What's it like Living in the USA

[akuma587]

mrstickball said:

akuma587 said:
My main complaint about the people who live here is that most of them act as if they are unaware their are other countries in the world and that people outside of this country actually live differently than us.

You don't run into that as much in a lot of other countries.

Could it be because America is a microcosm of virtually every other country in the world? It tends to desensitize you.

I love America - haven't been outside the US yet, but it's a really fun, diverse place to live. You can do what you enjoy, and usually earn an income from it. Most people are friendly, and despite the economic "crisis", is a pretty stable, prosperous place to live.

In my small, podunk town of 10,000 people, I can get Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, American, Italian and a host of other kinds of food within a few blocks of eachother, shop for any kind of goods I want, and pay very affordable rates. We're the home of the Dollar Store, closeout shopping, and the Value Menu. You may not like it, but we love it.

You can still own a gun, and if you like, hunt for your food. My family eats a steady diet of deer every year, and is "good eatin'" - It's all about freedom. There are some logical restrictions, but outside of that, your virtually free to do what you want - If your good at it.

There's no other place in the world, I don't think, that you can fly or drive anywhere, and see everything, and still abide by the same laws, no boarders, same language, and meet the same friendly American people.

And the states vary quite a bit in both ecology and execution of life - I've been on both coasts (and just a day apart, too), and life can be so diverse - from the free-spirited Oregonians who grow and raise 100% of their entire food sources within miles of their home towns (such as Eugene) to city-states like Washington DC or New York City which spans multiple states like from a dysotopian sci-fi movie. NYC is a wonder to behold from the air - because it sprawls for what seems thousands of miles from the air, and takes up a large portion of the eastern seaboard.

I am sure there are other great countries that exist - I'd love to visit Japan and Austrailia (esp. since Austrailia seems like they're the closest to what America is - in the execution of freedom and daily living), but I don't think I'd want to live anywhere but America.

And again: America is a microcosm of the rest of the world. At my current job, my boss is Korean, my boss above him is Vietnamese, the CEO is born & raised in the town he works in (Eugene, Oregon), and I'm a standard German/English mix that is so caucasian it's not funny. The company also has workers from every other continent...And their staff is around 100 employees. The only thing that really binds us together is a love of video games, the English language, and American citizenship.

 

I agree that America is one of the most diverse countries on earth, but culture is not something that can be so easily exported to another country.  You are assuming that American culture treats all cultures equally and that it integrates those cultures into its own without fundamentally altering them.  And most of the restaurants based on foreign cuisine in this country don't even serve the food that those particular countries actually eat.

Almost no foods that we identify as Chinese food do they actually eat.  For one thing, they don't fry anything.  They don't even use silverware.  They eat a lot less meat than is in our Chinese food as well.  They eat things that most people here wouldn't even imagine putting into their mouths.

Most of the foods we identify as Mexican food are Tex-Mex food (which is not Mexican food, Mexicans eat donkey, chorizo, and all kinds of things most Americans would never touch).  Hell, they use tortillas like silverware.

Foreign films are generally unsuccesful here, whereas American films are very successful abroad.

You essentially get the "chain restaurant" version of whatever foreign culture is being imported when it finally reaches you as a consumer.

The vast majority of people in this country only speak one language, where the complete opposite is true for many other parts of the world.

The food examples you gave are a great example of American culture, that we commodify aspects of a different culture and neutralize those cultural aspects that we don't relate to and produce a hybrid product.  But its certainly not the same thing that came from that foreign culture.

America is not a microcosm of the rest of the world.  If it were, America would be much poorer, would have far more violent conflict, and would be far more socialist than it currently is.  Our government would not be anywhere near as respectful of human rights as it currently is.  Our population would be predominantly Asian and whites would be a minority around the same size as blacks and Latinos.  77% of this country identifies themselves as White. 

Hell, I am glad that America is not a microcosm of the rest of the world, as it would be a much more unstable place.