If you go to other countries, they have traditional dress, dances, ceremonies, rituals, foods, and other things that are specific to their own countires. Americans don't really have anything like that do we? Did we just steal the culture from other countries?
2007-09-17 08:06:44 · 8 answers · asked by Vwgirl18 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
How did this become racial??
2007-09-17 08:18:28 · update #1
Our culture was developed by those who chose to be free and set about the principles to insure a free peoples. We blended many nationalities who in turn were looking for those same freedoms. Though other countries may have ceremonies and dances etc. that go back 1000's of years, they don't have the ability to achieve in those countries what they can here with our culture only 100's of years old. I'd much prefer our quality of life here than all the ceremony anywhere else.
2007-09-17 08:22:51 · answer #1 · answered by dawnb 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Culture has many components and we definitely have one that is uniquely American. All of us regardless of our color. The way that we talk isn't heard anywhere else - not just the accents but how we use/place the words themselves. There are an abundance of American foods (even if they started somewhere else) like pudding, bbq, southern cuisine, NE specialties, etc. I don't know that we have any particular "traditional" dress but what is the traditional dress of England or France? Of course we have our own musical genres. The foundation of modern music came from right here in the US. Hip-hop, blues and r&b are purely American and there are no other musical genres that have, literally, found a home and fans in just about corner of the world. In truth, every culture has borrowed from others. We just did it more recently and have had less time to solidify some traditions. Think of it this way, I don't know if you've ever been abroad but, if you have, you know that you know an American when you see one before they even open their mouths.
2007-09-17 16:14:49 · answer #2 · answered by I'm back...and this still sucks. 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the indigenous people of this land (i.e., Native Americans, Eskimos, and Hawaiians) would be more than a little offended by your suggestion that they have no distinct culture, ceremonies, rituals, foods, etc. As for everyone else, we are either immigrants or the progeny of immigrants who who brought their own native cultures here and continued to carry out the traditions and eat the food that reminded them of home. It's news to me that this is considered "stealing." As time passes, those cultures and the indigenous cultures morph and blend into something distinctly American that you will not find anywhere else in the world.
2007-09-17 16:42:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are a relatively young country compared to many others and so our history doesn't provide a long line of tradition. We are also a melting pot of people, and so our "culture" is multi-national.
Our founding fathers built our government around the rights of the people to speak freely, to have freedom of religion and the freedom to pursue happiness. Therefore our country does not have ONE religion or culture.
Our tradition here is to celebrate freedom. I'll trade that for anyone else's traditional clothing, ritual or food. And I think other countries would like to "steal" that from us!
2007-09-17 15:58:53 · answer #4 · answered by leysarob 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
OK, since we are a nation of immigrants it seems that we don't have "traditional" stuff like dresses, dances and the like. There are things that are American (western wear, jazz music, Southern foods...) but I personally think most of these things are regional. I truly think our Melting Pot makes us special, oh and I would not call it stealing. What came down to us is ours rightfully, from our ancestors.
To tell the truth the only true "American" cultures are those of the Native Americans. The rest of us all came from somewhere else.
2007-09-17 15:22:10 · answer #5 · answered by tetlitea 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The United States of America is made up of many cultures. It is too big and too diverse to name just one. However, there are some practices and products that are peculiar to the United States (although they often spread to other countries). Things that come to mind are: the blues, jazz music, barbeque cooking, Chicago-style pizza, etc.
2007-09-18 00:59:41 · answer #6 · answered by drshorty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
White America does not have a culture. If you ask white people in America what their culture consist of, they say "we have plenty of culture; Italian, French, etc"
2007-09-17 15:16:46 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Well, let's see, we have jazz, rock, hip-hop, blue jeans, baseball, American football, soul food, etc, etc, etc.
2007-09-17 15:24:28 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