Do you feel like an American?

Question

I've heard it said that we Americans value independence and freedom, that we are a melting pot of cultures and traditions, and that these qualities make us a good country. However, I feel like we are NOT independent and NOT free. I feel like we strive to be told how to feel and think, whether it be by mainstream media or political parties or religion. We have freedoms that other countries do not, but every day we willingly deprive others and ourselves of those same liberties. Those don't sound like the actions of people who had to fight for their rights and freedoms. Those sound like the actions of a people who are looking for someone to tell them how to live. Do you feel free and independent, or do you feel like, everywhere you go, you are bombarded with people trying to get you to watch a certain tv show, vote a certain way, belong to a particular church? Are we even free anymore, or have we opressed ourselves?

Answer 1

Yes i agree,freedom of speech has been limited ever since Bush became President,and the government tells us how to act in public,such as no drinking,smoking..reminds me of those old communist posters that the Old Soviet Union used to put out,where everyone looked the same.

Answer 2

I feel very American. I was not born American but chose to make myself an American by years of patience, work, and expense, doing it the legal way. I could easily have acquired citizenship in any of several other excellent societies but chose the USA because there is no other place on Earth so clearly committed to the values I hold. This Republic was founded on Enlightenment thinking and Humanist values, all very clear in the writings of the founders. Google the founding documents of practically every other country and see that they perceive rights as deriving from a god or external authority. But the American vision is that rights are inherent in you, not granted to you, and the highest authority in the USA is not somebody's god or book but is WE THE PEOPLE, and our flag is free from any kind of religious symbolism. An American does not kneel or bow or grovel to any king or the alleged god who is suposed to give that king a "divine right" to rule over you. An American stands straight and tall and respects the liberty of himself and of others. The original Pledge of Allegiance should never have been changed because my America is "one nation not under anyone or anything at all". So yes, I feel like an American every time I see that flag or read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution or the amazingly insightful writings of Thomas Jefferson and the stunning ideas so passionately expressed by Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man", and I have been moved literally to tears on hearing a rendition of "America the Beautiful". Yes, I feel very much like an American, and the America I love to my core is not the America betrayed by the likes of George Bush but the America envisioned by its founders destined to be an example for the world, not an empire.

Answer 3

Yes I feel very much like an American. Try living in another country for a few years, even one that's as culturally similar as Britain. You'll start feeling like an American very quickly.

I agree that American culture has become grossly saturated with a very narrow set of symbols and content of information and that we're constantly being bombarded with a bunch of mindless blather that's supposed to represent different choices.

Despite that, we're undoubtedly free. Free not to watch television, free to criticise the lack of substantive differences between major political parties, free to get fed up with what's on offer and come up with something new.

Imagine what it would be like to have only one TV channel to watch which constantly has some dictator's rantings being praised 24/7. Imagine not daring to ask the wrong type of question in church or mosque for fear of being imprisoned or worse. Imagine knowing that your local politicians are corrupt but being afraid of speaking out against it for fear of the local police, who are in the pocket of the politicians. Imagine being so poor that you have to eat dirt while you watch your smallest child die before your eyes.

Around the world, there are billions of people who are manifestly not free in the ways I've described. You need only look at their lives to realize that although we may not always be thrilled, inspired or even impressed by the ways that freedom is expressed in our society, we are undoubtedly among the freest and most prosperous people who have ever lived.

Of course, the presence of freedom and prosperity don't guarantee hapiness. But the absence or freedom and prosperity almost certainly guarantee unhappiness. So count your blessings and try to figure out what would make you feel truly free and then go for it!

Answer 4

Putting aside freedoms that politics has put a pinch on (such as being allowed look into your library account, to check your credit for airline tickets, etc), I feel pretty free because I refuse to listen to anyone else's opinion on what I should watch, think, feel, read, say, and how I should vote. I'm not a sheep because I'm just not good at following the herd.

Answer 5

nope, seeing as i am not american, never been there, and only have 1 pen friend from there who i hardly talk to, no i dont really feel like an american, and you can cut the shite about independance and freedom, it raised spirits during and after the war, but its just getting really patronising and pathetic now... give it a rest

Answer 6

i know what you mean i am only thirteen years old and i am in eighth grade. all of my teachers are telling me that i well have to make alot of decisions in high school. so i think to myself well its my right to make decisions. but i started to look into the decisions i well have to make. i get to choose 1 class i well get to take. is that fair they telling me i need math,english,s.s,and science gym is also mandertory. what if i dont want to take gym.
all i hear is to bad or you have to.
so i ask myself is that the freedom of america
were we have other people making decisions for us
we need the war in iraq. we americans are not the ones who decide all we can do is protest.
you have to take gym. well do i have a choice? no i dont.
SO YOU SEE US AMERICANS ARE NOT FREE AS WE
SHOULD BE .

Answer 7

I do not feel like an American but i do feel free and independent.

Answer 8

Read George Orwell's "1984" - I think that will settle alot of your confusion.

Answer 9

from an engish pov, many americans seem deluded and over-patriotic, others seem very aware and down to earth.

Answer 10

No. But that's because I was born in Ireland.