Paul Poast Profile picture
Feb 13 22 tweets 9 min read
Violent. Insular. Derivative of the British.

Of course, I'm talking about "American Football", the sport that truly captures "American Exceptionalism".

[A #SuperBowlLVI THREAD]
American Football is violent.

That is key to the game. As longtime @steelers headcoach @CoachTomlin once said before a game in 2009,

"It's a violent game and the most violent team will win"
After all, the basics of the game are blocking and tackling.
The long term damage due to such violence is now well documented.
vox.com/science-and-he…
What does it say about 🇺🇸 that it's most popular sport (more on that below) is so violent?
amazon.com/New-American-M…
American Football is insular.

Football is by far the most popular sport in the United States. This can be gauged by...
...TV viewership (this is a @StatistaCharts of the most watched US sporting events in 2020. Notice anything other than football?)...
...franchise values (on Forbes 2021 list, 8 American Football Teams are in the top 20, including @dallascowboys at #1)...
...and even related video game sales (this @StatistaCharts shows the top 20 titles from 2021).
Do you know where else American football is so popular?

Canada? Nope! They have their own brand (and much older professional league)
Yep, American Football is pretty much popular in just the United States.

Sure, the Super Bowl is televised globally, but that's mostly for the benefit of Americans living abroad.
foreignpolicy.com/2013/02/01/ame…
The 🇺🇸 sport that is popular globally is the @NBA. Players like @KingJames, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant can truly be considered GLOBAL figures.
Indeed, as the finale of the @espn "The Last Dance" documentary points out, the @chicagobulls were globally popular precisely because their championship run corresponded with the onset of the end of the Cold War (rise of the "unipolar moment").
Globally, the most popular sport is football, just not of the American variety.
What does it say about 🇺🇸 that it's most popular sport (more on that below) is just not that popular elsewhere?
foreignaffairs.com/articles/2004-…
American football is derivative of something British.

In this case, rugby.
This terrific @GlobalHistJnl article contextualizes the not-so-uniquely-American origins of American football.

cambridge.org/core/journals/…
So American Football, like perhaps American Hegemony itself, is very British in its foundations.
amazon.com/dp/B0753SH9Z3/…
Obviously, the US is actually not that exceptional in having features -- cultural and political -- that are derivative of the British.
Besides violent, insular, & derivative, I could also add "hubristic".

Why else would 🇺🇸 refer to the winner of the Super Bowl as "World Champions" (which, given the limited extent that the sport is played abroad, I suppose is technically correct)
In sum, I don't think "American Exceptionalism" is a myth per-se (though certain aspects are surely mythical)...

foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/the…
Instead, "American Football" captures well how the US is indeed "the exception" at times, even if those exceptions are not necessarily "exceptional".

[END]

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More from @ProfPaulPoast

Feb 11
Given the growing risk of Russia invading Ukraine, here is a 🧵of THREADS that provide context from an international relations perspective.

[THREAD]
Key to this whole crisis is to recognize that it was long in the making. If major war does break out, it would not shock many long time observers of the region
A key claim leveled by 🇷🇺 is that it has to take a strong stand now because 🇺🇸 went back on a pledge from the 1990s to NOT expand @NATO. Did 🇺🇸 actually make such a pledge?

Read 5 tweets
Jan 30
Did the USA promise Russia that it would not expand NATO?

Yes, but.

[THREAD]
To be clear, A crisis between Ukraine and Russia was likely with or without the prospect of NATO expansion.

As I detailed in 👇🧵, scholars long saw Ukraine as THE potential post-Cold War flashpoint

But the issue of NATO expansion, specifically whether the USA promised Russia that it would never happen, IS part of the current crisis.

npr.org/2022/01/29/107…
Read 32 tweets
Jan 22
The Ukraine crisis has folks questioning @NATO's post-Cold War expansion into Eastern Europe, especially former Soviet Republics (namely the Baltic states of 🇪🇪🇱🇹🇱🇻).

So how exactly did the Baltics get into NATO?

[THREAD]
Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia are currently the only former Soviet Republics in @NATO. They became members in 2004, along with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Regardless of whether there was a promise to never move NATO "one inch" eastward after the Cold War, neither the Soviets or the Americans, in 1990, likely envisioned NATO expanding into former Soviet Republics.
amazon.com/Not-One-Inch-P…
Read 28 tweets
Jan 16
We're close to witnessing a major war over Ukraine. Why? Turns out, it's been long predicted by international relations scholars.

[THREAD]
To be clear, there is ONGOING fighting in Ukraine.

cfr.org/global-conflic…
Indeed, this ongoing conflict is why Russia was kicked out of the G-8 (following its annexation of Crimea in 2014)...

cnn.com/2014/03/24/pol…
Read 27 tweets
Jan 8
Why did 🇺🇸 have a civil war?

And why is one unlikely today?

[THREAD]
This 🧵is motivated by the #January6thAnniversary-inspired takes on whether the US is on the verge of ANOTHER civil war.
The short answer is "NO".

The longer answer is "No, but the potential for lower-level political violence is real."
Read 22 tweets
Jan 2
Is 🇺🇸 still seen as the "indispensable nation"?

Sort of. To see why, let's compare the movies "Armageddon" (from 1998) and "Don't Look Up" (from 2021)

[THREAD]
Before reading the rest of the thread, I'm should note that this thread contains SPOILERS!!
Both movies are about 🌏 being imminently threatened by a asteroid (Armageddon)/comet (Don't Look UP).

That's NOT an implausible scenario.

cnn.com/2020/03/03/wor…
Read 25 tweets

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