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….and then try to recreate liberal, bankrupt. nanny states….
“Woo hoo! Something else that’s the liberals’ fault!“
Mike
That’s right, PD. Unfortunately, since the title was ironic this kind of misunderstanding was bound to happen. (Americans have always had a hard time with the concept of irony.)
In the book, the hero is physically ugly but spiritually beautiful. His beauty consists in the nobility of his struggle to help the people of a developing country (read: Vietnam) feed themselves. As Mr. Oogly sees it, if the Vietnamese people can feed themselves, they’ll be better able to fend off communism on their own and won’t need to fall back on the US military to “rescue” them.
In the book, as in Real Life, the American government ultimately decides to foresake the development strategy and go for a military solution instead, with predictable results.
Contrast the Ugly American to Graham Greene’s Quiet American, who was physically beautiful, but spiritually ugly.
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When I was in ‘Nam, I didn’t see many Americans, ugly or otherwise. I did, however, see lots of Ugly Germans, Ugly Australians, and yes, even Ugly Scandinavians.
To me, it’s reassuring to know that God spreads the ugliness around in the same measure as the beauty.
Anybody recognize this ugly gal?
(No cheating, please.)
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