America and the World

Gun control is one of the biggest issues contended in America today. It is something that needs to be questioned and most Americans will not be satisfied until we have a clear cut definition of what it means to be allowed to bear arms. This idea is the second on our famous list of amendments and it guarantees American citizens the right to keep and carry weapons, namely firearms. Now, for the majority of our country’s history, this right went largely unquestioned. For many years it was perfectly normal for the average American family to own guns. Hunting was a much more popular activity in early America and in order to hunt, you need a gun. Teddy Roosevelt himself was an avid sportsman and a huge advocate of hunting and conservation. He was the one who founded America’s national park system in the hopes that we could preserve these wild areas for Americans to enjoy for years to come.

Now, however, the right to own and carry guns has come under very harsh criticism, and it is not without a reasonable bases. Over the past two decades we have seen viscous shootings that have taken the lives of hundreds of innocent people, many of whom were young school students. The most notable shooting in recent years happened on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. A twenty year old man named Adam Lanza took an assault rifle and entered the school, fatally shooting more than twenty students, most of whom were in kindergarten, and six staff members. This is probably the most tragic day America has seen since 9/11.

This horrible event sparked the debate among Americans once again about what to do with this amendment that allows criminals to gain access to dangerous weapons. Typically, the liberal side of America wishes to get rid of guns entirely, and the conservatives wish to slacken the restrictions put on gun procurement.

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to both. The advantages to owning guns usually take the backseat during these arguments and more focus is put on the danger of gun ownership. Some advantages to owning firearms would be increased protection against possible assailants, and recreation (many people enjoy going to the range and shooting guns). The benefit to banning guns are that it would be much more difficult for criminals to acquire them (provided the government does it right and keeps track on all weapons).

Is adding an amendment to the constitution to remove the second amendment the solution to our problems? Should the government just make it much more difficult for anyone with a criminal or mentally unstable past to purchase a gun? How does a country that for so long allowed its citizens to carry firearms simply take them away if that is the resolution agreed upon? And even if it does happen, will that prevent criminals from committing these mass murders, or will they simply find another means by which to do it?

America is a cultural hotspot. From music to movies, television to books, the U.S. is one heck of an international trend-setter. Since the dawn of mass media culture and communication America has migrated to every corner of the globe in one way or another. This “Americanization” of other countries and cultures is on a rampant uprising. Just about every country on earth has a McDonald’s, most have a Subway, and yet still others are beginning to see the rise of more and more Arby’s- and this is just the fast food aspect of the U.S. How much further does this influence go?

One of the obvious places in which to look for America’s influence is in pop culture, more specifically music. American music artists now have to make themselves accessible the world over if they wish to compete with the other artists who have already established themselves in the industry. Take for instance Lady Gaga, who is possibly the most well known pop singer in the world. She performs not only in America, but in places like Japan and Brazil as well.

The American film industry almost has a monopoly on the worlds movie enterprise. If a movie does not come from Hollywood, most people, at least here in America anyway, regard it as unworthy of viewership. The rise of Bollywood has given hope to all of the small time, or non American film producers who wish to compete with the big guys, but there is still this feeling that to make it in film one must make it to Hollywood.

One of the more drastic examples of Americanization can be found in China. The United States has quite a stake invested in China between actual monetary investments and labor production. Because of this increasing invasion of western culture, more and more Chinese citizens feel the need to look more “western”. They are actually getting surgery done to make their eyes more round and therefore more American. This is destruction of culture in a whole new way. Changing the way one dresses, the food one eats, or the music one listens to is normal and can be expected when introduced to a new culture, but to change the way one looks- that might be going a bit too far.

Will this deluge of American culture on the world ever end, or will it continue until the whole world is just a reflection of the United States? Is it possible that Americanization could completely destroy other cultures in the world, and if so, how can we stop this? As fantastic as America is, maybe it is best if we keep our culture here, and let others come to us, rather than forcing out customs on others.

America is a country who’s population is constantly accused of being “anti-intellectual”. Other people, predominantly the British and the French, attack the American way of life saying that we as Americans do not put enough emphasis on culture; things like painting, literature, music, film, fine cuisine, and other artistic features of society. We are a nation always innovating, yet somehow we do not understand how to appreciate things past. We knock down ancient architecture to make way for modern skyscrapers. We cut funding to schools for the arts. We encourage sports and athletic achievement over free expression through music and dance. These are accusations I am fully prepared to fight, and yet part of me agrees with what these people have to say.

It is true that most Americans would rather spend an afternoon sitting on the couch watching a football game than going to a museum, music concert, or poetry reading-or even playing football themselves. I would be wiling to bet that at least half of the people in school today have not read a book in the past three months other than those necessary for school. So why is this? Why are Americans so hesitant, even suspicious when someone appears to value knowledge and artistic talent over a good throwing arm, or the ability to hit a ball?

