Being American: My take

[Aepsilons]

I wrote this a number of years (at least 10 years, since I was still in high school at the time) ago for a sociology course I was taking… thought I’d share it and get other people’s opinions, views and experiences


SvenSvensonov: Being American – a short look at what I think being American means


I am an American… let me tell you what that means to me. I am an American, yet was born overseas. I am a socialist, yet supporter of the free-market. I am rich, and yet poor. I am a racist and multi-cultural. I am fat, but eat right and exercise. I am educated and yet stupid. I follow “Western Media”, but maintain an open mind. I own guns, and yet don’t. I support my nation’s government, though I curse it too. I demand a reduction in my nation’s military, while cheering its use. I love electronics, and a good book. I pollute the world; I clean it too. I am an American… I am a contradiction. I am a hypocrite. I don’t care.

This is America, there is no America. Beyond its name, America is too diverse to pinpoint a unique identity and classify it as American. Sure we have some common links, or at least a few held by a lot of people, but we differ more then we agree. We are multicultural, people from all nations flock to our lands looking for safety, stability, warmth and friendship, prosperity or fun… and yet we are racist too. To deny this would be a great travesty. It’s human nature to resist assimilating those with whom you do not connect to. From our penchant for looking at Latin American as “illegals” to our thinking of blacks as “thugs” to stereotyping the Chinese as the owners of the US, we have our issues with racism.

We Americans are as diverse in our ethnicity as we are in our political and economic views. Some support one side, other support the other, and many still the third or fourth option. You find plenty of people who simply don’t care as well. There are those that desire an even more free market, there are those that want the US closed off from the outside world. It’s complicated, it’s convoluted, and it’s as American as blaming the president for high oil prices… it’s a problem. We in the US have no direction and it shows in our political and economic policy differences, but this also makes us special. A lack of central direction allows each person to pursue their own course, barring legal restrictions, and forge their own path. This has bred the great innovative mindset that has allowed the US to become the world’s leading nation… it is also a poison. One only has to look at our political situation to see this. We can barely agree in where to eat for lunch, forget moving forwards on issues such as immigration or climate change!

We Americans are as nationalistic as they come, though we prefer the term “patriotic”. This is good, bad and ugly. Good because when we need to we can rally ourselves around “being American”… just look at the 9/11 incident and the almost zealous patriotism that demanded a response… even going so far to declare, “we’ll put a boot up your a**, it’s the American way”. And yet this zealotry is bad as well. For our short sided demands for “justice” or revenge or whatever we call it earned our nation a foul reputation, global instability, and economic and political disadvantaged that we are still struggling to overcome. We Americans love our nation if only because we are not you.

Perhaps they know better, just making a joke, but Americans have a reputation, a stereotype, that has been hard to shake out for the mindset of our overseas brothers and sisters. We’re fat, lazy, love greasy foods and camping out in front of a TV for hours on end. And yet our nation is industrious, energetic, intellectual and constantly moving forwards… both in its literal and figurative manners. We move, literally, but our nation’s movement in its figurative manner is the most important. We don’t remain stagnant. Others have risen, only to fall, while others are rising, but we Americans never stop moving. Our nation has grown bloated with inefficiency, and yet we are still able to maintain our position.

Our nation has no unique identity. For every one person that serves in the military there is another who condemns them for it. For every one person that wants a reduction in social spending there is another who would like to see more. For every one person that desired the US to close its borders and withdraw into itself there is another who would like to see more globalization. There is no America!!! America is a name only, but a name that represents everything that could possibly be represented. From racism to multiculturalism, from violence to peace, from obesity to anorexia, we are simply too diverse to be American in anything other than name… and that’s the way we like it.

* It's not the most in-depth analysis, I'm sorry for that, but I would like the views, opinions and thoughts of others.
@LeveragedBuyout @Peter C @AMDR @Nihonjin1051

you guys are Americans (or at least living here), tell me what your views, thoughts and opinions are. Also I'm extending an invitation to the following users to provide a counter-viewpoint

@senheiser @Galad

My contribution to your personal piece is this song:

I'm not even American yet when I listen to this song, I feel that I am proud to be 'American' he he he !

