I was born and raised in the west part of Africa, a continent that everyone even African see as poor, sick and invisible in intercontinental relations. But since I was ten years old I started coming to the United States to spend my summer with my family. I could see soon enough that we didn’t have the same culture or the same point of view on what family was. I used to think that American culture was the model that the entire world should follow but then I realized that the African culture I most of the time compare to archaic was a better model. Younger I thought that everything that American people did was the good thing to do, to follow and to apply. I thought that the united states were everything I watched on television like music videos, documentaries on jails and the life that stars lived. Even after the four successive summers I spent here I had the same image of this country. I loved everything about this country. The view, the landscape, the buildings, the culture, the power it has and the respect other nations have toward this country. But little by little with time and maturity I began seeing the downsides of this so beautiful culture on the outside. Everything seems to be so perfect in the lives of American people. But by looking closer I could see that these people are not human beings anymore. They look like computers programed to go look for money; they are slaves of their own society that turns around wealth. Wealth is equal to respect and fame in this country. People talk about useless things like haw celebrities dress, what they did on a particular day and rumors about other people’s lives. Are they forgetting that they are people in this so called ‘’first world power’’ that are poor and that suffer to keep the... ... middle of paper ... ...ople live here. Eat, sleep, highway and work. They live and work for the two weeks they’ll spend in ocean city or Virginia Beach just to cool off and go back to their routine life. Where is the excitement?, the happiness to live? It is in each and every American until they get in the ‘’system’’. As soon as they step in they forget little by little what living means and what money is for. Money is a tool to get to happiness it shouldn’t be the only concern in your life. That is why I think that if this is the price of freedom and a wealthy society I prefer my continent just how it is with some little changes like self-sufficiency to prevent people from dying of sickness and poverty. Seeing that women fall opened my eyes. I started looking at things differently. And for the first time I didn’t criticize the education and culture I had but I was actually proud of it.
Poverty is the greatest challenge in their country, however, some families do not let that discourage them. The families sacrifice the minuscule amount of money they have saved to provide a better life for their children. They want their children to chase every opportunity or aspiration they have. They do not want to subject their children to labor just because they did it for a living. In America, there are limitless opportunities because America is a first world country. Therefore, the country has a lot to offer since it holds power and wealth, but some U.S. citizens do not take advantage of the opportunities. Many people complain about the inability to find a job, but there are new positions opening every day. Americans take the opportunities for granted because they know they will always be there which is why their aggression and motivation has vanished. However, they become furious when the Indians immigrant to their country and take the jobs that were once available for
Since their arrival in the Americas, African-American’s have maintained a strong cultural link to their American past as well as their African descent. These cultural ties are deeply embedded in the African-American culture and are often times passed down through parents and grandparents. This intergenerational transference of African cultural knowledge is thought to be how parents socialize their children. It is also believed that through these interactions with not only parents, but relatives and acquaintances African cultural behavior is taught and reinforced. (Crabbe 2013). Through this Social skill, religious views, Family, work ethic and morals are strongly developed in the African America...
The American Dream led millions of individuals to travel to America in hopes of achieving this enticing ideology. People across the world sought freedom, education, and wealth. Recent statistics show that a majority of people do not think the American Dream still holds truth, and an even larger majority believe one the most harmful issues is “not everyone is given an equal chance to succeed in life” (Jones, Cox, Navarro-Riverra, 2014). The attainability of the American Dream decreases as inequality, more specifically income inequality, increases. Democracy is arguably the best and worst form of government. The idea of having, freedom, human rights, a say in political decisions, and control of personal decisions creates a place where people
United States of America is known as the land of opportunity for many immigrants who dare to dream of a better life. Since the beginning of American history, United States has focused more about equal opportunity than any other country. There are many people who strongly believe that once they come to the United States it is almost guaranteed to find success. For example, my relatives in Korea always ask my parents how much my family has earned so far. Also, they believe that we live in a totally different world, living the American dream. However, it seems like this country is no longer the land of opportunity for those who are immigrants and the low class people.
In this essay, I have decided to evaluate a scene from the Disney movie, Tarzan, by using the communication tool, Relevance of Culture. In this particular movie, there is a scene where Tarzan and Jane meet for the first time and Jane is trying to talk to Tarzan. We will discuss the Demographic Changes and the Sensitivity to Culture. This scene can be viewed at this link, http://youtu.be/YnYNlzsESD8.
América’s view of the US changes drastically as the story progress. In the beginning of the story she is full of enthusiasm about coming to America with her husband Candido; due to the fact he promised they would have a better life. As the story progresses reality hits and she realizes that the American Dream isn’t easy to achieve. América realizes this by how she finds herself settling in a canyon with no clean water, not enough money and then having to work a lot after Candido is in the accident and then proceeding to steal from a garden just to have vegetables for her family.
