As we observe our Independence Day - What differentiates Americans from the rest of the world?

[dust1n]

Originally Posted by Kathryn

What sets us apart? What sociological elements have created the United States citizens' mindset, trends, etc.?

What's great, and what's terrible, about the United States of America?

I wouldn't know the answer to any of your three questions.


I would like to state that Independence Day is a joke - we go out and shoot small explosives in the sky, while drinking Bud, Miller, or Busch which makes up 90% of the market, and shove our face with processed beef parts over a document we haven't read, but pretend like it's still relevant to our current situation.

Is interdependence not just as much a factor in our daily lives as independence? How can we celebrate independence when we are occupying another country? Why should I care for the independence of the state or of the market when I alone can't be independent of them?

It's just another short-sighted reason to stupor ourselves in exchange for a false ideal; what we are really celebrating is our apathetic, rugged economic individualism and our ability to consume more than we produce.

[Revoltingest]

Originally Posted by dust1n

I wouldn't know the answer to any of your three questions.


I would like to state that Independence Day is a joke - we go out and shoot small explosives in the sky, while drinking Bud, Miller, or Busch which makes up 90% of the market, and shove our face with processed beef parts over a document we haven't read, but pretend like it's still relevant to our current situation.

Is interdependence not just as much a factor in our daily lives as independence? How can we celebrate independence when we are occupying another country? Why should I care for the independence of the state or of the market when I alone can't be independent of them?

It's just another short-sighted reason to stupor ourselves in exchange for a false ideal; what we are really celebrating is our apathetic, rugged economic individualism and our ability to consume more than we produce.

That does it! You're not going to be invited to today's pig roast & fireworks.

[dust1n]

Originally Posted by Revoltingest

That does it! You're not going to be invited to today's pig roast & fireworks.

Let me know when the 'pig' 'roast' & the real 'fireworks' begin.

Fireworks that shoot up or explode are banned in Florida anyways, and I will be on a casino boats in the midst of oil soaked Biloxi, drinking free alcohol and playing craps like a mad man.

[Gunfingers]

For the record, while it's true that WW2 would have been won, at least in Europe, without the US's intervention, it wouldn't have been done by the UK (which would have been overrun within the year) but by the USSR.

[MissAlice]

I'm still confused when it comes to patriotism and then festive traditions celebrating its victories. Mostly I just see 4th of July as an excuse to get out and celebrate by blasting as many explosives as possible. It kind of reminds me in how Chinese festivals are usually celebrated, with many fireworks.


While I don't consider myself proud or patriotic in a sense of nationalism, there are some elements I can't help but admire behind its historical significance. While the U.S. constitution wasn't well defined, I find its framework both moving and highly progressive for its time. The very ideal of separating church from state seems revolutionary in a time when western civilizations had been ruled for hundreds of years under divine authority. Also the notion that all men are created equal. The rights of man may have been subjective in both its time and practice but the quote itself does a great job in avoiding such issues of contradiction.

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by Tanuki

Yes Smoke, and you are the next Einstein (rolls eyes).

You believe your country won the Second World War for us if you want - the people of Europe know differently.

We certainly didn't win it alone, but it certainly wasn't won by the genius of Churchill and DeGaulle, either. Not only was our contribution to the war effort of signal importance, but it was largely American aid that kept half of Europe from starving to death after the war.

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by dust1n

Ah.. Time for some select readings.

Select indeed. I've already addressed the atomic bomb issue on another thread.

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by dust1n

I would like to state that Independence Day is a joke - we go out and shoot small explosives in the sky, while drinking Bud, Miller, or Busch which makes up 90% of the market, and shove our face with processed beef parts over a document we haven't read, but pretend like it's still relevant to our current situation.

Those who dislike making merry should definitely not do so. It's no fun for them, and they're no fun for anybody else.

[dust1n]

Originally Posted by Smoke

Select indeed. I've already addressed the atomic bomb issue on another thread.

Would you like to show me the link, though I didn't know I was even debating anything about a nuclear bomb.

[dust1n]

Originally Posted by Smoke

Those who dislike making merry should definitely not do so. It's no fun for them, and they're no fun for anybody else.

And everything works out. I never really enjoyed listening to drunk hillbillies talk about how much I should love my country or townies who would partake in any excuse to drink mindlessly, so I don't attend. Everyone wins.