Covering the Distance

You can understand a lot about US by taking her size into account. Especially after the Lousiana purchase during the Jefferson presidency which doubled the size of the country – you have a few million people that are populating a vast landscape. Pay attention to American movies where people “throw” things to eachother, or cowboys “shooting” eachother with a empty, barren backdrop.. Bullet is a way of relating over a huge distance, fast.

The muscular tone adapted by US politicians starting with Lincoln can also be attributed to his countries’ size. American leaders need to transmit ideas over a vast landscape to people with different backgrounds, different ethnicities. A muscular tone is a way to do this. The fact that this style starts with Lincoln who had to “unite” a country during a civil war is interesting to say the least.

Whether such a style is appropiate for a 21. century world remains to be seen.