What is the American frame of mind?

[coberst]

What is the American frame of mind?

 

I would say that a culture consists of the complex of ideas that a group of people hold dear. One can speak of the culture of a small group or of a very large group.

 

In the United States our culture is determined to a large extent by how we hold "these truths to be self-evident"; we are held together by ideas perhaps more than other societies. Next, religion plays a great role, and in our case it is the mixture of Protestantism, Judaism, and Catholicism. Following this is our infatuation with capitalism; following that is our narcissistic view of our uniqueness and greatness.

 

Our culture is a general attitude toward our self and toward the world based upon these four ideologies.

 

To what powers have wo/men given allegiance in order to solve the paradoxes of life? To what or to whom have each of us given our uncritical allegiance? “Into what hero-system do I fit the expression of my talent”? What or whom has become my fetish-god?

 

It is possible for the adult to choose which power s/he will serve; however, to do so, when the choice is contrary to one that has resulted from the family and community clan, is an extremely unusual and heroic act. “The great tragedy of our lives is that the major question of our existence is never put by us--it is put by personal and social impulses for us.”

 

Very few of us discover our authentic talent—if it is ever found it is generally found accidentally through plain fate by us in our social milieu as we tap...tap...tap our blind way through life.

 

From a personal point of view our principal task is to somehow find our way out of the fate that we stumbled into and to grow out of our idol worship and fetishism and to expand our horizons, allegiances, and to drop our mere preoccupations. We need to free our self from the opinions of others.

 

“Since aggression is a reaction to frustration, by remaining tightly bound to the success of our social world we increase our aggressiveness, life invariable frustrates us.”

 

Disinterested knowledge is the energy bunny. It generates the energy for exploration and for overcoming some of the inhibitions conscious reason places on the unconscious.

 

Studying disinterested knowledge is like taking off a month every year to visit a strange new land. Curiosity is reinvigorated and new meaning is created.[/b

 

Knowledge is like a jigsaw puzzle. We have created many puzzles in coping with reality and when we received a new piece (knowledge) that does not fit our present puzzles we forgetaboutit. However, if through disinterested knowledge we have created new puzzles we might find a place for this new fragment of knowledge to fit; thereby this fragment becomes our new knowledge.

 

Our mind is constantly working for us and when we do not give it a worthwhile project, i.e. a new puzzle, it will just waste away in boredom or worry.

 

In America one might best see this attitude manifested by this frame of mind “I’ve Upped My Income; Now Up Yours”; a manifestation of this attitude may be seen in concrete form by the fact that 45 million citizens are without proper health care.

 

Do you think that the attitude “I’ve Upped My Income, Now Up Yours” is an American frame of mind?

 

Quotes from The Birth and Death of Meaning: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Problem of Man by Ernest Becker

[CaptainPanic]

What is the topic of your post?

 

Is it the values of average person living in the USA (as suggested in the 1st part)?

 

Is it some talk about the purpose of life (as suggested in the middle part)?

 

Is it a discussion about the merits of the health care plan (as suggested by the penultimate sentence)?

 

Is it a question about capitalism in the USA?

 

... I'm just asking because it seems a bit too much to discuss all those in 1 single thread... and you're just asking for people to go off topic.

[coberst]

What is the topic of your post?

 

Is it the values of average person living in the USA (as suggested in the 1st part)?

 

Is it some talk about the purpose of life (as suggested in the middle part)?

 

Is it a discussion about the merits of the health care plan (as suggested by the penultimate sentence)?

 

Is it a question about capitalism in the USA?

 

... I'm just asking because it seems a bit too much to discuss all those in 1 single thread... and you're just asking for people to go off topic.

 

Take your pick!

[bascule]

Americans are a large and diverse group of people. You can't pigeonhole their values/beliefs/dispositions into a single category.

 

After traveling to Europe I finally realized just how big America is. We are huge, seriously.

[SH3RL0CK]

Americans are a large and diverse group of people. You can't pigeonhole their values/beliefs/dispositions into a single category.

 

Certainly you cannot.

 

After traveling to Europe I finally realized just how big America is. We are huge, seriously.

 

By European standards, yes. However some countries such as China, India, and maybe Russia, Canada and Brazil are comparable. In fact, if you were to consider the EU one political body, it looks very, very similar to the USA in regards to size and diversity.

[bascule]

In fact, if you were to consider the EU one political body, it looks very, very similar to the USA in regards to size and diversity.

 

The problem is the EU is made of separate states which can have separate leadership and laws. In the US this isn't possible.

 

The Europeans are moving to a more federated system with the EU, and that's a good thing for improving trade, especially having a common currency. The US still has the advantage that we all speak the same language

[DJBruce]

Interesting topic as I just recently finished a scholarship program where the entire course was built around the question, "What does it mean to be an American?"

 

In my opinion being an American means that means that you believe in the principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence. As Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to Henry Lee a year before he died, "Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it [The Declaration of Independence] was intended to be an expression of the American mind." I agree with the sense that to be an American means that you believe in the principles on which America was founded on.

 

I also believe that it is important to denote the difference between the principles, which America was founded on, and those which were created to achieve these principles. The former is found in the Declaration of Independence in such key phrases as, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The latter refers to The Constitution. So it is possible to believe in the "American mind" without believing in the American government.

[padren]

Interesting topic as I just recently finished a scholarship program where the entire course was built around the question, "What does it mean to be an American?"

Technically it means being born in the US or naturalized, without going through expatriation.

 

What it's worth there are people who are Americans and don't agree with any of those values, as odd as that is. I think you are pretty much on when it comes to the question in a philisophical light as seen by the majority of those that live here.