Monday, September 9, 2013
"American?"
What defines an American? The love of liberty, the pursuit of justice, the urge to invent,the desire for wealth, the drive to explore, the quest for spiritual values? Or are there much darker latent forces that demand critique?
The paradox of the American identity is that although the United States is a melting pot of many different traditions, motives, and ideals, there are nevertheless distinctive qualities that define the American character.
Please respond to this question and statement in AT LEAST 10 THOUGHTFUL SENTENCES. BE BOLD AND INSIGHTFUL.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What defines an American? There are many different things that one can qualify someone as American. For me I think there are three main things that can make someone American. Freedom, power, and democracy. Our country is special because our constitution gives us many different freedoms. We have the freedom of speech, press, religion, etc. These are things that not all countries have and that makes us special. Power is one that is more difficult to describe. Power means many different things in perspective to our country. Our country is one of the most powerful in the world and it makes us privileged to be part of that. This also connects to the third point of democracy. We have the power to elect who we want to take office and that is because of democracy. Not all countries have the right or power to vote who they want and because we can that is very meaningful for our citizens. These are a few of the things that we can use to describe Americans.
ReplyDeleteWhat's an American? What potentially describes one as an American? In my honest opinion, I think this question is quite simple and doesn't need to be deeply analyzed to get the core conclusion. In class today, my group further investigated the question of what does it mean to BE an American. As an American citizen but who was born in Russia, I do partially consider myself American even though I was not born on American Soil. Technically, I am Russian. However, the question of does this still considers me to be an American actually true? In my opinion, technically, an American is anyone who has legal citizenship with the United States of America. However, others and I could say that an American is anyone who has a lot of national pride, celebrates July 4th and loves freedom in general.
ReplyDeleteBeing American is all about defining yourself as American; it is up to the individual to define themself. Being American comes with many advantages, such as the rights given to the people in the constitution. Being American is often idealized. In a superficial sense, it seemingly means freedom to truly be yourself and make your own identity. It doesn’t always mean what people believe make it out to mean, however. It also means recognizing/accepting the history of America and by doing so, having an interest in the future of America. Identifying with a certain group or community means accepting everything positive, negative, and otherwise about it as your own. Accepting something, however, does not mean you always agree with it; it means that you acknowledge it. There is also a wholly negative way to interpret American identity: as a trap. It traps people into believing that they are entering a society in which they can make their own identity when, in reality, they are subjected to the most oppression from others with their same identity for not always embodying everyone’s differing ideas of being American. Because being American is such a broad concept, people in that group don’t always relate. Americans are also often held up to unrealistic standards. Expectations leave much room for disappointment and they cause people to ignore the negative aspects that come with any identity. These problems make it difficult to move forward in a positive direction, which is ultimately the goal for any group of people who define themselves together.
ReplyDeleteDefining what is really means to be “American” is a challenging and complex question that has been explained in many ways. One quality that plays a role in my mind would be that one must live, have lived, or have close ancestors that live(d) in the United States. This, of course, is a general idea and there can be exceptions. Part of being an American is calling America “Home” or one of several homes. Many people who define the term “American” mention Ideals and certain characteristics. I don’t necessarily think these kinds of things have to fit every person, but I do believe one must care about American culture and Society. A key characteristic is caring in some way, shape, or form about the American system of government and American culture in society. This doesn’t mean that one has to believe that America is perfect or even close to it, but simply that what the country believes in as a whole must matter. Being American gives one many opportunities that must also be recognized as well. The opportunities such as the many freedoms Americans are afforded are key to recognize as to understand American society. Ultimately, the most important thing is self-definition and realization. Understanding that Americans come in many forms is critical and allows for conflicting opinions that bring out a diverse and uniquely minded society.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to be an "American?" As my group discovered in class today and as other commenters have mentioned, it's not as simple a question as it seems to define being an "American." One idea that we began to explore was that of needing to reside in North America, but in thinking about that more in depth later, that idea is not entirely accurate. For example, an "American" residing in France could still consider themselves "American." Defining being "American" by citizenship is its own small issue, as there is a question to whether undocumented immigrants can still define themselves as "American." I believe so, so maybe an accurate partial definition would be someone who resides, has resided, or is a citizen of the United States.
