“Americans worship technology. It's an inherent trait in the national zeitgeist.”

— Max Brooks , book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Max Brooks 41

American author 1972

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“…the American people seemed to have no clearer idea than they. Indeed, the American people had no idea at all; they were wandering in a wilderness much more sandy than the Hebrews had ever trodden about Sinai; they had neither serpents nor golden calves to worship. They had lost the sense of worship; for the idea that they worshipped money seemed a delusion. Worship of money was an old-world trait; a healthy appetite akin to worship of the Gods, or to worship of power in any concrete shape; but the American wasted money more recklessly than any one ever did before; he spent more to less purpose than any extravagant court aristocracy; he had no sense of relative values, and knew not what to do with his money when he got it”

Henry Adams (1838–1918) journalist, historian, academic, novelist

The Education of Henry Adams (1907)

“It is the one uniform trait shown by every* vicious, obstinate and troglodytic enemy of the American Experiment.”

David Brin (1950) novelist, short story writer

A rant about stupidity... and the coming civil war... (2009)
Context: Step back for a minute and note an important piece of psychohistory — that every generation of Americans faced adversaries who called us "decadent cowards and pleasure-seeking sybarites (wimps), devoid of any of the virtues of manhood."
Elsewhere, I mark out this pattern, showing how every hostile nation, leader or meme had to invest in this story, for a simple reason. Because Americans were clearly happier, richer, smarter, more successful and far more free than anyone else. Hence, either those darned Yanks must know a better way of living (unthinkable!)... or else they must have traded something for all those surface satisfactions.
Something precious. Like their cojones. Or their souls. A devil's bargain. And hence — (our adversaries told themselves) — those pathetic American will fold up, like pansies, as soon as you give them a good push.
It is the one uniform trait shown by every* vicious, obstinate and troglodytic enemy of the American Experiment. A wish fantasy that convinced Hitler and Stalin and the others that urbanized, comfortable New Yorkers and Californians and all the rest cannot possibly have any guts, not like real men. A delusion shared by the King George, the plantation-owners, the Nazis, Soviets and so on, down to Saddam and Osama bin Laden. A delusion that our ancestors disproved time and again, decisively — though not without a lot of pain.

“That peculiarly American religion, President-worship.”

Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer

"President and Mrs. U.S. Grant" (1975)
1970s, Homage to Daniel Shays : Collected Essays (1972), Matters of Fact and Fiction : Essays 1973 - 1976 (1978)

“Shyness is the fear of negative judgment, while introversion is simply the preference for less stimulation. Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree.”

Susan Cain (1968) self-help writer

Cook, Gareth (interviewer), "The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance," Scientific American, January 24, 2012.

“Reverence is the highest quality of man’s nature; and that individual, or nation, which has it slightly developed, is so far unfortunate. It is a strong spiritual instinct, and seeks to form channels for itself where none exists; thus Americans, in the dearth of other objects to worship, fall to worshipping themselves.”

Lydia Maria Child (1802–1880) American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist

1840s, Letters from New York (1843)
Source: Letters from New York http://www.bartleby.com/66/63/12263.html, vol. 1, letter 18

“People should be judged on the basis of their performance, not nationality, personality, education, or personal traits and skills.”

Marvin Bower (1903–2003) American business theorist

Source: The Will to Manage (1966), p. 24 cited in: Rodney B. Plimpton (1976) Top management leadership and organizational performance. p. 52

“Robbing bystanders and living parasitically on tax money is a national, perhaps even genetical special trait of the Somalis.”

Jussi Halla-aho (1971) Finnish Slavic linguist, blogger and a politician

Jussi Halla-aho (2008), published in the blog Scripta Muutama täky Illmanin Mikalle http://www.halla-aho.com/scripta/muutama_taky_illmanin_mikalle.html, June 6, 2008
Halla-aho was condemned for hate speech by Finland’s Supreme Court in June 2012 http://yle.fi/uutiset/supreme_court_orders_halla-aho_to_pay_for_hate_speech/6171739 due to the above two quotes.
2005-09

“A thousand touching traits testify to the sacred power of the love which a righteous war awakes in noble nations.”

Heinrich von Treitschke (1834–1896) Historian, political writer

German History, Volume I, p. 482.

“In the course of the article I described the 'god' worshiped by terrorists as 'a monkey god.' I was wrong and that was offensive. I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God… Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength and devotion. He is known as a destroyer of evil and to inspire and liberate. Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship and worthy of my respect and admiration not ridicule.”

Mark Williams American conservative activist, radio talk show host and author

Williams's "correction" to the previous statement.

“Creating a system to protect industrial and intellectual property is a prerequisite for the transfer of technology and consequently the resurgence of national technologies.”

Talal Abu-Ghazaleh (1938) Jordanian businesspeople

June 18, 2007, National Seminar on Industrial Property and Technology Transfer in Arab States, Amman, Jordan.

“Americans worship technology. It's an inherent trait in the national zeitgeist.”

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Max Brooks 41

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