites know what they are explaining and elites will govern everything correctly. Unfortunately, everyone needs to extend effort in providing his or her own individualistic thought so the world can be a well-balanced place.

“To question is your duty as a citizen.” I believe that was the reasoning behind our class this semester. If I had not taken international communication, I would be completely oblivious to what is occurring in the world and how we easily trust our country power, is really not trustworthy. Because it is our duty, in class we have questioned the American Government, our prestige American military, the Monatary Fund and etc. because IT IS OUR RIGHT to protect ourselves at citizens.

“Citizens of the Empire”, written by Robert Jenson, discusses the truth of being a citizen in the worlds most powerful nation. Society has led with patriotism through the years of worshipping our soldiers. But, is “Support the Troops” really necessary in today’s world or is it promoting a sense of false hope? Acts like 9/11 and the recent Boston bombing have unconsciously diminished our government trust and pride leaving Americans hopeless, hopefully we can move on as a generation and create a great nation. I do believe America is the greatest nation on earth, as Jensen calls it, but lost its humble ways that made it that way. With classes like international communication, Americans can realize what is occurring and not only better America, but better themselves.

Before I begin I just want to say that I really enjoyed this class. At the start of the yesterday when Janelle announced we would have to post 400 plus words twice a week I started looking for other classes to take. I’m really glad I didn’t drop it because instead of a being an annoyance I actually liked almost all the readings and voicing my opinions on this blog.

For our final reading we have Jensen’s “Citizens of the Empire.” I feel like the assumption that the United State’s is “The Greatest Country in the World” has come up a number of times throughout the semester. I always thought that phrase was overused and also didn’t really agree with it. Jensen brings up a really good point that there is no way to accurately assess who the best country in the world actually is, it’s all opinion and bias. Who is the greatest in the world? Furthermore, when I read the analogy with having a 10-year-old son who thinks he’s the best in the world for his age mad me laugh, but when relating it to the United State and how people throw that proclamation around it really hit me how silly it is to say.

Moving on the “Support The Troops” section was very intriguing as well. The campaign in general was, as the author points out, very rhetorical. How could you be against supporting the troops? That would make you seem un-American and really insensitive. Jensen tells a story about one of his students who was in the Army Reserve and how she was called for her duties. On one hand Jensen views were against the war and he opposed completely. Yet, this was his student that he had developed a relationship so of course he wanted to support her. It’s a very conniving why for people who oppose the war to support it by stating something that involves emotion and humanization. Jensen says, “In a democratic society, the question should not be whether one supports the troops. The relevant question is whether one supports the policy. The demand that war opponents must ‘support the troops’ is nothing more than a way of demanding that we drop our opposition to the policy.”

Overall I thought the article was very long but there was a lot of detailed content and in-depth analysis that made me think. You could tell right from the get go that Jensen was definitely against the government and biased on some subjects, but it was still a good read.

Wow, these 15 weeks have flown by. I can’t believe how fast this semester has gone and how much I’ve learned and grown in this class. It’s always interesting to read the articles assigned each week and then reading everyone’s opinions and views about them on our blog site.

This week we read Jensen’s “Citizens of the Empire,” which really focused on three different aspects. The first is titled, “The Greatest Nation on Earth.” Jensen warns us against using the phrase, “greatest nation on Earth.” I agree with him. We can’t become too arrogant as a country and as the citizens of the country that we are in over our heads and can’t take the heat and ridicule from other countries around the world. While many may call their own country “the greatest country on Earth,” they say that because they are citizens and it is a sign of their patriotism towards their country. I feel like us as Americans say that because we have some feel of nobility over other countries that makes us think we are better than them, making us believe we are the greatest nation. While I do think America is a great country, I wouldn’t say we are the greatest on earth. Many countries are passing us on economic, educational, and corporate levels.  I liked Jensen’s quote, ” Even societies that do great things can have serious problems.” While America does great things around the world, (or what we consider to be great and noble efforts), we have our own problems to deal with in our own country. I’m always a little confused/concerned when we feel it is more necessary to deal with other countries’ problems rather than attend to and fix the problems that are obviously affecting our country.

Jensen also brings up the issue of “supporting the troops.” One line I found to be pretty interesting was this: “Asking people who oppose a war to support the troops, is for all practical purposes, to support the war.” I’m somewhat conflicted by this. I have three friends currently serving in the military, and three cousins who have been in the military/ are still enlisted. While I support them, I’m on the fence about war. I understand why we initially went in to Afghanistan and Iraq, however am still a littler confused as to why we are still there. I feel like from what I’ve seen and heard, these countries are better off now than they were, and are able to take care of themselves for the most part. Like we discussed in class, many people who have friends/family in the military said they are told that they are not wanted in whatever country they are in, that the country is okay without them. I feel like America still has that imperialistic view, that we can just go in and help people, thinking they want us there. I’ll always support my friends and family who are in the military because I care for them. They are doing the job they signed up for and all I can do is show support.