ReplyDeleteAs others have also mentioned, I don't think that certain "American" ideas, like those mentioned in some of the quotes we looked at today, necessarily make someone "American" or "not American." I do believe, however, that an "American" must agree partially or fully with American governmental and cultural ideas and norms; this is what helps to create an "American identity." Once one agrees in a general sense with some governmental and cultural ideas and norms, they can explore their own identity within this broader identity. This, too, forms the American culture that we see: a wide range of distinct people with some overall guiding principles/ideas shared among one another.
Toby Keith says this of being an American: "Justice will be served, and the battle will rage. This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage, and you'll be sorry you messed with the U.S. of A. [be]cause we'll put a boot in your ass. It's the American way."
ReplyDeleteI agree with the message that Keith conveys in his song about the toughness that many Americans believe is an important trait of Americans, but I also think that there is considerably more to being an American than just being proud and strong as a both an individual and as a nation. To me being an American is to share a bond with every other person that calls this country home. Though a bond is shared, not all Americans will relate to one another, but complete unity can never be reached in a society this large, and it isn't expected to. Americans have always believed in equal opportunity for all citizens, and though it may not be entirely fair for everybody who lives in the country, equality and opportunity are two things that are valued highly by the normal citizen. Being an American doesn't mean that you simply live in this country, or even have a certain set of views politically or socially, but being an American means that you can believe in whatever you want and you're able to express your views in any way that you want.
The question of what comprises an American certainly is not a simple one. The easy answer - one who is born and bred in the United States of America - is shortsighted and ignores the millions who immigrate to this country in search of the "American Dream." The ideals of freedom and opportunity are what I like to believe comprise every American. The idea that hard work and passion can lead ANYONE to bigger and better things in this democratic country. Anyone can come to this country and feel safe to believe and speak as they wish. There is also this bond amongst all Americans that is unlike any other. Americans wear there flag on their clothes and express their pride through music and art. Some misconstrue this 'MERICA mentality as a rude cockiness. Though, as is true with any proud citizen of any country, Americans like to exude their pride, which I have no problem with. Overall, being American has a loose definition, if it even has one at all, which is the beauty of this country.
ReplyDeleteThe broad question, "What is an American?" can be answered a few different ways. When I first was asked this, I thought of the easy, obvious answer: A person who was born in America or is legally an American citizen. However, looking at this question in more depth, there are other descriptions of an American. Freedom was something that came to mind first. America is a free country, meaning that people have religious freedom, freedom of speech, thought and more. Being an American also involves opportunity. Other than occasional limiting factors, American people have power to decide and control their lives. I believe that simply celebrating the Fourth of July shouldn't be enough, Americans have a duty to know their history and be prideful in the changes throughout time. Democracy is a necessary part of defining this term. Collaborating to elect authority figures and such is an important factor that other countries don't have.
ReplyDeleteA major part of what defines an “American” is the person themselves. Every person has a different reason for why or why not they consider themselves American. Whether they base it locationally or whether they base it on the rights granted to “Americans,” identifying as an “American” is very subjective. Many people have altering views on what being American means because it all means something different to them personally. I don’t think there will ever be one way to define “Americans” unless every person was exactly the same in every imaginable way possible.The United States does have a motto that this is the land of opportunity and that everyone is accepted. However, people in the U.S. who define themselves as Americans are not always accepting of others who may want to consider themselves Americans as well. I’m referring to immigrants who are desperate to have a “better life”, wanting to come to America and to be able to identify as Americans in the sense that they have the same rights and privileges as other “Americans.” On the other hand, there are people who will never consider these immigrants “American” simply because they were not born in America. An ideal idea of what it means to be an “American” can be defined as someone who has rights, freedom and opportunity, but this definition of American is not always consistent.
ReplyDeleteI it thought that being American was all about living in America. However Being an American means more then that. Being American means believing in America’s core values. Some of these values include democracy and freedom. America was one of the first countries to have a successful democracy. America is now one of the most powerful democracies in the world. Also America introduced basic rights or freedoms: including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press and many others. Believing in these core values of America make you more American then not believing in them but being born in America.
ReplyDelete