American exceptionalizm?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/22/2012 01:16 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Note that "manifest destiny" simply means "obvious destiny."
>
>The phrase itself doesn't give particulars.

Perhaps if I read Turner's book I would think I knew what he thought
that phrase meant.

Joel


>JL
>
>On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 12:41 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: American exceptionalizm?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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
> >
> > At 2/22/2012 12:02 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> > >Doesn't the phrase go back to Frederick Turner? GB only gives an unclear
> > >snippet, but I vaguely recall it.
> > >DanG
> > >
> > >
> > >On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > ><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      Re: American exceptionalizm?
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > If Commies feared it, it must be good, Also, since they were
> > materialists,
> > > > it must be real.
> > > >
> > > > QED.
> > > >
> > > > Nuances ad lib.
> > > >
> > > > I can recall grad-student lefties of the '80s denouncing the "myth of
> > > > American exceptionalism" in the current sense of "American moral,
> > > > intellectual, ideological, theological, cultural, and political
> > superiority
> > > > to all." (I think that's when it became popular - "Shining City on the
> > > > Hill," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....)
> > > >
> > > > Historians, as I understand it, use the phrase to encapsulate the idea
> > that
> > > > U.S. history (successful, long-shot revolution against the top world
> > power,
> > > > democratic constitution framed by political philosophers, big
> > > > contradiction/hypocrisy/sin of chattel slavery, westward push, Civil
> > War,
> > > > robber barons, business growth, world wars and superpower prominence)
> > > > really does make the U.S. different from, say, tiny Albania.
> > > >
> > > > However, the historians' concept often subsumes the public faith in the
> > > > excellences listed above.
> > > >
> > > > JL
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 11:13 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
> > > > wrote=
> > > > :
> > > >
> > > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > > -----------------------
> > > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > > Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > > > > Subject:      Re: American exceptionalizm?
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > > > ------
> > > > >
> > > > > On Feb 22, 2012, at 7:20 AM, Jon Lighter wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Essentially the phrase simply means "the uniqueness of America."
> > > > >
> > > > > well, yes, but ...
> > > > >
> > > > > some good discussion in the latest issue of Daedalus, "On the
> > American
> > > > > Narrative", especially:
> > > > >
> > > > > New York University history Professor David Levering Lewis, in
> > > > > =93Exceptionalism=92s Exceptions: The Changing American Narrative,=94
> > > > tra=
> > > > ces the
> > > > > history of American exceptionalism =93from high-flown political
> > science
> > > > > theory=85to ideological boilerplate=94
> > > > >
> > > > > and in =93The American Mythos,=94 by Jay Parini, Middlebury College
> > > > >
> > > > > arnold
> > > > >
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