What is American Culture?

“Diversity – United States, despite petty internal political differences is very uniform and homogeneous to an outsider. The culture (or lack of it) is same, the food is same, the language is same and the arts and style are similar. In Europe language, art, food, culture and politics are widely varied which might be overwhelming for an outsider but makes things interesting. A person visiting Scotland on a pleasure trip won’t feel like he could have done visiting England while a person visiting New Jersey and Virginia as a tourist would almost feel both are same states (except the differences in street crimes).” — Juan the “Liberal” on Europe vs USA – Lifestyle

Is not not quite the convenient how an entire continent such as Europe is compared with a country such as the United States? I suggest that his next “study” be done on Europe vs North America. He’d then have 23 very unique countries to do her “analysis” up against his 49 European “states” using his signature “us vs them” mentality.

Apparently Juan McDaniel (who calls himself a Liberal and an “Internationalist” of all things) must have been too cowardly to compare and contrast her own nation of origin (India) with the US. The only way he could slam a place where he’s never lived is by comparing Europe, a continent of 49 countries (if you include Vatican City) with a SINGLE COUNTRY, the US.

Lame.

Nice try, anyway. But curiously enough, many nationalist Americanophobes do this (compare countries with continents). It’s not just Juan. It’s very unfair and obviously used as propaganda to continue the cycle of hate.

(Disclaimer: If you call yourselves Europeans, will we note you as such and return the favor. In case you missed it, Americans call themselves “Americans” - not “North Americans”. We, unlike some Europeans, recognize ourselves as a country and *not* a continent.)

Today, I will display the other side of the story – the untold story.

I defined what America is in the glossary section of my blog. But what is an American?

An American can be English, or French, or Italian, Scottish, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.

An American can be Mexican, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Kenyan, Ethiopian, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Canadian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan and more.

An American may also be a Cree, Metis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American’s religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The key difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. Whether they have a religion or no religion, each American ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

These are the people who built America.

Like Canada, in the United States, you’re allowed to continue your culture, eat your own foods, have your own festivals, read newspapers in your own language, speak in your own language and still call yourself an American. We like to call ourselves a “tossed salad”.

What is America?

We’ve got a country with over 300 million people, to begin with. And contrary to popular belief, we aren’t homogeneous either.

We are a multicultural society despite the Americanophobic belief that the entire United States is South Carolina.

There are 50 states with 30,000 incorporated cites therein. And even each city has it’s own towns, styles, and personalities. If you live in West Virginia, chances are that you’ll have a different experience from one who lives in Denver, Colorado EVEN IF YOU’RE A FOREIGNER! There are even cultural differences depending on the city you’re living in. I will give one example (although a general one). When you get married in some cities/towns in the south, the “proper” gift to give the newlyweds is a an actual tangible gift. Money would be considered an improper gift. It may even be considered as “lazy” if one were to hand over a check as opposed to actually going out and buying something. However, in NY, giving money gifts is more of the norm and said to be a convenience among those “just married”.

Basically, all I’m trying to say is that behaviorism and customs, like the above, vary from city to city – state to state like different countries do except not as dramatic.

I have lived in Miami, Japan, and California. I am now residing in Texas. I’ve been here for four long years and I’m still feeling “culture shock” in some ways.

Next, we have three different levels of government here: There is federal government, state government, and finally, local government. In some states, gay marriages are legal. In Nevada, prostitution is legal. (However, prostitution is legal nation-wide if you’re in the “call-girl” business. Just open up the Yellow Pages and see for yourself!) In Alabama, it’s forbidden to purchase a dildo! Marijuana for medical purposes is legal in California – yet illegal federally. The list is endless, really.

The scenery, cost of living, mannerisms, laws, crime rate, accents, dialect, ethnic diversity, food, fashion, flags, income, industries, tourism, weather, job opportunities, public transportation, and such differ depending on WHERE you live. There are some places in the US where people don’t lock their doors.

As you can see, this is why Americans can get so frustrated with over-simplified-one-dimensional views of the US coming from other tiny countries.

Why am I typing this? Because surprisingly enough, many people DON’T know this. I’ve heard people say it before that the US is a nation of “WASPS” where other cultures are “oppressed” and/or “forced to be American” and “forced to strip their own unique identities away” and this cannot be further from reality. America is still the most multicultural country in the world. The very fact that we don’t even have an official language says it all.

You will see literally ALL walks of life here (fat-skinny, poor-rich, ugly-beautiful, peaceful-violent, stupid-smart) in the US and diversity in terms of ethnicity, thought, sexual preferences, religion, upbringing, and values depending on where you live. Some states and cities are more diverse than others. There are plenty of Americans that are racist, but one thing that I find unique about the US is that we’re a bit less openly vocal about our prejudices. While there are stigmas and stereotypes attached to ALL groups of people, you will find that it’s a bit easier to be fat, dumb, ugly, ignorant, have poor taste in clothes, be unhygienic, to be driving around in a clunker, and in short, be as individual as you’d like to be.

You will be less judged here as opposed to being an American carrying those “socially unacceptable” quirks into another country. Try being a conservative fat American wearing a cowboy hat with a Texas accent in another country (outside Eastern Asia)! You won’t make it. I’d place money on that. At least in America, you can join all the self-entitlement-oriented, inbred, insular, nationalistic, inherently violent, unfashionable, paranoid, arrogant, unsophisticated, fat, lazy, vulgar, greedy, racist, spoiled-rich, ignorant, stupid, humorless, loud, obnoxious, gum-chewing, carbon-emitting, baby-killing, gun-toting, bible-thumping, flag-waving, and self-centered, globalizing, uncouth, swearmouthed and boorish non-human Neanderthal Americans obsessed with sex, celebrities and McDonalds that demand the entire world revolve around them, here. You’re more than welcome.

