Not Looking in the Mirror

from Consortium News:




Not Looking in the Mirror

Americans generally see their country as a great moral force in the world and thus reject evidence of U.S. crimes, even when they’re obvious, like George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion or his use of torture. This delusional self-righteousness often leaves the United States at odds with how the rest of the world sees things, Lawrence Davidson writes.

By Lawrence Davidson
July 17, 2011


It was the Scottish poet Robert Burns who, in a 1786 poem, wrote “O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us, it would from many a blunder free us.”

That gift is now ours in the form of modern polling technology but, alas, Burns underestimated our abilities to turn a blind eye to its revelations and continue our blundering ways. Here is a recent example:

The respected polling company Zogby International recently conducted one of its periodic “Arab Attitudes” polls measuring, among other things, the popularity of the United States in the Arab Middle East. This one was conducted between the middle of May and the middle of June 2011 and involved 4,000 face-to-face interviews in six countries: Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The results are not pretty. As reported by Al Jazeera, “The United States’ popularity in the Arab world has plummeted to levels lower than the last year of the George W. Bush administration.” ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://consortiumnews.com/2011/07/17/not-looking-in-the-mirror/

He didn't write his poems in standard English, let alone modern English. He wrote:

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us
It wad frae monie a blunder free us

Davidson is paraphrasing, not quoting.