This meme has been floating around just about everywhere for the better part of two weeks, and it’s past time we take a serious look at it.
The image flows in a comic-like fashion, showing a frustrated elderly woman asking a young child why she just can’t “be normal” — with the child screaming in response. The older woman has an image of the world map superimposed on her face, while the American flag is placed on the child’s face.
It’s not surprising this has become a hit with leftist Facebook and Reddit pages. America, as they see it, breaks the mold from the rest of the world with its capitalistic policies, and this is apparently a bad thing.
Behind this image is the idea that America should forgo its liberty-minded traditions, and accept the norms of the rest of the planet into its culture and politics.
Here’s the thing — America is the world’s only remaining superpower precisely because it doesn’t fit into this paradigm. In addition to having the world’s strongest military, the United States is also one of the most attractive places for businesses to come and create jobs. Combined with it’s classically liberal approach to freedom of expression, and you see why America is truly the envy of the world.
America doesn’t need to be like the rest of the world. The rest of the world needs to be more like America.
~ Facts Not Memes