As an American, a lot in pages 95-99 of the text book seem very true and relatable which I will explain by describing it with our American ideals, and society. Desire in this country is a very high state of mind in this society and we are not exactly a happy nation. In one of our American slogans “The pursuit of happiness”, we chase after our own individual ideas of what happiness is. Often times it is our desires that masks it’s self as happiness. Most American feel like they have failed at reaching and living out the American dream due to never being able to fulfill all desires and continuously wanting more. We value freedom in this country while and fate is fronded upon since it is not a representation of living by your own choices, and controlling your own
First, John Steinbeck shows how Americans are dissatisfied and angry with many things in their life. There is a paradox that states “We find our time searching for security, and hate it when we get it.” This shows that no matter what Americans want, once they get it they are always searching for more. When Americans achieve what they have been striving for, they always go above and beyond to be number one. Also, Steinbeck explains how Americans convince themselves that their country has the greatest government in the world, but we find every little problem with it and do nothing to change it. Americans say how much they love the government, but when people disagree with something, they complain, get frustrated, and become so opinionated that they do not even bother trying to understand other peoples’ views. The American dream is wanted by so many people. They want the perfect house, the perfect family, and the perfect neighborhood. We all want the American dream but most of us do not even stay in the same house for more than fiv...
Americans often chase after things such as being socially accepted, attaining wealth, having a bigger house, and are view things as “bigger is better”. American culture has a tendency to promote quantity over quality and other countries view Americans as loud, selfish, and obnoxious. Also, other cultures view Americans as stressed out and unhappy people because they are always trying to make more money or buy more things. Studies show that U.S. workers put in more hours on their job than the labor force of any other industrial nations and have a “live so they can work” motivation. This mentality of achievements, making lots of money, and that owning material goods equate to happiness stems from the early American Dream, that prosperity and freedom can only be attained through upward social mobility and hard work. Many had a goal of owning a house or making higher income but achieving those goals was rare, and it was common for people to end up working hard, long, hours in factory, sometimes becoming depressed or addicted to alcohol. This ideal of acquiring happiness and prosperity through increased income and upward social mobility, caused many Americans to be unhappy, harming their moral character rather than helping
America is not the sanctuary it claims to be. The values of the U.S do not coincide with its history of oppression, slavery, racism and sexism. Langston Hughes’ poem “ Let America be America Again” eloquently exposes a trap disguised as a haven. America is not America yet because it is not true to its values, it 's reoccurring problems in different forms and the fact that 1% of the population actually achieve the “American Dream”.
America is seen as a land of great promise to many people of other countries, but it still has many flaws that show just how greedy and power-hungry our culture is. Once we stop be self-centered and only caring about money then we can run our country fairly and in a true democracy. Until these changes come about, as a normal powerless citizen I will always be America’s me. But whenPerhaps too optimistic? these wrongs are finally righted I will be proud to say “This is my America.”
The United States used to be a place of dreams, a country where any willing body in the world envied. The opportunity to escape the old world and start anew, the chance to buy a home to your name, raise a family with little worries, have a secure job that would provide enough, and ultimately the right to say to the other nations, “I am free”. Sadly today, that opportunity is closing, the chance is slipping and that free America is being chained by the very same people robbing others of a life. The last time in history anyone saw this large of a robbery was during the French Revolution. This is only said because the world is emerging into a global economy that blurs national law and dries countries of their resources.
There is no escape. It encompasses every factor of the modern American lifestyle. It all begins with "The American Dream," in which everyone strives to become part of the ideal, the obsession, that supposedly defines how happiness can be obtained. But happiness is not, contrary to the beliefs of the American Dreamers, measured on a checklist including 2.5 kids, 1 dog, 1 cat, quaint house in suburbs, white picket fence, 2 car garage, freshly mowed lawn, etc. That image is a facade over the ever-crumbling ashheaps of our world. It is impossible to measure one's life or happiness on a scale of coffee spoons, cars, or annual income, but people continue to plug away like machines for no other reason than to make the money that they honestly believe will bring them true happiness. This idea is everywhere, leaving much of America longing for a life that does not exist and working toward a goal that will never be reached.
Culture is a learned behaviour made up with a shared set of; values, norms and beliefs which are governed by a sense of tradition and shared history that gives us a common identity. Since human beings are virtually identical biologically, as individuals our different characteristics can be explained and expressed through our human behaviour through symbolic representation. Our perception of the World around us can also influence our culture. For example; what we perceive or interpret as good or bad reflects on our morals, values and what we are willing to accept, allow and stand up against. According to Hofsted, Culture is a ‘is the shared attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour’ also referred to as ‘Mental Programming’ which can be simply understood as the way we are (Gibson, 2002).From this it can be inferred that people with similar interests with likes and dislikes tend to group themselves among other individuals who may share the same religion or even social class. Furthermore, culture can be something you are born into, you have no control over it or where your culture originated from it is like a pre chosen destiny but can be affected and influenced by other individuals or the environment around you. The ‘Cultural iceberg’ sees the word ‘culture’ compared to an iceberg as they both have two dimensions; one that is visible and is above the surface while the other is hidden, larger and more difficult to notice(Gibson,2002) .Similarly, culture can be divided into two; known as explicit and tacit. Explicit culture is tangible, it can be described as the external features of an individuals culture like; the religion in which they practise, the clothing in which they dress, food and language. For example; in Arabian c...
Holism: the term ‘holism’ entails that when investigating or studying human beings, their activities and how they live, one should take the context related to them such as their education, healthcare, politics and other social structures.