American Culture

After this past week, I'm really seeing that Americans do have a distinct culture that differs greatly from the rest of the world. After reading/hearing the criticism Stefan Schirmer had about American culture and and watching Oprah's journey through Denmark, I'm realizing that Americans aren't all that special. In fact, I'm starting to want to live somewhere else!

I noticed that American consumerism is ridiculous. We buy so much at once, so we can satisfy our long term needs. Why is this? Because as Americans, we strive to be efficient. We want to do everything as fast as possible so that we can spend more time moving ourselves forward in our naturally competitive lives. One way we rank ourselves as being "successful" is by how much money we earn. However, we're always buying into the newest technology and products to stay in line with the rest of American society. What's the point in trying to earn more money if we're just going to spend it all on goods we don't need? A penny saved is a penny earned.

Now that I've put some thought into it, I believe Americans are too ethnocentric. We believe in "equality", where everyone is created equal and has equal opportunity. But with that, we also believe that everyone should act the same way, and not just any way, but the American way. We don't exactly work together too much either. Being in an extremely competitive environment, Americans have a tendency to try to push themselves forward in life. Unless there's some sort of partnership or grouping between individuals, I think Americans are naturally selfish in the thought of bettering their own position.

But I don't want to be too critical about American flaws. The US is a much better place to live than many other parts of the world, and every culture will have its own "flaws" that outsiders won't agree with. I enjoy living in an American society, and I'm very thankful of the opportunities that come with this lifestyle.