Who is this America person/thing that most of the world seems to dislike? Is America the people? Is America the idea? Is it the way we deal with the rest of the world? Is it a select group who steers the world in the direction of business interest? Who/What is America? I can say I am American - I was born and raised here. But am I American if I'm against the ideas that the Might makes Right? Am I still American if I feel that the President is a Criminal? What makes one Amercian? Is it just being born here? Does being American mean that I have to go along with the powers that be? What does it mean to be American? I'd like to hear from youse...
Someone who drives on the right side of the road but not on the correct side. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Is this to be one of those "Europeans think a hundred miles is a long distance and Americans think a hundred years is a long time" threads?
aqhart, I like it. dkb218, well I agree, you shouldn't be pigeonholed as believing what the leaders of your nation appear to believe, but sadly that is exactly how you and the citizens of every country are portrayed in the world's media circus. Before you can just be you, as you are, it seems we must conform to being a white/black/brown, american, iraq, israeli ichristian, jew, muslim, and so on, which just gives people a whole convenient set of assumptions they can make about you. Thus we get polls on how you feel about 'America'. Like I have a fkn reaction to a whole nation. How could that reaction be anything other than unconditional love, if you were allowed to have enough time to really think about it? :m:
What does it mean to be an American? Being American means (2 me) having serendipity of birth, with many domestic opportunitie$ (for most) but with popularly neglected responsibilities (democracy). It means to have confusion (changing world standing, changing realities of isolation and superiority). It means to have frustration (relatively poor national world awareness, and poor basic education, as compared with other developed nations). Being American means facing increasing misunderstanding and even danger during foreign work and travel, as a result of an ongoing breakdown in understanding between ourselves and the world surrounding and permeating us. Being American means having whatever degree of nationalism one chooses, knowing (or not) that the attributes and instincts of nationalism are identical in all humans, regardless of where we are born, or where we live. Being American means (for a significant minority, and in foreign perception) apathy and arrogance. But for those Americans who care about the future, being American means think fast and do something positive. Being American means remembering the passionate concern for the rights and well-being of individuals, as established in our founding documents. It means tolerating others whose appearance, beliefs, and cultures are different. Being American means recognising the changing world outside, and recognising diversity as the source of our strength. It means realizing there is no human or governmental quality that is the sole franchise of America. Being American means demanding that cooler heads prevail soon, so that we will not squander these and other qualities, in exchange for a hollow, deceptive, and belligerent facade of nationalism, harnessed by unknown agendas, and leading to a future wherein being American would cease to be a lucky birth-ticket or hope for anyone. Feeling true pride in being American, or in being human, requires continuously doing things now and tomorrow that better mankind. Let's stop coasting and boasting.
