恐外症：解剖美国的不宽容
by ma liyuan
instructor: professor sun youzhong
abstract
key words: white supremacy, pure americanism, manichean vision
intolerance is part of human nature. like its power on an individual life, intolerance interweaves into the cultural fiber of every nation in view of the universal existence of stereotype, prejudice and bigotry bolstered by institutionalized intolerance and/or internalized intolerance. in this sense american intolerance is no different yet it still takes on its own features. it is marked by its persistence and represents an indiscriminate rejection of people and ideas alien to the white, protestant core.
the rejection of alien people is best seen in its loathing of racial groups. despite the multiracial reality since colonial days，the dominant whites, particularly the waspy core, have rigidly maintained white supremacy in the overt form of violence and institutionalization of racism as well as in the covert form of varied deliberate disinvestments in the closing of racial parity. although racial landscape has changed dramatically after the civil rights movement, the racist essentials persist. the longevity of the kukluxklan is a case in point.
the rejection of alien thinking is best viewed from the american obsession with anti-communism. regardless of the fringe social status and negligible impact of the communist party, the whole nation thrust it upon with mighty antipathy and disproportional crackdown. anti-communism existed long before the founding of the cp, gathered momentum from national identity crises and culminated in the two red scares in the late 1910s and the early 1950s. as a result, anti-communism has been grounded on the national identity as the invisible ideology and civic virtue after decades of saturating propaganda.
the cultural blinders at work are fear, self-righteousness and manichean vision. the fear of infiltration and contamination manifests itself in the whites’ strenuous effort to block racial mixing and to identify subversive conspiracies. the claim of white moral purity and exceptional cultural position contribute enormously to entrenched arrogance and the tendency to blame and scapegoat out-groups for social ills. the working mentality beneath fear and self-righteousness is a binary perception of reducing the complex, the ambiguous, and the diverse down to a simplistic, absolute format of right vs. wrong, us vs. them, black vs. white. fundamentally, the theme of american intolerance centers on the interpretation of americanism. the intolerant force preaches pure americanism characterized by the vision of a 100% white, protestant cultural identity, a diametrical refutation of the platonic ideals of equality and freedom that the nation highly honors.
恐外症：解剖美国的不宽容
作者：马丽媛
指导教师：孙有中
摘 要
关键词：美国的不宽容 美国主义 恐惧意识 白人优越感 二元思维 种族主义 恐红
本文所探讨的核心问题是美国文化中的不宽容现象及其文化根源。笔者运用案例分析和文本阐释的方法，通过对美国历史上的种族问题和意识形态两个层面的剖析，试图揭示潜伏于美国国民性特别是美国白人主流社会心理中的恐惧意识、白人优越感和二元思维特征。
美国的不宽容根深蒂固，首先表现为形形色色的种族主义。尽管美国早在殖民时期就是个多种族构成的社会，然而非白人种族无论在政治、经济还是在文化方面依然处于边缘地位。以新教徒为核心的白种人从建国至今始终通过公开的或隐蔽的方式推行白人至上的种族主义歧视。虽然黑人民权运动已大大改变了美国的民族关系，但种族歧视的根源并没有铲除。三k党经久不衰的存在就是有力的证明。
美国的不宽容其次表现为意识形态上的专横。不仅是白人，而且是整个美国社会都表现出对共产主义的极端的仇视。这种不宽容远远超出了对一个不同政治理念的排斥，而是对异已思想的粗暴否定。尽管共产党的规模与影响力在美国微不足道，但在美国人眼里，其存在本身就是一种威胁。对“赤色分子”的恐惧存在于美国社会的多个历史阶段，在二十世纪早期和中期演化为两次极端的“恐红”浪潮。事实上，多年的反共宣传已使反共产主义等同于美国主义，成为美国“无形的意识形态”和公民美德。
美国文化中的不宽容现象与美国人的“美国主义”观有着密切联系。以三k党为代表的不宽容势力大肆宣扬“纯粹的美国主义”，旨在维护“百分之百的新教白人”的统治地位。其文化与心理根源有三：其一是恐惧异己文化对“纯粹”美国白人文化的渗透与颠覆；其二是道德上的白人优越感；其三是二元论的思维定势。恐惧心理使白人千方百计阻止种族融合，并视异类组织为阴谋集团；白人优越感常常使少数民族成为社会弊端的替罪羊；而二元论的思维定势则把善与恶、我们与他们截然对立起来。
我们没有必要全盘否定美国文化，但我们应该正视美国文化的弊端。
注：本文原稿为英文。
