By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post Originally Published on Wednesday April 30, 2014 at 1:37 AM CT
There used to be a time, not too long ago, that if an American walks into a bar in a foreign country and introduces himself as such, that people naturally warm up to him. There existed a happy combination of feelings of awe and affection towards the person, not because of the person’s built, beauty, or flamboyancy, but simply because he represents America, a global force for good; America, the beacon of hope for the world; America, the publicly dismissed but privately acknowledged world police that guarantees global stability and protects the vulnerable. Imperfect and often accused of pursuing realist’s national interests anytime it stages humanitarian intervention in any foreign land, yet there existed no doubt in the mind of majority of the world’s population what America stands for because America projects, protects, and defend the Universal Human Rights.
In Nigeria of the 90s, at the peak of the human rights abuses and violence that plagued the country at the hands of the military junta, people, of which I was one, hopefully believed that America will intervene with its unrivalled military might, salvage the situation and steer the country on the right course. America didn’t intervene militarily in Nigeria. The deciders determined that apples served on a plate by Brazilian models would rid Nigeria of a dictator. But that hopeful believe in America as agent of democracy and in America’s compassion towards the oppressed was shared among citizens of most troubled spots worldwide.
But gone are the days. America now seem ordinary. And no longer exceptional. Gone are the days.
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