The American Psyche

I watched the first part of Stephen Fry’s documentary on America, on which I reserve judgment. The most interesting part was when he talked with a professor at Harvard University, who despite being a Republican (hiss) made a very good observation about the American psyche. He said that ‘[Americans] dislike complexity, so we will make simple solutions to everything, even when the complex answer is obviously the correct answer. We want a simple yes or no, or a flat out this or an absolutely certain that, and the notion that God can have two thoughts simultaneously, and people adhere to him who don’t look or talk like us is just hard for many Americans to believe’. As America is a land of contradictions, this would explain why the population is so utterly bonkers. In America, to be able to attach to some form of concrete fact, some sort of truth and knowledge about the place and ethos where they find themselves (a need we all feel) it is necessary for them to block out one half of what they see, which naturally makes them very unbalanced and hostile to all who choose the other side of the coin.