I recently came across an article in a newspaper that described the events that happened at a town’s local football game. During halftime, the school’s band cam out to play a set-as bands do. However, when the band ran a few minutes over their scheduled time the players and coaches began to get antsy. They asked the band director to get the band off the field so that they could continue the game, but it went so much further than this. The football players, the coaches, and even the parents started yelling at the members of the band to stop playing and get off the field. They, the parents in the stands, began to throw pretzels, food wrappers, and other objects at the band in an attempt to get them to leave.

This is an extreme example of American “anti-intellectualism”, but it goes to show that some people are so enveloped by sports culture that they will actually berate and attack children for doing something that is important and dear to them. How could anyone be so rude and ignorant as to yell at high school students to stop playing during half time. It’s not like they were going to stand there and play all night- just until their song was finished.

This is the kind of thing we need to fight. I’m not saying that we should force Americans to read literature or appreciate paintings, or develop an affinity for ballet, but we do need to make sure that we preserve these things for those who do enjoy them. We need to combat prejudices and ignorance to make sure that people realize things like music and writing can be just as important, if not more important than football or reality television. The arts are important, and it is crucial to ensure their future.

It is no secret that the United States of America is a huge advocate of defense spending. AS a matter of fact, the U.S. spends more money on its military than any other country on the planet. Actually, to put it in even greater perspective, America gives more money to defense programs than the next ten highest defense-spending countries combined. Every year billions of dollars pour into the Airforce, Navy, Army and Marines, the FBI, CIA, NSA, DOD, and various other known and unknown security forces present in our country. Now for the frequently asked question: Is all of this spending really necessary? There are two sides that have been fighting over this inquiry for years and it appears as though the argument may never end.

Let’s take a look at the first side: the side that advocates for the tremendous grants given to security funds. They say that, yes, this spending is in fact necessary, and not only that, America as we know it would not exist without it. This side notes that because of the bolstering of our military, we have been able to protect ourselves from countless enemies and keep our nation safe. Yes, some of this money could be put to other use, but why sacrifice safety and security? We, as Americans, enjoy the luxury of knowing that we live in the safest country on Earth.

The other side of the argument, the ones who berate the government for allowing so much money to be spent on weapons and defense systems, would love to see these funds go elsewhere- to education or healthcare. It is obviously important to spend enough money on defense to ensure the safety of your country and its inhabitants, but isn’t the U.S. going a little too far? The statistic that shows America spending more money than the next ten countries combines is correct, but what it doesn’t say is that all ten of those countries are allies of the U.S.

There are no real answers to this question because America has nothing with which to compare its situation. The only way to know for sure how a defense spending cut or spending increase will affect the country is simply to go and do it. The consequences however, could be dire given that reducing funds could lead to more attempted attacks on the U.S.

So which side is correct? Will we eventually find that we have been spending far too much for far too long, or will we realize that the dangers America faces are too great to make any sacrifices to our military? I suppose time will give us the answer.

One of the most defining qualities of the Unites States of America is that it is regarded as a nation established in freedom. The Constitution of the Unites States of America, one of the most famous documents in history, directly spell out the rights and freedoms that we as Americans are able to enjoy. The first ten amendments to this constitution, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, hold the official outline of what truly makes America so unique. It was the first piece of legislation in the U.S. to state exactly what Americans are and are not entitled to do and say. The first of the amendments on this bill delivers to Americans the right of free speech, possibly the most important right that we have.

There is a reason that freedom of speech is number one on the list of rights adopted by the new constitution of the United States of America. Besides religion, it was the thing most heavily oppressed by the British government during the eighteenth century. Citizens were not allowed to voice opinions that contradicted those of the government or the crown. Speaking one’s mind would inevitably result in imprisonment or death depending on the severity of the infraction, and could actually extend beyond oneself. If someone was caught professing an unaccepted creed or denouncing some new law or rule, that individuals entire family could receive punishment along with the offender.

Suppression of speech is a form of population control. If you can make sure that people don’t say anything that you don’t want them to say, then the chances of those words becoming actions greatly declines. However, sometimes the opposite is true. By the act of not allowing citizens to say what they wish, a government may control them for a while, but the people will many times rebel against such oppression and overthrow the government that enforces it.

The early settler of the United States did just this and established what would become the world’s most powerful nation, and one of the bases for the foundation of this nation was the ideal that its inhabitants would be free to voice their opinions and feelings free from the fear of punishment.

The first amendment is the reason that I am able to write this blog post. If I wanted to criticize the U.S. government, its Constitution, or even the right to free speech itself, I would absolutely have every right to do so. I would not be punished or imprisoned, although I might receive some negative feedback from other bloggers.

