Americanness

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More positive:

Excellent music. The foundation of modern music.
Excellent TV.
Excellent films.
Excellent books.
Inventiveness (not half as much as they think, but a lot.)
Courtesy. At least so far as I hear.

Liberty and justice for those who can afford it. The right to health as long as we don't get sick. Individualism as long as we're doing it the right way.

beautifully spoken.

Car culture and the interstate highway system
American football (nobody talks about baseball these days)
Political correctness and lawsuits
Fast food
24 hour discount stores

Fat policemen.
Country music.
Flag-waving.
Awful beer. (at least the stuff we get in Britain - there are lots of fantastic craft breweries in the States)
Ginormous trucks.
Puritanism.

Cap Canaveral
Las Vegas

Movies!

+1

Patriotism - Sadly, a fad. Something that only seems to happen after major death and destruction like 9/11.
The fact that more people care about the next American Idol etc. than the child that lives next to them, starving and/ or abused.
Racism - We still haven't learned a damn thing. Love thy neighbor, my ass.

That was an excellent TV show.

If only bigotry were that funny in real life.

I am American. I think we live in a land of dreams. And cognitive dissonance.

We are raised to believe in a dream of ultimate success. We are told that anybody, anybody at all, can be rich and famous and powerful. That dream keeps a lot of people going, but I think it is destructive. Success requires talent, drive, and a little luck no matter where you are. (Of course nepotism and psychopathic behavior can help.) We have this dream that Darwinian brutality is noble and right. We place a high premium on might. Everything is a contest.

While we dream of being rugged individualists, we are eager to give up our personal responsibilities. The victim mentality is very popular here. I think that may have something to do with over valuing ourselves and seeing everything as a conflict. If someone dies of cancer, there must be an enemy to blame for the defeat. A doctor or tobacco company to sue.

We dream of being happy and accepted. Yet we fear anyone outside (or sometimes even within) our nuclear families.

We dream that we are mature and progressive, though our puritanical beginnings are inescapable.

We dream our culture is superior. We really just make more of it than anyone else.

We dream of past glory that never was and better times that will never come. Unless we wake up.

RT @ Xeno

Believe nothing that you hear and half of what you see

We never should have become a Super Power. It is bad for us. It is bad for the world.

ruveyn

I think we might slowly be starting to point in the right direction, and I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.

Obesity

(don't be offended by my joke please )

Lamb of God
Pantera
Double Cheeseburgers
Dinner made in a microwave

You are wrong.

Even with all our mistakes and miscalculations, there has never been a national entity that has wielded so much power so benevolently as America has done.

I promise you, this century's Chinese hegemony will not be nearly so pleasant.