That is rather why I make a point of repeating similar comments every time this comes up. There’s a mental list of US-exceptionalism hot buttons:
- “America won WW1 and WW2”
- “America is the only ethnically diverse immigrant nation”
- “Any deviation from American legal/cultural norms equals tyranny”
- “America’s constant use of military force is an act of altruism”
Back when I was a grad student, so had a tiny amount of money to spare, I used to regularly spend it on buying textbooks and science equipment for impoverished USAdian schools.
I might’ve done more direct good by directing that cash towards vaccines in Africa or somesuch. But I decided that, in the long term, American ignorance does much greater harm, and is therefore a higher priority target.