The first amendment has to be the greatest addition to the United States Constitution. It allows us to engage in meaningful dialogue. It enables books to be published and television shows to be aired. It is (or was for a time) a uniquely American trait, one that is now spreading to many other countries. It is one of the essentials for the basis of a strong nation: one that is based in freedom.

There are many aspects of American culture that are revered by the people of other nations, as well as some that are not. Humor and comedy are one of those things that are far different in America than they are in lots of other places, especially a place like Britain. The American-British comedy controversy is a quite popular debate had among modern actors, comedians, critics, and enthusiasts, and has fueled a lot of conversation among others as well.

American humor is constantly bashed as being anti-intellectual barbaric slapstick with no premise and no way to entertain other than by demonstrations of physical pain. The whole accident prone, slapstick genre is very popularly evident in the TV miniseries The Three Stooges. These episodes are filled with head bashing, eye poking comedy that left their American audience in stitches when they aired in the 1940’s.

British humor, on the other hand, is very much based in sarcasm and self-deprecation. It is viewed, usually by the British themselves, as being more intelligent and high brow than its American counterpart. While this might seem like a rather arrogant view of themselves, the British might have a point. Comedies in America typically revolve around either vulgar dialogue or some sort of physical blunders, and while this can be just as funny as the British way of thinking, it can get pretty old pretty quickly.

Many Americans see the English sense of humor as being pretentious, but it is really just very sarcasm laden and filled with depressing and sometimes dark comedy. One of my favorite examples of this is the movie Shawn of the Dead. It is a British made spoof of the famous classic Dawn of the Dead. The film is filled with very “Messed up: humor as Americans might say and it almost seems more sad than funny at times. But despite all of this there is still an elated feeling of mockery and oddity that fuels the film.

British and American comedians are constantly butting heads over which style is better but the question is one of situational suitability not some misguided idea of outperforming one another. Sometimes people want sarcasm, sometimes they want to see someone fall down some stairs, and sometimes they want to find humor in something disturbing like murder or the Holocaust ( that’s where Tarantino comes in), but no matter what your take is on the matter, remember that these kinds of debates are good. They keep the industry evolving and new styles of comedy coming into play.

Are Americans obsessed with self-help? I, along with most of the non-American world, would say yes. Americans seem undoubtedly preoccupied with the idea of self improvement.

Before I go any further I have to make it clear that I am in no way suggesting that making in effort to improve on an area of one’s life is a foolish or pointless endeavor. Quite the opposite: I think that it is very important and beneficial to try and learn new skills, improve on the ones we have, strengthen our memory, improve reading comprehension, discover new hobbies or simply get better at something. However, there comes a point when this ideology goes too far and can actually become harmful.

If you go into an American bookstore one of the largest sections, possibly the largest, will be the section on self help. Why is this? Are Americans putting less value in literature, history, poetry, and humor, or is it that the need to make oneself smarter, handier, and thinner takes precedent over these? Countless books have been published outlining the steps to lose fifty pounds in three days, to create the perfect happy family, or to make everyone in the world think you’re just the nicest most capable person who ever lived.

While it is not necessarily harmful to want to know how to do these things ( however grandiose they may seem) the process of achieving them might be. Americans have this compulsion to complain about life and how terrible it is and how they need to change things up and try to make it better. This is the problem with living in a very individualistic society- we are too focused on ourselves and we develop the “I” complex. The words “we”, “us”, “our”, and “they” leave our vocabulary. We begin to use the singular more and more often. Everything becomes about us. Problems, complications, difficulties, and inadequacies all surround “me”. We begin to say things like, “I need to do this…” or “I need to do that…”, or “My problem is… blah blah blah”. This gets very tiring very fast to those who have to listen to these unending lists of complaints.

Sometimes when listening to people who are like this we just want to grab the by the throat and yell at them. We want to scream “Yea, that does suck, but unless your going to suck it up and do something about it, please shut up!”

Self help it seems only helps to fuel these attitudes. We are constantly coddled by books, videos, articles, and talk shows that tell us that nothing is our fault and that if we just dig deep enough, and buy enough of these products, we will be able to pave our own way to happiness. This can be more harmful than we realize. Maybe instead of sitting around and complaining about our lives and then buying books and videos in an attempt to rid ourselves of the causes of these complaints we should just get up and do it ourselves.

I know what you may be thinking: If we could just get up and solve things ourselves then why aren’t more people doing that? It’s a perfectly valid question. That’s exactly how people had to solve their problems before YouTube and Oprah and, to me at least, that method appears to be more effective and rewarding.

