Recognize and Celebrate American Culture

Yes, we do have one!

I can't count the number of times I've heard an average American of white European descent make a comment like "We don't really have a culture".  Many Americans, especially white middle class Americans, often think that they don't have their own culture and are bereft of roots.  They look at the unique clothing styles and decorations found at certain ethnic restaurants, homes and festivals, listen to immigrants speaking in foreign languages and watch them eat exotic foods and perhaps envy these people their cultural heritage.  What a terrible, ignorant and incorrect point of view!  America has a vibrant, strong and positive culture and everyone should realize this.  It's far too easy to look at a foreign culture, see their differences and then think that they have something special and American's are "just ordinary".  The fact is, our culture is the product of over two hundred years worth of immigrants from all parts of the world combining their strengths, pooling their talents and blending their beliefs  to form an assimilated and dynamic product.   The United States of America has one of the most powerful and influential cultures on the planet and I'm going to do my best to prove it to you.

What is our Culture?

 Have you ever noticed how easy it is for people in other countries to recognize you as an American when you are traveling abroad?  Even when you wear the local clothing style, learn the local language and try to fit in?  Even in places where there are people with your skin color and physical characteristics?  Whenever I travel, vendors immediately greet me in English, even if I speak to them in their own language and dress in their clothing style.  When I ask people how they recognize me as an American, they usually say because of my walk.  Americans are known for our upright, head held high, confident stance.  We walk like we own the ground we walk upon and fear neither notice nor recognition.  We don't care if we stand out, blend in or whatever.  This may seem unimportant but it is a critical indicator of American culture.  Americans feel that they are as good as anybody else, have a right to go where they want and do what they please.  This is a symptom of being raised with freedom and the knowledge that we have rights.  We do not bend knee to royalty nor bow before any ruler and are free to speak as directly and frankly as we like to anyone, including police officers, military personnel and government officials.  This is a thing of beauty and should be recognized and appreciated.

Of course, freedom alone is not the only element of our culture.  Obviously there are other people in the world who enjoy rights and consider themselves free.  In addition to freedom, American culture includes an instinctual and ready acceptance of innovations, ideas and advancements, regardless of their origin.  Few other cultures foster such an environment for creativity.  The poorest of people, the most destitute of immigrants and the descendants of slaves can attain respect, wealth and power simply by thinking of a good idea, providing a service or being good at whatever they do.  If an immigrant brings a new fighting or cooking style, people get in line to sign up for lessons.  If a nerdy unpopular college drop out decides to build an interesting piece of electronics or write promising computer code, Americans turn him into a multibillionaire.  This easy acceptance of new and better things should not be taken lightly.  Sure we have some racists, bigots and naysayers, but for the most part we embrace innovations regardless of their origin.

Many cultures and empires have been toppled by their refusal to embrace new ideas.  Most of the great Asian empires collapsed  and underwent cultural upheaval merely because they tried to ignore the evolving Western world until suddenly the West had them outgunned and patrolled their seas in Western ships of war.  To this day there are many world cultures that will let good things pass them by in order to avoid recognizing an idea that comes from a "weaker" gender, a "lower" caste or an "opposing" religion.

What has our Culture created?

Aside from these ideological aspects, Americans have invented art forms, cuisines and other elements that are more commonly regarded as culture.  Here are a few:

	Hot Rods and Car Customization
	Rock and Roll, Grunge, etc. and the corresponding dance styles
	Blues
	Country Western Music and dance
	Swing Music and Dance
	Barber Shop Quartets
	Square Dancing
	Rap
	Cajun music and food
	Pizza, Chop Suey, American BBQ, Fast Food
	Baseball, Basketball, Football, Snowboarding and other world famous sports

Visit Zompist for an even more detailed attempt at listing/defining American culture

If we don't have a powerful and positive culture, why are our movies, music and clothing so much in demand throughout the world?  Why can you literally get rich selling used worn out blue jeans and broken down running shoes in Russia, Japan and other countries?  Why do Chinese companies try to pirate every form of American software and media and constantly get into legal battles for not respecting international copyright laws?  Why do people in foreign countries wait in horrendous lines to pay exorbitant prices for a BigMac, fries and a Coke?  Face it, if we didn't have something good, the rest of the world wouldn't be frantically trying to obtain it.  It is no accident that people in bad places risk their lives trying to find a way to sneak into our country.

What has our culture accomplished?

We applied the assembly line concept to the automobile industry (Ford).  We invented personal computers (Gates/Jobs/IBM).  We were the first to walk on the moon (Armstrong).  We came out on top in WWI and WWII.  We smashed Afghanistan in less than a year when the mighty USSR could not do it in a 10 year war that cost them a fortune and the lives of  more 50,000 Soviet soldiers!  We defeated both Spain and England, when our nation was in its infancy and when they were considered world powers.  We've only been around for a couple hundred years and we heavily influence the globe!  We have the largest economy, the strongest military, the best health care, the most respected universities, and one of the highest standards of living in the world! When countries need help recovering from a disaster, stopping a plague, exploiting inaccessible natural resources, finding a way to create food and fend off starvation,  they turn to America.  Even our defeated enemies are improved by contact with our nation and culture (we rebuilt Japan and Germany, helped develop Vietnam and Korea and are in the process of  helping Afghanistan and Iraq).

 

Let's Celebrate and Preserve It!

It's about time people woke up and realized we have a good thing that it is worth preserving.  Let's dump the political correctness, the liberal guilt complexes and embarrassment.  Yes, our country killed off  Native American Nations, bought and sold human beings like cattle and screwed up quite a few third world countries.  So what?  Past mistakes do not define our entire cultural identity!  All nations and cultures have skeletons in their closets and have done things that were wrong, amoral and shameful.  Much like people, nations make mistakes.  The key is to learn from them and move on.  Our past wrongs do not take away our right to acknowledge the good we have done.  Teach your kids about what makes us special and why it is great to be an American.  Make the July 4th a celebration of American Culture and Independence and not merely a day off from work.  Teach your kids the meaning of the 4th of July, how people died giving birth to this country and defending our liberty and freedom.  If you don't currently own slaves, haven't scalped any Indians lately and  aren't  conspiring to install a sadist dictator in a third world country, stand tall and be proud to be an American!

 

How do we strengthen and preserve our American culture?

Force new residents and citizens to learn English and legislate English as our national language.  I learned and spoke Spanish when I lived in Central America and I expect people that move to my country to learn and speak my language.  This is not racist, anti-Asian, anti-Hispanic or anything else bad.  The fact is, the more we as citizens have in common with each other, the stronger we are as a nation and a culture.  If we can't even talk to each other, how can we possibly understand each other and work together for our common good?  Face it, people who can't speak passable English in this country don't lead wildly successful lives.  I've had people who don't speak English do my gardening, clean my house, wash my car, serve me burgers, bag my groceries and even pump my gas but I've never had a doctor, lawyer, stock broker or boss who could not communicate in English.  The ability to communicate in the dominant language is a pre-requisite for success and security in every country in the world.

It's about time we claim our heritage before it slips through our fingers.  We are NOT a nation filled with "African-Americans", "Jewish-American" "Asian-Americans", "Mexican-American" or any other Hyphen-Americans, we are all simply Americans.  Celebrating diversity can be a good thing but joining people from varying ethnic and religious backgrounds to form a cohesive national community is even better.  Let's not lose sight of our group identity by focusing only on our differences.  Make it illegal for anyone to document and track a person's race or religion on job applications, loan applications, college admission documents, etc.  A color-blind and unified society will not exist until people start caring more about being a part of our nation and less about how their skin color, theology and sexual preference sets them apart.