America Has a "Planet of Hats" Mentality When It Comes to Other Nations

 America is a country that, politically-speaking, has conservatives, liberals, libertarians, socialists, communists, anarchists, fascists, and many other ideologies. Some people even have elements of more than one.

But when it comes to how America views the world, it's like the trope "Planet of Hats." In (American) science-fiction, other worlds tend to be completely unified under one trait, philosophy, belief system and/or style of government. Everyone is obese, or share the same religion or are authoritarian. 

I suppose we could call this a "Nation of Hats" for practical purposes.

The idea that another country could be filled with variations, differences or extremes is almost foreign to most Americans; in truth it's not entirely their fault, they're just listening to what the American media is telling them. 

Take this AP story about the Taliban in Afghanistan, for example:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Friction between pragmatists and ideologues in the Taliban leadership has intensified since the group formed a hard-line Cabinet last week that is more in line with their harsh rule in the 1990s than their recent promises of inclusiveness, said two Afghans familiar with the power struggle.

The wrangling has taken place behind the scenes, but rumors quickly began circulating about a recent violent confrontation between the two camps at the presidential palace, including claims that the leader of the pragmatic faction, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was killed.

The rumors reached such intensity that an audio recording and handwritten statement, both purportedly by Baradar himself, denied that he had been killed. Then on Wednesday, Baradar appeared in an interview with the country’s national TV.

“I was traveling from Kabul so had no access to media in order to reject this news” Baradar said of the rumor.

Baradar served as the chief negotiator during talks between the Taliban and the United States that paved the way for the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was completed in late August, two weeks after the Taliban overran the capital of Kabul.

Shortly after the Kabul takeover, Baradar had been the first senior Taliban official to hold out the possibility of an inclusive government, but such hopes were disappointed with the formation of an all-male, all-Taliban lineup last week.

In a further sign that the hard-liners had prevailed, the white Taliban flag was raised over the presidential palace, replacing the Afghan national flag.

A Taliban official said the leadership still hasn’t made a final decision on the flag, with many leaning toward eventually flying both banners side by side. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss internal deliberations with the media.

At first read, all of that sounds ominous: "The gun-happy fundamentalists are fractured!" But if you were to replace the "Rumors of Pragmatic Taliban Leader's Death" anecdote with a, "Candidate Has Low Poll Numbers" storyline, and "All-Male, All-Taliban Government" mention with, "The majority of US Congress were in Law, Business, Education or a Career Politician," you would have your typical day in American politics. As for the media: the times an American politician has declined to talk to the press because of "national security," "classified information, or the infamous "personal matter" are countless. Even the closing line in the story about the Taliban founder's Mullah Omar demand for "unquestioned loyalty" sounds like either the average Trump supporter or "Any Blue Will Do" advocate for the Democratic Party. 

Don't let the garbs and guns fool you: Americans have more in common with other countries than we'd like to admit.