SusanofO
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Joined: 12/19/2005
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I think we Americans know how to have fun! After all, Disneyland and DisneyWorld started here...other countries know how to have fun, too, of course - I am referring to the peculiarity that is Disney - it is popular and known, world-wide (go Mickey Mouse!)
Our romanticized version of ourselves, IMO, is that it's still the land where a person can become a self-made millionaire or billionaire, even, - with enough ambition, and brains and-or luck. I sometimes think that is still very true - this country has a LOT of enterprenuers. They might not all be extremely wealthy, but still, we seem to have more than our share of enterprenuers. Of course, other countries have them, too. Yes, there is a definite down-side to capitalism, but in many, many ways, it works very well.
And ya just gotta love Wal-Mart. Where else can you do a month's worth of grocery shopping, get new eye-glasses and an eye-exam, shop for gifts and doo-dads, pick up a can of truck oil or new tires, a shed for your backyard, garden supplies, buy greeting cards and magazines - and maybe get your taxes done - all in the same place? It's so big I can sometimes get lost in there, but I am attraced by the LOW, LOw, Low, low prices. I Love that it exists. I think Sam Walton was a genius.
We don't have royalty or a monarchy here, we seem to pay a lot of attention to some celebrities more, instead, IMO. Hollywood - what can you say, really? There's nothing like it (and no explanation, really - and sometimes it's great, and sometimes, it's a huge embarrassment).
Ditto for Las Vegas (just how weird is that? Its a planet unto itself. The minute you get off the plane at the airport, you know for sure youre "not in Kansas anymore". But can be fun, for sure). We are an entertainment mecca - whether you like "trashy movies", or real "art" films, or casinos, or amusement parks in this country, I guess.
Anyone who really believes there is no class sytem here, should re-think it (IMO). There is an ever-widening gap between the really wealthy, and the middle-class majority, and the working poor, and the just plain impoverished - and it's definitely a measurable one (at least in my community).
Americans on the whole, donate more money to charity than many other countries seem to do (I can cite stats on that, if anyone is really doubting this is true).
I think on the whole, most Americans feel very free to express their opinions - and they do. Hopefully when they do, they try to be respectful of others' opinions as well.
I sometimes see a little too much remnant of the Vigilanteism that ran rampant when cowboys and Indians roamed, and since we do have laws and a government, even if they aren't always right or always reliable, on a local level, I sometimes find myself wishing people more would follow them (but this might just relate to stuff I see happening locally where I live). I am ok with people owning guns, but for heaven's sake, 1) Learn how to properly use one and 2) It's not a toy you can just go out and threaten people with, to feed your sense of Macho.
We have a lot of freedoms here people in some other places would give their right arm to have - we even have the freedom to bitch to high heaven about things that we don't like, about the way things done are here - and I am grateful for that.
I know when I was a teen-ager, whenever I complained about some superficial thing I didn't have (like the latest pair of shoes, or hair-style, or whatever) my father used to say:
"Well, you were born in the U.S. That alone makes you materially better off than about 90% of the rest of the world. Think about that." And I know he's right.
Another cultural myth (or reality, depending on who you ask) is that we welcome immigrants into our country - that it is a land of refuge. In some ways that is really still true. But - anyone who's read or watched news shows this year on tv ought to know it seems American culure is re-thinking that idea, as we read this.
Am sure there are more things. It's an incredibly diverse nation, IMO. I've visited almost every state, and really, they all seem to have their own "personality"- they are all unique in some ways.
On the whole, I'd say Americans are fairly open and friendly, IMO. Of course so are very many folks from other countries, too.
- Susan
< Message edited by SusanofO -- 2/25/2007 1:34:18 AM >
_____________________________
"Hope is the thing with feathers,
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all". - Emily Dickinson
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RE: The American Culture - 
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