Definition of We

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall called the violence “horrific, and it is not who we are.”
‘Not who we are,’ says Mayor Mendenhall after shooting at SLC No Kings protest

It’s common for politicians to claim, after some or another act of violence that it’s “not who we are.” Given the number of shooting deaths that occur in the United States every year, one could be forgiven for disputing that claim.

But more importantly, maybe it is time for the United States to alter its view of itself so that these sorts of events are indicative of “who we are.” Because embracing that understanding would enable steps to understand why this is “who we are,” and from there, steps could be taken to change it.

The United States often comes across as having a remarkable aversion to self-reflection. The national self-image is determined by decree, and from there becomes a matter of faith, impervious to any evidence to the contrary. This has the effect of making the United States, and a good number of individual Americans, seem insecure. And as I see it, this is in large part due to the fact that the American self image is effectively impossible to live up to; it goes beyond exceptional in a quest for something that approaches perfection. Indeed, I have had conversations where the idea that Americans are simply people like everyone else was treated as something akin to blasphemy.

To be sure, there’s nothing wrong with striving for a standard, even one that comes across as completely unobtainable. But when the starting point is that the standard has already been reached, that leaves no room for self-improvement, because acknowledging the desirability of improvement then becomes a criticism.

Threats of violence, and actual violence, are commonplace enough in the United States that “it is not who we are,” often comes across as either insincere, or very naïve (willfully or otherwise). Because in many parts of the nation it is, to all appearances, exactly who we are. Being willing to accept that is necessary to changing it.