Cultural Casebook: The Myth of American Innocence

Barry Spector's new book, Madness at the Gates of the City: The Myth of American Innocence, has been ten years in the making. It's a wide-sweeping, provocative look at on American culture, from mythical, psychological and political perspectives, incorporating wisdom from ancient Greek traditions as well as from indigenous cultures in African and Central America.

Using the central image of the Ancient Greece god Dionysus, Barry looks at the archetype of the Other. According to Jungian psychology, the Other allows us to define ourselves by what we are not--defining Self by contrast with Other. Here in America, the ruling white (male) culture has historically defined itself by that which it is not--creating Others out of Native Americans, Black Americans, women, and most recently the Islamic world.

Barry adds an interesting extra layer of his own, defining the Inner Other and the Outer Other--others within the culture, and others without, and says this way of seeing ourselves and those around us grew from the very roots of the development of America, which combined a predatory world view, with a paranoid world view. His examination of American history and current foreign policy in light of all this is fascinating, and thought-provoking.

Refering to Ancient Greece, which venerated Apollo--god of reason, rationality, masculinity--Barry says the god Dionysus represented the Other, and held the shadow of the culture. But the Greeks gave room to Dionysus, in rites that celebrated sexuality, wildness--and grief. We in America, however, do not acknowledge our shadow, or allow the Other any humanity. Barry Spector's thesis is that this is because if we did, we would be pole-axed by grief at the reality of our 400 year history of oppression at home and abroad.

Instead, America lives by an unexamined myth of innocence. Our central myth has been created through 400 years of narratives about our need to defend ourselves against the dangerous Other. So without thinking about it, we believe we have a destiny of violent clashes with an evil enemy, in service of good and innocence. It's a myth of violent redemption, in which we play the role of savior. This myth hides the reality of American disenfranchisement, injustice, colonialism, and empire.

This short review doesn't come close to doing justice to the book. I urge you to read it. It's important, it's wise, and it makes you wonder about the unexamined stories you yourself live by, projecting them onto the world about you.