To me, America means a group of diverse people who everyday take advantage of everything the government works to provide. Without our soldiers and officers and our somewhat put together government the irresponsible citizens would be left in the dust. The average American citizen takes advantage of the freedom that is handed to them as they enter this land. Other countries look at America in disgust, seeing our citizens as an annoyance and a disgrace. Have you ever heard the phrase "Stupid American," that is because it is the truth. Be it a celebrity or your average Joe, Americans either give this country a bad reputation or they agree that America needs to be changed. The people of America are ignorant, belligerent, and impinge on the freedoms that the government has supplied to them.
We have many people who work hard so America can be successful, but their are just as many people who create a negative reputation for America. Point in case, The Hangover, possibly the most successful R-rated comedy in the US, proves that the majority of Americans are irresponsible. The Hangover is the story of a group of average American men who take a trip to Vegas for a bachelor party. Starting off they wake up in a trashed hotel room with no recollection of the previous night. The movie focuses on finding out what the men did that night, and where their missing friend might have ended up. They must lie and cheat in order to find their friend and return him in time for his wedding. This shows the recklessness of the average American, and the popularity of the movie proves that many people enjoy watching the stupidity of others. Americans have poor values in many decisions that they make, "Why don't we remember a God *#^$ thing from last nigh...
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...rselves. We try to impress other countries but our way to impress them is to out drink them, this makes the nick name “stupid American” stick and as far as I am concerned it’s not going any where any time soon.
Works Cited
John Mayer. "Who Says.". Sony Music Entertainment, 2009.
The Hangover. Dir. Todd Phillips. Perf. Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha. DVD. Warner Brothers Pictures, 2009
Leibovitz Annie. Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair. June 2008.
O'Reilly, Bill, and Flowers Charles . The O'Reilly Factor For Kids. New York: Harper Collins, 2004.
Ross, Brian . "Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11." Abc News. 13 Mar. 2008. 7 Mar. 2010. .
von Ziegesar, Cecily. I like it like that a gossip girl novel. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004.
To be an American is to be proud of your flag and country, to be willing to suffer for America, and to never be willing to give up.
Americans are defined by the respect they have for their country and its government, in taking advantage of their freedoms and rights that they gain by showing respect through allegiance, pride, and loyalty.
Stereotypically, Americans are viewed as closed-minded, self-centered, and materialistic. On the other hand Americans can be independent, innovative, and driven and determined when completing the task at hand. Unfortunately, some of the negative characteristics of Americans outweigh the more positive characteristics.
Americans can cherish their freedom of expression and are part of a diverse culture. An American is someone who would embrace freedom and liberty. Overall, to be an American, it is crucial to embrace the culture and become a part of it disregarding where you were born.
Our book opens us up to the world of diversity and inequality in the United States. It presses on issues about groups that hold superiority towards inferior groups for multiple reasons. In “Imagine our country” our book blatantly calls out America’s problems and how we in some cases are only increasing the chances of them continuing. It helps define the differences between racism and discrimination, which I never thought about enough to distinguish before taking this class. These chapters also offer hope and ways to combat these differences, because while we may be stuck in a social loop-hole there are available ways to challenge these and make society aware of changes and in act upon them!
To be an American means more than just living in the country for a set amount of years. It means more than being granted citizenship, and more than just waving a Boy Scout American flag in your yard on Memorial Day. To be an American is to be free, and that is what we as Americans sometimes take for granted and forget. Being an American isn 't just living in the "greatest country in the world", there are plenty of other countries that say the same exact things. There are far less countries in this world, though, that are free, and have the American mindset. Not many countries employ so many freedoms and have the 'American dream '. The American mindset is not just something that
An American is someone who is free to do whatever whenever he wants. He is someone who doesn't care about who judges him or what people think. All he cares about is his version of the American dream. His version may be different from everyone else's but an American has the freedom to be different in whatever way he wants to. This is what an American is.
We all have this vision of America and what Americans truly are. Most people go by what is displayed on television: children running and laughing, parents grilling outside conversing with other parents, and the American flag waving in the distant. As happy and peaceful as all that may seem the real question still remains unanswered; what is the real meaning of being American? Honestly, being American comes with its advantages and disadvantages. The main part of being an American is having freedom and endless opportunities offered to you.
America has a culture of greed, selfishness and a system that rewards those characteristics. Success at any means necessary is the real American value the one that governs how people live, work and view the world. This frame of mind makes it ok to put other people down to build yourself up and measures success as the number of digits on a paycheck. All of this built upon greed, reinforced by incentive system that rewards a lack of humility, all of which leads to a society that has a few on top crushing the people below them.
Cultural diversity is an American ideal yet our cultural experience is similar to many around the world. An analysis of two vastly different scientists’ views on the nature of cultural change and diversity sheds light on why deep-rooted cultural intricacies from generations ago are fading into oblivion. Thomas Sowell and Wade Davis clearly have differing opinions on the evolution of cultures and the significance of diversity. Wade Davis (2007) presents in “Dreams from Endangered Cultures,” that he is not concerned about the fact cultures evolve over time in a “dance with new possibilities of life,” but that power and corruption is destroying the unique expression of the human spirit in various indigenous peoples of the world. On the contrary, Sowell (1990) believes cultural changes results from a Darwinian law of survival of the fittest. He contends cultural diversity and change occur as a dynamic process that evolves from things that work over time, and if these changes don’t work, they disappear much like Roman Numerals (Sowell, 1990). Both scientists have valid points but their diverse perspectives on cultural change and diversity and its implication on society as a whole are particularly interesting.
Webster?s Dictionary defines American as or its inhabitants. But is that all America and an American truly is? Is a person American simply because of geography? According to Identities, ?America is a confluence of cultures.? Americans are people whose lives depict men and women who are trying to be as successful and robust as possible, this quest is symbolic to citizens of many other countries. This is why America illustrates the Statue of Liberty, a structure that symbolizes freedom throughout the world. America is composed not only of these peoples, but the cultures and the ways of life of these people.
Being an American is more than just living in America, or being born in this country. Many people talk about being American’s and they aren't even in this country. Being an American is a way of life that people adapt into by seeing how we act. People all over the world eat the same things that we eat, so that can't really be a way of being an American. To me, being an American is embracing our ways of life, not fighting for the other guys, and loving our anthem and the flag.
Dreaming and producing a better future for themselves and for generations to come is what makes anyone an American. Without America being the safe haven for people whom grown up without certain privilege allowing them to fight for a better future for themselves and their children to come, there would be no hope. Many could never dream of building the amount of self-determination that are ancestors, leaders and parents had to work for in order for us to live our own American dream. Being an American means more than cheap food and good tv shows. For now when people think about America as a whole we want them to think of the vast culture, hard work and determination people put together to making this one place our home.
...ciety void of cultural biases; and allows the freedom of thought to drive the society to a higher level of conscienceness. Being an American means all prejudices are melted away by the variety of people living together in a new race of man called Americans.
Americans place themselves upon a pedestal. Americans believe the world revolves around the United States. The United States is