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

 

[XenoEnsi-14]

Overall i consider the US to be contemporary equal of the Ottoman Caliphate (minus its last 100 years) , in terms of its diversity and inclusiveness.

And once I get in charge it will be a full blown Republic Empire.

 

[Aepsilons]

This is what touches the very core of my heart, whenever i read anything relating to the Glorious struggles of American Nisei. Theirs is a shared experience of the American Dream and the Japanese Will to succeed.

Their experience, to me, illustrates the 'American Exceptionalism'.

 

[Northern lights]

@Nihonjin1051
@SvenSvensonov

Any thoughts?

 

[SipahSalar]

Their experience, to me, illustrates the 'American Exceptionalism'.

While on the topic...what do you think of japanese internment camps in USA during WW2? Or the use of nuclear weapons against Japanese civilian population?

 

[Gufi]

wow a very strongly written piece. What America lacks right now is someone to stand up for the common man. The way the senate and congress is playing around with issues for the sake of votes is sad. The liberties lost in the last decade are sad. The dependency on media and lack of knowledge of the world is sad. I do not mean to be insulting but these are real issues that are not talked about. There are issues where the world stands on one side and America on the other. There are divides in the American culture which is taken advantage of and the real debates are never had there. The day the world is at peace the topics of racism and inequality in pay etc will have to be addressed and that test is one which will define America for the next few decades.
@SvenSvensonov

 

[MastanKhan]

I'm still in high school so I can't really say anything since I haven't really experienced what America is all about. But to me being an American is about living in harmony with other people of different races to build a great country. Knowing the history of racial relations in this country I find it amazing that we have overcome that to build a economic, cultural, and military superpower. Everyday I go to school with people of different nationalities and races, and many of them are good friends of mine. Never in recorded history has the integration of nationalities and races worked out with such little damage done to the society and nation itself.

In the world I am only once race, but in America, I am them all.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum---. For a high school kid----how did you get to this forum and what made you join this forum?

Sven,

Thank you very much for a wonderful post. The U S of A---the most fascinating place on the face of the earth---a place like no other.

I came to the U S in the early 80's and unlike most Pakistanis who went to new York---I went to mid west---a small town Midwest college. What a fascinating place that was---how innocent the people were and truly found out first hand what 'America the wonderful ' meant.

It took me a long time to learn---that if you make them like you---they will believe in you---they will trust you and you could be an American like any other American.

 

[AMDR]

Welcome to the forum---. For a high school kid----how did you get to this forum and what made you join this forum?

I joined this forum partly because of my interest in geopolitics, but more so for talking to people about military stuff.

 

[Aepsilons]

While on the topic...what do you think of japanese internment camps in USA during WW2? Or the use of nuclear weapons against Japanese civilian population?

1. Internment of American-Japanese was a violation of their constitutional rights, but the reaction of American-Japanese is even more gallant. Instead of being bitter, young men enlisted en masse to join the American cause -- fighting the Germans and Italians in Europe or serving and fighting in the Pacific against the Japanese Empire.Instead of rioting , they wanted to show to their community and the larger American public that they were as the average Joe. And they were vindicated later on. And the US can learn from past failed policies in dealing with an ethnic population.

2. As for the use of nuclear weapons to end the war --- it was an end to the war. Had the Imperial Government acquiesced to the terms of surrender, those 2 bombs would never have been dropped. The Imperial Military Government would have preferred that the Americans invaded the home islands --- meaning the decimation of the Japanese Nation and Population. All 80 million. No, the war had to end.

If Japanese Empire did not surrender, i can guarantee to you that i would not be alive today 'chatting' with you. lol.

 

[Kaniska]

The best thing i love about America is that it is the only country in the world where you can carry your native nationalism and still then you can be American...And with this kind of acceptance, slowly, every one will integrate and lose their native natioalism and being more American...I have never seen an example of such a lovely and nice acceptance to the people of other culture, world and nation to its own fold by any other nation...This is why the world and its people needs America to become strong,stable and prosper!!!