Again. I’m not bashing people who have genuine problems that need a lot of work to solve, but if you’re going to sit there and spend days wondering how to make your life happier you probably won’t find the answer from a self help program alone. It is important to remember that while these programs may help for a little while, they are rarely a permanent solution to any problem.

Perhaps one of the greatest things about the United States of America is the seemingly endless variety of cuisine that can be enjoyed here. Authentic foods from all over the world have come the the U.S. and have established their own places in the realm of American eateries. From Mexican to Chinese, Italian and Jamaican, citizens of the states have the opportunity to taste the world and enjoy its culture through a huge selection of culinary creations.

When people immigrated to the United States after the country opened its doors to the world, they brought with them their values and cultures, and a very important part of any nation’s culture is its food. The Italians brought many great pasta dishes, the Chinese introduces noodles, the Japanese showed us that raw fish can be served in many different (and delicious) ways.

There are those people out there who would presume that cuisine is nothing more than a method of serving up necessary subsistence and that it isn’t particularly reflective of culture itself. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. First of all, as we see in the most American of our holidays- Thanksgiving, food is a way to bring together family and friends. It can stimulate conversation and keep people talking long into the night, conversing over turkey and potatoes and then chatting over pie and coffee. Food absolutely reflects the traits of certain countries. Many types of dished came about because the people who created it had a very limited means of production and resources. Other foods are specific to cultures because they only grow in one region or country.

Now, here’s a question: Does America have any authentic cuisine of its own? Most of the foods that we enjoy here in the United States are derived from other countries, from other cultures, but is there any meal that is singularly unique to America? It seems as if there are no foods that have originated here in any of our fifty states, however, America has through such sharps twists on classic dishes that, today, they are seen as being American. Hotdogs and hamburgers for example are originally from Germany, but have been so influenced by American culture that they are now considered an American food.

So, while America may not have exactly developed any notable cuisine of its own, it has adapted an changed many different foods from other countries and made them its own. This seems to be the American way: to take something that has been done before and alter it in ways to (hopefully) make it better.

Some people have called the United States of America “The World’s Police Force”. Is this really true, and if so, is it really necessary? Does America have the responsibility or even the right to go to other places in the world and use military force in order to accomplish certain goals?

America has, almost since its founding, been involved in every major military conflict that has affected the world. In its earliest years it even played host to wars fought among other nations (England, France, Spain, Native American tribes). From the World Wars to Korea, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, the U.S. has appeared to shed blood in more places than not.

Many people have a problem with this aspect of American politics. The fact that the United States will provide troops or weapons to almost any conflict that suits its interests draws an uproar of opposition, not just from other countries, but from factions within the U.S. itself. Initially, most people were on George W. Bush’s side when he made the decision to invade Iraq after the attacks on 9/11. They wanted justice to be brought to those who caused the deaths of over three thousand American citizens. However, after several years of fighting, and a mobilization into Afghanistan, many people began to lose interest in the war, and then eventually started to resent it. The same thing happened almost eleven years earlier at the onset of the Persian Gulf War, more popularly know in America as Operation Desert Storm. Except that, with this invasion, there was no previous threat to American safety. The U.S., along with U.N. coalition forces, went into Kuwait to halt the progressing Iraqi invasion. About thirty years earlier, the United States invaded the small and unfamiliar country of Vietnam to help stop the invasion of supposed Communists from Northern Vietnam. What followed was the longest war in which America had ever been engaged before the modern war in the Middle East, one which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of young American troops. With both of these conflicts the United States intervened on the premise of world safety. During the gulf it was protecting the people of Kuwait. During Vietnam it was helping to stop the spread of Communism, a much feared ideology at the time.

Were these wars justified? Are these examples of American military intervention going too far? The answer to both of these questions are a resounding yes and no. They were both initiated with the intention of doing good, but ended up doing more damage than was necessary.

On the other side of this argument is the idea that America has not intervened in instances when its help would have been greatly appreciated. The perfect example of this is the ethnic war (more cleansing than war) that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early nineties. Serbs and Croats exterminated Muslims in an attempt to “purify” Europe. These attacks much resembled the violence expelled on Jews during the Holocaust. And just like during the Holocaust, foreign intervention was much desired. The innocent civilians being slaughtered in Bosnia greatly desired U.S. assistance in fending off their attackers, but the United States held back and only after much prodding did it finally decide to provide help-minimal as it was.

This could very well be an example of America shirking its duties as a world superpower. However, could it be argued that it was not America’s responsibility; that we should have just left these people to their own problems?

These are questions that America and nations around the world have been asking for years. So what is the verdict? Have we gone too far in the past? Should we get involved less, perhaps more?

I suppose it is up to us, the future generations of the world, to decide.