Do Americans understand what real depth of culture is?

Question

Americans are great friends and allies but do they really understand what it's like to live in cultures and civilisations steeped with thousands of years of history, are they like teenagers big strong but some how niave. Although with an open mind to changes. Is this good or bad? Should we leave history and move into a new world. A curious Englishman

Answer 1

american "culture" is relatively in its adolesence. it's only been around for 300 years or so? something like that. whereas those countries like japan or korea or africa or france that have DEEP long enduring cultures can appreciate and relate. what you get here is exactly what you said just teenagers naive and childish for the most part but some of them appreciate and learn to love other cultures for their uniqueness and diversity. here "americans" have no idea what it is to be american. they just praise god and love their land and assume thats; what it is to be an american when it involves so much more.

Answer 2

Stop being a whinny liberal with your trick questions. We fled from nations like Britain because the government didn't allow culture to develop. The idea behind being "open minded" is a big farce. If I don't agree with gay marriage, abortion, radical Islam or socailism I am called a closed minded ignorant racist. The United States made the world a pleasant place to live. No one was forced to work the fields as a peasant under a ruthless King. We aren't a big strong teenager anymore; We are a big strong Father figure; sorry, but it's the truth. I think change is bad because it allows fringe groups to sneak their way into power. I'm just going to ignore the "new world" part of your question because it is so stupid and childish. Good luck convincing radical Islamists, who would cut your head off in a split second, that there is more to life than war and that the best things in life are puppy dogs, cotton candy, and flowers.

Answer 3

Not at all.

Particularly in the last fifty or so years. In actuality, this sort of thing is looked down on, together with meaningful, higher education. This is fundamentally fostered from at the highest levels.
An Americans' identity is essentially arrived at by what those around him tell him, or what he sees in the mirror. Took, the tottering mechanism of a hype medium compounds this outlook.
This is not to say decent, grounded folk do not exist, but you wil find them in low numbers. You may also find that it is not the fact they're ' Americans ' per se that makes them decent, but that this is what they are irrespective. No one has a corner on that, though many would have you think so.

We are presently a polyglot of ignorant, cowardly, boors who despise dignity. To evade any reprisal or recognition of being such we quickly hide behind the flag. As if this were some Divinely Inspired Talisman.

Like any opportunist weasel. This is why a war is in place. Because of our evil doings. And they are many. Ironically, I have a fairly sunny view of the future for some. But not many. It will not be contingent on being an American. Just a decent, honest human being.

Answer 4

Gee, thanks for so neatly categorizing me. That isn't patronizing at all.

We are the New World, that's true. I am sure that the Middle Eastern countries (you know, the cradle of civilization) think of Europeans as just so many teenage upstarts as well.

Since we obviously cannot go back in time and start our country sooner, let us develop our culture without any judgment from you. Perhaps you should actually experience some of our history and culture before you slap a label on us.

And yes it can be good: It was the (televised) US experience with civil rights protests in the Southern states during the 1960's that inspired Northern Irish Catholics to restart the fight for their civil rights in the 1970's under tyrannical English rule. History isn't something to be "left" and restarted, it's continual.

Answer 5

I know what you mean about cultural depth, but I think the concept of culture is often used to imply some sense of sophistication rather than its theoretical underpinnings of "shared values" and "common interpretations of environmental meaning". I don't agree that one culture has more or deeper culture than another, but I don't think that is really what you are implying.
There's a trade off, and it's been argued at least as long as I''ve been around, between flexibility and continuity. What Europeans see as "flaky" and "adolescent", Americans often pride themselves for adaptive and pragmatic. On the flip side, Americans often stereotype Europeans as bureaucratic corporatists, where I believe they see the social environment that they are embedded in and recognize the constraining influences that this environment really has on people's choices. I agree with the shorter history for Americans. I live in a city where the oldest building is barely 100 years old, so when I am rarely called to reflect on a distant past, it carries barely more than generation backwards.
There was a good article on time and people's concept of it in the Academy of Management: Learning and Education this month that brought up a similar point to this. It discussed some empirical work showing that people that think about the past conceptualize a more distant future. Think about your position on American retrospection, it would seem to fit another criticism of Americans-that they focus more on short term goals, where Europeans are credited with long term social programs and national projects.
It would seem that historical reflection could bog a person-a people, down, but indications are that history instead stimulates thoughtful consideration of a more distant future, beyond even our lifetimes. I wish you could confirm or deny this from your point of view.

So, seems like a conspicuous history would important for a nation's future. It's possible that I and my sisters and brothers require more effort to imagine our temporal position in the greater scheme of things than you all.

Answer 6

Should we leave history in the past. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. We do not make the same mistakes as cultures before us.
I do think a lot of us take the same pride in our Wild West as you do in your middle ages. I think that could be marked as our teen years, and now we are the 20 year old kid just fresh from college, eager to save the world from itself.
I personally love studying history and historical cultures. And as far as not having family roots in the same city for 200 years, many or our families have not been here for 200 years, because they imigrated from other lands. I know that my family has been in the Chicago are since they imigrated to this country, my family has a tradition of someone serving in every conflict since we came to this country too.
We beleive in our history, however we do not beleive that our history defines us, or makes us better or worse then any other country in the world. Ok except France, but you guys feel the same way about them.

Answer 7

Most Americans have no sense of their own history, much less anyone else's. This lack of understanding frequently leads them to repeat many of the same mistakes that other countries made decades or centuries ago. History can only teach those who wish to be taught. It would appear that many Americans still believe in the tired adage, "Ignorance Is Bliss." It must seem quite incongruous to them when things don't work out the way they wish.

Answer 8

That is a really nice way to put it thanks, and you're right.
Oddly enough, Americans are clinging to traditional values tighter than most European countries. I speak of Christian values.

But in general No. Americans don't know what it is like to have ancestors that lived in the same village for over 200 years, nor do we know what it is like to have tribal rivalries that are hundreds of years old.

Look at Iraq: 3 different peoples being forced together into a "nation". Won't work, can't work.

Answer 9

You can't understand what you haven't experienced. (Myself, included.) As long as we keep our minds open to the possibilities, we're that much closer to understanding. Speaking as an American... Open-mindedness is a good thing. History is important to learn from so the future can be better and brighter. (At least, ideally.) Complete understanding with an open mind is the best.

Answer 10

We understand how hundreds/thousands of years of culture can stagnate a society. I find that our "youth" as a country is one of our strongest drawing points for our own American culture. The fact that we are not burdened by thousands of years of history goes directly to our ideals of "rugged individualism", "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps", and being able to carve out opportunity in our country for yourself and your family.