You speak of that identity as if it is a minor thing. It is what keeps the country together, and the essence of that identity is not gangsta rap or Jewish comedians, and certainly not poorly assimilated border jumpers from Chiapas.Originally Posted by Hess
America is nothing other than a bunch of different people from all over the world living under a single generic identity.This is a Boston impression. I personally know true Ameircans from Chattanooga,Tennessee. They are absolutely specific.
To me those of British and other European decent, but they all do.
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Modern America cannot be personified by any ethnic group.
Its landscape is entrepreneurial and compositional; both of these parameters are in the accelerated state of flux, e.g. Mark Zuckerberg is Bill Gates of this generation.
My vote goes to the English Puritans, and it is frankly because they were some of the first to come over here. They impressed and awakened a very strong spirit which urged itself onto conquering land, progression, and advancement of self within society. A lot of their visions and ideals paved the path to creating the American dream.
This American dream was painted over by a religious zeal which only the English puritans had. It was a zeal which made them the great messengers of the divine, and the institutional force behind grounding that divine will in their advancements and progression.
The early work ethic was sort of drawn out by the English Puritans, and in a sense they inspired America to take a more secular direction, but one which was religiously inspired around goods, production, and consumerism. The Ulster Scot Presbyterians also are up there with the English Puritans in my mind.
They imbued and imprinted a steadfast and persistent spirit, which was oriented very much on self-preservation, and an Anti-Authoritarian mentality. This mentality and spirit would drive and inspire the political approach America took to other natures, and probably had a role to play in the Revolutionary spirit which brought America to overthrow Great Britain.
If you combine the Puritans ideals of conquering land, progression, and advancement of self with the Ulster Scot Presbyterian emphasis on steadfastness, Anti-Authoritarian orientation, and self-preservation of a kindred spirit then you get something close to the United States.
I suppose one can say that if one chooses to ignore where ideas, institutions, and cultural patterns originate.
Let's just say that the cultural predispositions that laid the legal, economic, and political groundwork for entrepreneurship were not put in place by guys with the surname Zuckerberg.
The patterns that shaped western democracy originated in ancient Greece.
In every foundational aspect of modern society, there is always some groundwork that was put together in the past. But in the context of modernity, what matters is: who is capable of representing the current society by building on top of the inherited groundwork.
Yes, I agree Joe to a great extent regarding your last post. The early spirit of America has created and driven the spirit of America up to today to a great extent. The early Anglo-Saxon(WASP) mentality, which centered on Calvinistic principles and ethics, played a big part in shaping the progressive, entrepreneur, and individualistic focus on society.
The individual was seen as being the mediator between the divine and state, and the individual was given a certain divine value in relation to society. This represents a sort of libertarian or laissez faire mentality, which played a big part in driving the Anglo-Saxon cultural spirit to drive Westward. It was this desire to advance, be opportunistic, and conquer new lands in the glory of the divine, which typified the Puritan spirit.
It very much resembles the American dream, which in a sense has become distorted and abused by other Non-Anglo-Saxon forces in America. A lot of the big business spirit was driven by the you can do it yourself, entrepreneurial, and individualistic spirit of the Puritans.
The problem was that it got caught up in a channel of overtly greedy, insidious, and power hungry "Jews"(Some of whom were real Jews). This compounded with the over emphasis on the inalienable rights and equalities of all men, allowed for the Plutocrats to infilitrate society, and to manipulate it so as to make it conform to its Totalitarian rule.
The original emphasis on a more common spirit, which looked upon individualistic drives as positivistic has been inverted into an insidious Plutocracy or economically elite cadre of men.
The original dream for a nation with freedom, liberty, and property for all based on the notion on certain God given and inalienable rights and freedoms have allowed for certain individuals who embodied the Puritan ideals to enslave us to their greed and power hunger.
It seems like the early American dream has met an ironic fate, where Laissez Faire policies have allowed the bigger man to take out the small private businessman, and all on the principles of the Puritan drive for conquest.
I am not necessarily trying to defame the Puritan ideals, but just show how they have been misused and abused by later men due to some false notions, which were instituted in the early American mentality.
This just seems to be sadly enough the fate of human society though for the rest of its existence to some extent or another. When you think of it in broad America's history seems to be far less insidious the histories of other peoples in an ethical sense.
You really can't pick just one, but I picked the Puritans, as they symbolize the religious radicalism that can be found throughout much of the country. Scots-Irish would be a close second, as they created the Appalachian culture.
þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg!
Taking that idea a bit farther, all who came here to North America were invasive if you were an "Indian". Those who came from England,France,Spain,Sweden and other European countries invaded and then stole the living space from the natvies. I say living spaces as the idea of land ownership was not part of the native's culture. Then to add insult to injury ,we, the Europeans tried to eridcate the natives langauge, culture, ways of life,food sources and traditional tribal territories and went on to kill hunderds of them. If that's not an invasion by an alien element then I don't know what is.
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