You can be whomever you want to be in America. Expect that not everyone’s going to LIKE you. This is NOT a violation of “civil liberties”. This is opinion. And Americans, like any other country, have them. Stewart Lee in the UK said it well in this video toward the end:

“…some of the things that are great about America, namely “freedom of speech” and a certain kinda social equality in that everyone there is allowed to say whatever they want no matter how stupid and ill-informed it is, and I think there’s something noble about that, genuinely”. — Stewart Lee (director of Jerry Springer, The Opera)

With that said, we also accept (with welcome arms) the slender, the intelligent, the intellectuals, the nerdy scholars, the hard workers, the polite, the humorous, the athletes, the hotties, the homosexuals, the tolerant, the socialists, as well as the demure, quiet, and shy.

America is a perfect blending of ALL these groups. This is what makes America great. I’m not saying that it’s the best country in the world, but in terms of THIS type of freedom, I’d say this is an amazing thing that makes us unique, grateful and proud to be an American.

Our first amendment also allows you to burn our flags and wave your own here. No problem!

The author of American Something said the following:

I can not forget the day when I arrived at JFK Airport for the first time. It was not better than other airports. There were many ticketing booths and it was crowded with people and luggages. Every one can see these kinds of things at airports all around the world. However, there was something different. There were many people who have different nationality and ethnicity. There were White people, Black people and Asian people. There were Italian, Japanese, German, Mexican, Chinese, French, Indonesian, etc. I was surprised because I could see and hear them at one place. At that time, I thought I could be so excited in this country. And, it was quite the same. I met many different kind of people from work and social community who came from many different country. I can experience many culture and many languages and it makes me feel happy.

Anybody who has lived in the United States alongside the average man in the street for a decent amount of time will realize this.

Oh immigration does happen in Europe too, you know, but perhaps for different reasons?

The False Promise of Immigration

How did the United States, which turned 230 years old in July 2006, get so big so fast? American growth has been fuelled by a combination of economic stability, high birth rates and immigration. Indeed, the United States is the largest immigrant-receiving country in the world. Some 50 percent of the 100 million newest Americans are recent immigrants or their descendents.

Europe, however, is also a magnet for immigration: It will attract up to 1 million newcomers this year. But the European experience with immigration is quite different from that of America. Part of the reason is that many immigrants to Europe end up on welfare, while in the United States, almost all immigrants take one or more entry-level jobs and work their way up the economic ladder. Welfare is simply not the American way.

Americans are not “cultured”?

Think again.

I must say that I find this accusation a bit amusing. WebPundit composed the below in light of this example.

Say America has no culture. When asked if there’s no such thing as “American Culture”, why do you always bitch about “Americanization”? Answer with 2 words: McDonald’s and Starbucks. Feign ignorance of American television, movies, music, books, politics, fashion, the internet… in short, most of what YOU do for fun on a daily basis. You don’t want to seem like a hypocrite who secretly devours American culture. So, it’s better just to tell an outright lie.

As far as the “‘right’ kind of culture” as in VERY old historical culture that the Europeans bash us for not having, allow me to gently remind you that America and British Canada are roughly the same age. America and British Canada are culturally similar as well. I’d be curious what “culture” was like for Europeans when they were only about say, 232 years old?

And while we’re on the topic of culture. In the US, the Metropolitan Opera in NY is one of the best – most prestigious opera companies in the world. The US has two première ballet companies. We’ve got NYC Ballet and American Ballet Theater. Symphony and NY theater? Nothing in North America exists that can begin to compare with the NY theater scene. Look at the number of fantastic symphony orchestras in the US.

American writers? Let’s take a look at Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Melville, Hawthorne, Henry James, Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, need I say more?

Piercing analysts like Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Frank Norris, John Steinbeck, John Dos Passos, and Tom Wolfe are conveniently ignored. And never mind that American film and television are far more willing to confront sensitive social or political issues than are European productions.

America has a very rich influential and extensive cultural and literary history. Come to downtown San Antonio, Texas if you want to see some American rustic and raw history. And no. It’s not just the Alamo. Your sheltered and narrow-mind would hopefully wake up to the history that WE DO HAVE. Considering our 232 years alive, we have innovated and discovered more than any other country in the world. That’s a huge feat for a baby country, no?

And yes, I also know that we’ve committed crimes against humanity in our youth, but I’m not here to talk about that. That’s YOUR job. My job is to show the side of the story that is NEVER talked about.

It’s those very people who don’t want to hear the other side of the story who we Americans call “jealous”. Because what else would explain those individuals who continue to live so sheltered with their collective heads buried in the sand under the guise of being an “internationalist”, “a world traveler”, and “culturally aware and superior”? What else would explain the incessant comparisons to America as opposed to making juvenile comparisons to Japan, Colombia, Australia, Jamaica and the like? How else can you explain it?

Jealousy.

UPDATE!

This is something you’ll never find in America.

This is also something you’ll never find in the US.

Anti-Semites, anti-blacks, anti-Americans… what else?

Only in Europe? What do you think? All I know is that if you’re going to peg an entire nation as homogeneous and/or racist, look in the mirror first. What you’ll see is even uglier if you’re open enough to spot the ills of your own.