 

[Aepsilons]

The best thing i love about America is that it is the only country in the world where you can carry your native nationalism and still then you can be American...And with this kind of acceptance, slowly, every one will integrate and lose their native natioalism and being more American...I have never seen an example of such a lovely and nice acceptance to the people of other culture, world and nation to its own fold by any other nation...This is why the world and its people needs America to become strong,stable and prosper!!!

Permit me also to add something to your wonderful observation: overall acceptance.

My gf and I have talked about this and one thing we share is the acceptance of each others' cultural differences, and beauty. She recently invited me to a family gathering of hers (she comes from a large Italian-American family, lol) so i was kind of nervous at first going because you know --- i had fears if they wouldn't accept me because i wasn't white, or perhaps they may not understand me because of my Japanese accent, all these uncertainties (this was afterall my first non-asian gf , lol). When i entered the house, my gf's mother gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheeks, her father and brothers were very welcoming, i got to meet her cousins, her nieces and nephews, and my goodness the food! Italians know how to eat, lol. I felt, in their house and amongst their family, a genuine feeling of acceptance, and bonding. I like that about Americans -- their accommodating nature, and overall strong family culture.

 

[Sanchez]

I guess there could be lots of love and hate talks about America. If we discuss about fates of immigrants to the US, it might not be that beautiful.

Mr Svensonnov， when I lived in Sweden in 1980s，the second largest refugee group in Sweden then was Americans who tried to avoid participation of Vietnam war. Most of them were from Mennesota state where Swedish immigrants dominated. It's a shame that you are so proud of your experience of being a GI fighting for the US interests. Swedes are always against violence and injustice...always!

Maybe you are different, the righter and whiter immigrant to the US!

 

[lasttry]

America is nothing more than a geographical entity where the rejects from other parts of the world went, slaughtered the natives and stole their land. Today's American immigrants are an inconvenient excess that the rest tolerate as they themselves are too lazy to get off their *** and mow the lawn.

Somebody mentioned American culture. Culture from the perspective of civilization is defined as

'a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period'

This definition does not apply to america as it is not a civilization. Its a collection of peoples of various societies that have come together based on an acceptable value system. So, no America does not have a culture, at least not yet. The various symptoms that can be mistaken for culture exist only in smaller niche groups and do not define all Americans.

 

[Luca1]

The America you are talking about is the America of the early 20th century. Sadly, it no longer exists. America of today is something else entirely.

You need to come to America and live here for a while before talking about what it means to be an American. He is right on about America.

No, the America that he talks about still exists. I, as an immigrant, see this. Tho i am a foreigner living in this country, I am treated as an equal, never looked down as a secondary person, felt obligated to do anything. This is why I do honestly love the United States, in the same league as my own Homeland.

I don't feel like a 'stranger' in this country. This is the reason why millions of people are still dying to come live in the US.

What part of America do you live? You are definitely not a stranger in your own country as we are a nation of immigrants. We are all the same here.

 

[Aepsilons]

What part of America do you live? You are definitely not a stranger in your own country as we are a nation of immigrants. We are all the same here.

Am in a large town in southern part of New Jersey.

I guess there could be lots of love and hate talks about America. If we discuss about fates of immigrants to the US, it might not be that beautiful.

Mr Svensonnov， when I lived in Sweden in 1980s，the second largest refugee group in Sweden then was Americans who tried to avoid participation of Vietnam war. Most of them were from Mennesota state where Swedish immigrants dominated. It's a shame that you are so proud of your experience of being a GI fighting for the US interests. Swedes are always against violence and injustice...always!

Maybe you are different, the righter and whiter immigrant to the US!

Swedish and Norwegians also have a large presence in Wyoming.

You need to come to America and live here for a while before talking about what it means to be an American. He is right on about America.

America is to be experienced first hand, not just read or heard of in some news or radio show.