Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
Paying Attention to the Gray
RD: Contrast what it is like to be an American dedicated to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- as opposed to a Canadian who believes in good citizenship, good government, and always stopping at the red light.Jennings: Here's a story. My son and I saw the Blue Jays win the World Series in Toronto. The crowd consumed a lot of beer. We all poured out of the stadium. One cop put up his hand, and 50,000 people stopped. That's not American [laughing]. That reflects a sense of moderation that is not required here. Americans are encouraged to be themselves -- to accomplish whatever they can on their own. Canada is a place to go and fit in. In America, you can be who you want to be.
RD: You write about a Frito-Lay potato chip plant. What does the potato chip have to do with being American?
Jennings: America has always been a business civilization. And the uniquely American potato chip turns out to be an almost perfect vehicle to examine business today, free markets and globalization. Here is Frito-Lay of Plano, Texas, hiring a Pakistani American to lead its effort to win stomach share, as they call it, in the rest of the world. This is hugely serious business. I think the determination of the Frito-Lays and other American businesses to own world stomach share is a double-edged sword for us, the world's most powerful society.
RD: In what sense?
Jennings: I once told a government minister from Jordan that despite all my years reporting on the Middle East, I didn't fully understand the growth of fundamentalist Islam in his country, even taking into account the fear and resentment of Israel. He said, well, it really has more to do with you. It's protective coating for our society against Americanization. He actually said, "Disneyization." And the same could be said of food products, business products -- whatever we are sending to the rest of the world.
RD: What's your broader point?
Jennings: It behooves this country and business to understand that the world will not necessarily be safer if we try to make the rest of it be just like America. It's not easy to be No. 1 if you always insist on having things your own way. After 9/11, I asked a Frito-Lay executive if any of his overseas outlets had been trashed. He became very anxious about answering. This was at a time when Coke and McDonald's were getting rocked in various places. That made me aware, once again, that the consequences of being powerful aren't always ideal.
RD: Americans tend to see the world in black and white. Yet you pride yourself on delivering gray.
Jennings: After living in the Middle East, I have become convinced there is no one truth, nor two; there are often several truths. One reason we are struggling over what is fundamentalist Islam and what is Muslim, who is the enemy and who is not, is that the answers are not black and white. As a journalist and as a person, I want people to pay attention to the gray.
RD: Where do you draw the line between patriotism and nationalism?
Jennings: If you volunteer for your fellow man, as Americans do constantly, you know the difference. Patriotism is loving your family whether it is good or bad, while always striving to make it better. Nationalism simply insists "Hey, my family is the best." And make no mistake: Such an uncompromising attitude is dangerous for a family, and dangerous for a country.
RD: You have said that religion and spirituality intersect in this country and affect us deeply.
Jennings: When people first come here, they are often surprised by the intensity of religion in public life -- the high percentage who believe in God, the percentage who say they read the Bible literally. We write about Glenn Wilson, an engineer for the Savannah River project, who is campaigning to add the teaching of creation science to the existing evolution instruction in the public schools of Aiken, S.C. -- a city with more than a hundred churches. Someone told me churches spring up in Aiken when two people in one church have a disagreement, and each goes off and starts another one [laughing].
Anyone who thinks the debate over science and religion was resolved by the Scopes trial in the 1920s does not grasp this point: There is a large shadow nation in this country that feels alienated from what they perceive as the liberal Establishment, the major media companies and the elite universities.
RD: What does this religious intensity tell us about America?
Jennings: Two things: Deeply felt faith is part of our heritage -- and science is unsettling. When life moves too fast and unsettles people's beliefs, some of the people feel an urgency to fight back -- in this case to struggle to restore faith-based morality in society.
RD: A wise historian said that asking Americans about freedom was like asking fish about the water. They take it for granted.
Jennings: We saw a bit of that at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Northerners come for history, Southerners come for memory, and foreigners -- particularly from the former Soviet Union -- want to see where Lincoln delivered his address. The Russians especially feel that Gettysburg represents the struggle for nationhood that they are living through now.
RD: You also make the point that many Americans don't understand what that war was about.
Jennings: Before the Civil War and after it, the South used the guise of states' rights to justify the fighting. But the war was really about slavery.
RD: Who would you say is the quintessential American?
Jennings: Someone who comes here believing one's own enterprise will be rewarded with unique opportunity, who wants to make a contribution to society, who wants a comfortable relationship with government but not to rely on it for his or her wherewithal, who will -- despite some pressures -- say and do and believe what he or she chooses to believe.
RD: You could be describing Ana Castro, one of the memorable characters in your book. Tell us about her.
Jennings: After 9/11, there was a homeland security sweep for potential terrorists working at the Salt Lake City International Airport, and 69 people were arrested, including Ana. The authorities focused on immigrants with access to secure areas. In Ana's case, as supervisor of the airport Ben & Jerry's, she had to walk through a security area to replenish her supplies once a day. But soon a lot of people in Salt Lake, including the mayor and the U.S. Attorney, woke up and realized that the one thing Ana was not was a terrorist. In fact, many in Utah thought she, and others who were rounded up, represented the ideal of what an American should be. Ana worked hard, took care of her kids, paid her taxes. There was only one thing wrong. She had come from Mexico illegally 12 years ago and therefore was liable to be deported.
RD: What should happen to Ana?
Jennings: Illegal immigration is a dilemma. What do we do about people who come here illegally while others play by the rules and wait in line? What do we do after we practically advertise for them because we need their labor? Utah might not have been able to build the infrastructure for the Winter Olympics without undocumented Mexicans. So what do we do? It's a historic American argument. Who belongs here?
RD: Are you rooting for Ana to get to stay, or against her?
Jennings: I feel torn because Ana's story is so touching. But I also believe people should play by the rules.
RD: You are Canadian. You have not become an American citizen. But are you a good American nonetheless?
Jennings: I aspire to stand for the best of American values. That's not easy. Living in freedom is hard work. I know of no other people on earth who are more generous, who are more open, almost to the point of distraction. I know of no other people who act with better motives, though that doesn't mean we always do the best. So I aspire as a journalist and as a human being to be guided by the best of America, but also to recognize the bad. And I accept the responsibility to do what I can to keep government honest and to see that injustice doesn't go unnoticed. That's American to me.
Peter Jennings became a U.S. citizen in May 2003. He died August 7, 2005.
Advertisement 
feeds instead
