Or enduring the living nightmare?
The phrase ‘living the dream’ belongs to the United States – the land of opportunity and optimism. Philadelphia is where it all began: the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the first Congress, the birth of American democracy. Those who signed knew they might be signing their death warrant – after all, this was an act of treachery against King and country. Blood was shed, lives torn apart, families shredded by people taking different sides on the matters of the day – matters considered to be life and death issues.
It isn’t great being a Brit while listening to the story of American independence. But, it is a salutary reminder that a new country needs a single narrative to give it meaning and direction. Now I understand why American rhetoric is always full of repeated mantras of ‘freedom’, ‘liberty’, ‘justice’, ‘equality’, and so on. These were people who threw off the authority structures of monarchy and church, replacing them with representative democracy and a structural separation between church and state. You can see it in the architecture of Philadelphia: no dominant church spire or tower – City Hall is where all roads meet.
I think I knew this in my head – I have read alot about America and it’s cultures – but I hadn’t ‘felt’ it until coming here while England burns at a distance. This is a country that reads it’s own story alongside that of the exodus, the conquest of the Promised Land, the place of freedom won and self-made achievement lauded. (Of course, this leaves out the more uncomfortable prophetic injunctions of the Promised Land deal…)
I once did a lecture on ‘Space, place and pace’ (I know… tacky title) in which I explored how the three types of architecture in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, say something about that country’s search for identity, for a history that explains and legitimises who they now are, for a sense of place in a complex world in which Kazakhstan is a baby country. This search is integral to every person and every community: we can’t escape it. This week, however, it is the narrative of the USA that preoccupies my imagination.
If the Exodus and Conquest provide the ‘story’ (and evokes the ‘dream’) that shapes the self-understanding of the USA, what is the story that shapes England today (a ‘nightmare’?)?
There is something almost naive about the youthful enthusiasm of America when compared to the tired cynicism of England (and much of Europe). We have had too many wars, too many religious conflicts, too much pain and suffering, too much being let down by unfulfilled promises. It is surely not accidental that English humour is so self-deprecating, ironic, cynical. Or surprising that we love to be negative, ‘can’t do’, unadventurous, small-minded and unrealistic about our real place in the world? The Empire has long gone, but you wouldn’t believe it…
In his excellent book The English, Jeremy Paxman points out that to be Irish, Welsh or Scottish is also to be ‘Not English’… whereas it is meaningless for an Englishman to define himself as ‘not Scottish’. We don’t actually know who we are. My own family has Irish, Welsh, Manx, English… and probably French, German, Viking and (odds on) Genghis Khan.
This is what makes the English Defence league so ridiculous. What assumed ‘Englishness’ do they think they a defending? What is the story they think gives our history – and therefore our future – meaning?
The demise of Christendom in England has taken with it a shared narrative, reinforced in our language and symbols, our folk stories and sense of destiny. We now know what we were, but no longer know who are. Which means we cannot purposefully move into a shared understanding of our future. We have lost more than we ever thought mattered. And, like when the Soviet Empire collapsed, the framework disappeared and the was nothing to take it’s place; so corruption walked in and bought the place up. Didn’t Jesus once say something about clearing demons out and leaving a vacuum?
So, what are the narratives that people think will give us a future common ‘idea’? The churches have one – coloured by the freedom of service of a God who first served us. This narrative is rooted in the simple conviction that all human meaning and ethics begin with the nature of every person being in the ‘image of God’.
I am not hearing too many alternatives today. But I am reading Nigel Rooms’ new book, The Faith of the English (SPCK, 2011)…
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Philadelphia, USA
Nick Baines's Blog 
August 10, 2011 at 9:24 am
Maybe skyscrapers don’t represent the worship of mammon after all, but in their own way signify the determined nature of the human spirit’s reaching for freedom, the perfect freedom that is in the sky. We’ve heard it before, and maybe it’s true – God is in the sky! Ian M. Ellis
August 10, 2011 at 4:31 pm
having just come back from Philadelphia I get what you mean but left feeling that the american psyche is somewhat damaged after recent events 9/11 etc. and their own government is reinforcing it through fear that it might happen again any-day soon. this is further reinforced in the independence hall exhibits of “george washington – the man and the myth and spies, lies and espionage exhibits.
August 10, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Andrew, you are, of course, right. Nothing stands still and it is interesting to watch the Americans try to hold onto their founding myths in a changed world. I was trying to keep it simple and not get diverted onto other observations. (Like why the Independence story “challenges and inspires” the world – but is never thought to be questioned by many around the world.)
August 10, 2011 at 5:11 pm
thank you nick for your reply, hope you enjoy your trip. can i suggest a trip to redding market around 11th street the food is very good there.
August 10, 2011 at 7:51 pm
I sometimes tease American friends with the observation that the American Founding Fathers
are the only real example of a successful English Revolution.
I love the ” Can Do attitude” which you find in the US and admire the fact that their Declaration of Independence not only gives due recognition to God. When so many regard Christianity in negative terms it is interesting to point to the declaration that Christians chose to found a country dedicated to the pursuit of life, liberty and ( really interesting) ” the pursuit of happiness”.With such ideals in their founding texts who can blame those returning to them in times of trouble.
August 13, 2011 at 7:01 pm
I’m just catching up on several days of your blog–and it might seem perverse to be commenting on a ‘pre-riot’ post, but the reaction of the communities, I think, says something about the ‘identity narrative’ of people living in England. As an American I am acutely aware of how the American ‘founding story’ has seeped into our very being through the education system, etc. In Britain, my hunch has been that, for a certain generation the blitz and ‘how we pulled together in the war’ was the real identity narrative. That is , of course under threat as that generation dies and whole generations of people–new to this country and/or just born later–are no longer touched by it. But in the aftermath of the riots, the plain decency and willingness to pitch in and help others, to be proactive in trying to ‘right’ the terrible wrongness of the last few days is something to build on and to have hope in. It is not a big answer to a big question, but being a good neighbour in times of need seems to be very much part of the English psyche.