What Makes You American?

D_Gunther Snotpole

Account Disabled
Joined
Oct 3, 2005
Posts
13,632
Media
0
Likes
73
Points
193
Well, then you collapse the discussion, in my view.
Only assholes can disagree with you.
(And you knew that, right.:wink:)

Just in case there could be misunderstanding, I don't mean that NIC believes that only assholes disagree with him. (Well ... maybe sometimes ...:biggrin1:)
What I mean is that the argument can be set up in such a way that only assholes can take exception to one's conclusion.
Some quite valid arguments, of course, are like that.
 

B_NineInchCock_160IQ

Sexy Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
Posts
6,196
Media
0
Likes
40
Points
183
Location
where the sun never sets
Sexuality
99% Straight, 1% Gay
Gender
Male
You can flame me all you like, but from a very personal POV, whilst the US has the death penalty and uses it, it will remain a barbaric culture and not one to which I would wish to belong.
Incidentally, I don't think that it is correct to lump all Europeans into the same camp.

Lumping Europeans? Clearly wrong. But those barbaric uncivilised Americans? We ought to and will. lump lump lump.
 

MARCOPOLO4

Experimental Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2007
Posts
233
Media
0
Likes
7
Points
103
Location
LOS ANGELES AREA
Sexuality
100% Gay, 0% Straight
Gender
Male
going to work every day of my life to a job i hate for some 50 or 60 years and in the end if i'm lucky i will draw a small pension and social security and get to struggle for the remainder of my life the golden years.
 

transformer_99

Experimental Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2006
Posts
2,429
Media
0
Likes
9
Points
183
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
What makes America what it is, the melting pot of cultures. If that leaves us devoid of a singularly, unique culture, then so be it. One might then say the sum of all the parts is better than a single culture, in that case an "eclectic" culture is what makes us American.
 

Jovial

Expert Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Posts
2,328
Media
8
Likes
124
Points
193
Location
CA
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
It's a melting pot. Most Americans have ancestry from other countries. Some people's ancestors have been here for several centuries, some for just a few generations, and many people you meet are themselves immigrants. And native American descendants have their own unique history.

So as an American I've had the chance to experience a taste of many different cultures without leaving the country.

I also like the idea that we've never had a king/queen. The USA was founded as a democracy without a monarch. To me that's always meant that no one is inherently better than anyone else. Everyone has equal opportunity. I know in practice it hasn't always worked out like that, but to me I've always felt like I wasn't limited in becoming whatever I want to be. The only thing limiting myself is me. I guess that's the American Dream.
 

naughty

Sexy Member
Joined
May 21, 2004
Posts
11,232
Media
0
Likes
38
Points
258
Location
Workin' up a good pot of mad!
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Female
It's a melting pot. Most Americans have ancestry from other countries. Some people's ancestors have been here for several centuries, some for just a few generations, and many people you meet are themselves immigrants. And native American descendants have their own unique history.

So as an American I've had the chance to experience a taste of many different cultures without leaving the country.

I also like the idea that we've never had a king/queen. The USA was founded as a democracy without a monarch. To me that's always meant that no one is inherently better than anyone else. Everyone has equal opportunity. I know in practice it hasn't always worked out like that, but to me I've always felt like I wasn't limited in becoming whatever I want to be. The only thing limiting myself is me. I guess that's the American Dream.


I think that it is the striving to make the Declaration of Independence a reality and not a idealogical concept. I am so glad that you feel free to be you, Jovial. I think you can see that with this election there are many for whom this is the first time they feel free to hope for the American Dream that brings millions here . I do feel as an American that I have been lucky and have had the ability to take many of our freedoms for granted in my lifetime. Though it has not always been that way for some of my ancestors I thank God that I was born here in America a country that in spite of its issues I would not trade for anything. I also think that Americans have an audacity and confidence that many see as confidence and others see as arrogance. We have our own form of chauvinism in spite of the challenges we face.
 
D

deleted3782

Guest
I also think that Americans have an audacity and confidence that many see as confidence and others see as arrogance. We have our own form of chauvinism in spite of the challenges we face.

I agree, except I would say we have the audacity of confidence... meaning, we sometimes don't take no for an answer. I know I don't like being told "no", and as soon as I am...I start figuring out how to get around it. I think this was true when Americans tackled World War II and the Marshall Plan, when we tackled the logistics of space travel and Civil Rights, and true with the current admonistration's mantra "Yes We Can". I'm not quite sure other countries, great and small, take that challenge in the same way that Americans do.

As for American culture...well I could go on for days about that. Let me just say the Navajo Nation, the Amish, the Gullah, New England Yankees, Little Havana, Louisiana Cajuns and Creoles, New York's Jews, SoCal, TexMex...and Harlem.
 

mitchymo

Expert Member
Joined
May 11, 2008
Posts
4,131
Media
0
Likes
100
Points
133
Location
England (United Kingdom)
Sexuality
100% Gay, 0% Straight
Gender
Male
Have Americans ever been liked or respected for anything in Europe?

Europeans were happy to have us help liberate them from the Kaiser's or the Fuhrer's forces. Then they wanted us to go away. Fast.

Completely spot on argument for why any european might actually not like americans....we dont go round calling our german friends nazis whenever we have an argument, so leave the war out of it....there is no case of being happy America came to help....it was in americas own interest to get involved....and remember that the war was not won by america....it was a multi-national effort which most allied nations were involved in before the US got involved....it could easily be argued that the US involvement simply tipped the balance and thus resolved the war more speedily....it DOES NOT mean that the allied forces would not have prevailed eventually....stop portraying yourselves in a light which paints arrogance over your characters.

The simple fact of this argument is purile.....every nation has a culture....it is simply easier to identify a nations culture when it is static which america's is not due to the history of immigration or to age of existence which america does not have due to being a relatively new country.

And PLEASE PLEASE stop considering yourselves as hated by the rest of the world because its just simply not true...sure hateful people say otherwise...but they are just protaganists