What is 'Americanism' exactly?

submitted by VarangianRasputin from self.debatealtright

I'm English, so I often speak from an English POV. A lot of Americans here and on the reddit sub say we need to promote 20's-50's Americanism for America, which sounds normal, but I have a question.

Educate this Englishman (and some other non-Americans here), what is this Americanism exactly? For you Americans it's obvious, but we're an ocean away. I'm interested to know what that is exactly. I see it a lot here and am unsure how to perceive it.

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[–]WaltzRoommate 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Basically, it's some word Trump said in a speech. He said, "Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo."

It wasn't really a thing people said before then.

The alt right uses it to refer to cringenat Tea Party optics of boomers with American flags.

https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/181fefd/2147483647/resize/1160x/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fs3-origin-images.politico.com%2Fnews%2F101013_teaparty_rally_ap_605.jpg

[–]weaselWhite Nationalist 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

“Americanism” when used here generally refers to liberalism, capitalism, democracy, etc. All of which the alt-right opposes. I suppose that when people talk about the Americanism of the 20’s-50’s they’re referring to the nuclear family, traditional values, and christianity.

[–]JuliusCaesar225Nationalist + Socialist 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A lot of Americans here and on the reddit sub say we need to promote 20's-50's Americanism for America

Only fools who have low standards and no concept of higher civilizations say that.

[–]send_nasty_stuffNational Socialist 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

In the Catholic church americanism meant a downplay of anti usury, and anti jew liturgies common in Europe. Americanism can also mean optimism, not being tied to the past, forgiveness, pragmatism, quickly forgetting news events, garage inventors, trend seeking, practical engineering, forgetting european ethnic/religious rivalries, materialism, etc. So there are good and bad traits associated with the word.

If you like reading there are many tracts related to this topic: Tocqueville, Emerson (American Scholar), Whitman, Albion's seed (great summary article written by Scott Alexander), Thoreau, Jack London, etc. Another book that I think does a good job of american spirit is the writing of Louie Lamore and Larry McMurty (give Lonesome Dove a read). The problem with americans/americanism is the constant forgetfulness; this almost guarantee a very different zeitgeist in every period. If you want to get into the spirit of the 20's read Only Yesterday by Frederick Louis Allen. A more recent book by Bill Bryson Called One Summer: American 1927.

[–]casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Americanism is a synonym for globalism