American exceptionalizm?

[Victor Steinbok]

I was thinking "manifest destiny" as well and the connection to Turner
doesn't quite sit well with me. In conservative circles, it is simply
assumed that the phrase "American exceptionalism" arises from
Tocqueville and it all floats downstream from there. Historical
accuracy, as we well know, is unimportant.

This doesn't really tell you much, but it establishes the connection:
http://goo.gl/vuEA3

"Israel exceptionalism" [sic] is also used (or "Israel's"; as is
"Israeli exceptionalism", but there can be subtle differences), but
means something entirely different. Whereas American exceptionalism
means that US is exceptional, Israel exceptionalism means that Israel is
excepted from certain standards due to the uniqueness of its founding.

Remember what I said about subtle differences just a few seconds ago?
Israeli exceptionalism is used by Israeli critics:

http://goo.gl/K3zlM    One review here (many more from other
anti-Israel, antisemitic and pro-Palestinian sites): http://goo.gl/yo50l

Israel's exceptionlism here:

http://goo.gl/svQJq
http://goo.gl/h3BEP
http://goo.gl/RoNv0

"Israel exceptionalism" (and some "Israel's exceptionalism", but not
"Israeli exceptionalism") is used by American self-proclaimed Zionists
who believe Israel has a special place in history because of the timing
and connection with the Holocaust. If you read the Forward, you will
find many comments that criticize this position as being essentially
equivalent to "just because".

There have also been some recent publications criticizing both American
and states' "educational exceptionalism, which is defined either as an
opposition to "rigorous" (in the eye of the beholder) standards, or
simply the common belief "We're #1!". Interestingly, this is directly
juxtaposed American exceptionalism in conservative publications (that
is, we should have more of one and not the other).

     VS-)



On 2/22/2012 12:41 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> I think it's writers about Turner who use this phrase.  I don't
> believe he used "American exceptionalizm" (certainly not with the Z
> of Tom's Subject line), although he did use the adjective
> "exceptional". The phrase I associate with him is "manifest destiny",
> which does appear in his "The Frontier in American History", in a
> nice pithy form:  "The Western man believed in the manifest destiny
> of his country."
>
> Joel

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