The American way of life is looked at in many different ways from different American perspectives. Although people look at the American Way of Life differently, in all definitions, success seems to play a part in it. Personally I believe people view the American Way of Life as mostly being successful because that's the way it has been portrayed for years. On televisions, in papers, movies, books, there is always a person living the ideal "American Way of Life,” and that person is always what we would call "successful." Success in America has alot to do with capitalism, government, everday life and overall different people views on America.It shapes the way American is ran and how different situations are looked it.
People who aren’t considered Americans but live in America, can also add onto the way Americans are viewed. In many situations you can see that immigrants from other countries shape the life of us(people born here). Such as Mexicans. They take low paying jobs, and some may say that they make it harder for born citizens to get a good paying job. This sort of puts a damper on society for many individuals. If there are bosses and businesses owners out there looking for workers, why wouldn’t they pick the workers who aren’t demanding high pay? Another case are Asians. Most Asians are seen as people who open up their own business, and keep it in the family. This benefits them because they are very educated people, so if they ever wanted to go out and get a job that wasn’t within the family business...they can because there experience and education will help them to fit the requirements.
While interviewing people it deepened my belief that success is definitely an important aspect of life to Americans. I interviewed a babysitter who was taking care of two little babies, I asked about her perspective on the AWOL and she replied, “Work, work, work, and pay bills. It’s very, very hard! Work to make it in this country.” Another person I interviewed was an old couple, they answered “Family, raising kids, basic luxuries, vacations, a little more normal than usual,” and a young man also said “Pursuing whatever you’re passionate about, it’s not easy to achieve it.”
Overall people had the same perspective on the American Way of Life. They all believed that you have to work hard in order to get what you want, but then again how it’s not always easy to achieve something. When asking a random man what he thought American Way of Life was, he gave an answer that many Americans probably wouldn’t say. “That's a very hard question, life is life you live it accordingly, I haven't been other places to be able to tell the difference, right now I have no complaints I just want to kill my landlord I'm having a problem with him.” This is another reality of the way Americans live, there are always issues that we have to deal with that can affect us in major ways. Whether is the rent, gas prices, or our education, its always going to be an issue in our lives no matter what. “Tolerance,” was a word one woman used to describe the AWOL, tolerance for issues in our life if what we all need to have.
Overall one person's definition of success depends on their views on life, what one may think is successful, another may think is a waste of time. “It depends on what your doing to be successful, education, getting your own business, getting a house out of New York, family, dog, truck, a hobby. Yes I don’t live n the city I live in Long Island. A little bit more than the average man I'm not rich but I'm happy, and you gotta be healthy.” This was an answer that a random construction worker told me. By him saying that the American Way of Life was getting a house out of New York shocked me because many people who think of the American Way of Life, usually say that New York is a place where they would want to move in order to live the American Way of Life. Individuals who live in Long Island aren’t the people who are usually looked at as living the American Way of Life, but in this construction worker case, he believed that by living in Long Island he was actually living the typical American way of life. Health is also something that was spoken about in his description of the American way of life. I noticed that no one ever mentions health when speaking about the typical American way of life. This may be because many cannot afford the price of having health care. In president Obama's 2009 inauguration speech he stated "Our health care is too costly." Being that its very expensive, now in days people cant afford to spend money on things that can block them from saving money.
This is surprising because when looking at different peoples lives, most of the time they all have health care or has been in a situation where their health was in danger. So for many people not to mention this, it shows that health is something that is maybe taken for granted in many American lives. “More money brings more problems for people, so being successful and rich isn’t always the best thing for an American person. There is a recession going on right now, so it’s hard for anyone to become successful when they weren’t in that position in the first place. Me as a single, struggling mom, it seems as if the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer.” While interviewing a single mom inside of a pizzeria, she said certain things that a lot of middle class and lower class people might be thinking. I agree with her ideas on the American way of life. If you look at the economy as a whole right now, it doesn’t seem as if the middle class and lower class people are benefitting from some of the decisions that are being made for our country. The people who are successful in the world now are becoming even more successful, while people who are struggling are continuing to struggle. An aspect to the American way of life that isn’t usually look upon is capitalism. Where would the American way of life stand without capitalism? Face it, even though many people may say that it just destroys America as a whole...the entire selling, buying and competing process is something that Americans live to do. Im not saying that I agree with it, but its just how America is. These views that different Americans have shows how the typical American Way of Life varies from one individual to another, but mostly importantly it proves that there might not be a typical American way of life.
During the Christmas vacation, I read an article titled " How Fat People Can Save American Business" by an economic expert named Daniel Gross, and in the article I read many different facts and opinions that caught my attention. A figure that represents America, Uncle Sam, was portrayed as a 97 pounds weakling. The author of this article has strong feelings that this man should have been portrayed as a 297 pound weakling, in order to show that "America's fat problem is a metaphor for our economic troubles: We are too flabby to compete in a cutthroat global economy." (Pg. 1 of the article) This statement was one that made me think deep into what America’s problem really was. Why should fat people always be looked down upon? This is what I thought until I went on reading the article. The author began to go down a different path of thinking, and began to say that instead of seeing America’s high rate of obesity as a problem, we can actually use it as an advantage. "Our head start in chubbiness gives us the chance to dominate the dynamic fat economy," was a statement made by the author. What he is trying to say is that there are many companies and businesses such as weight loss clinics, gyms, health food stores, diet pill purveyors, Liposuction and gastric reduction doctors, personal trainers and weight watcher reality tv shows...where people are making money off of individuals being over weight. The United States creates services such as fitness regimens, health care, making diet plans, and this is a market that the U.S exceeds in better than any other Country. These services can also be exported, such as the weight lose program Curves, which is now in over 28 Countries. This beautifies the American economy, and how it strives to meet demands of many of the citizens.
"Obesity is a condition that can last for a lifetime and hence requires a lot of spending on maintenance, year after year. McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Wal-Mart. Their expansion should not only fatten the pockets of U.S. investors, they should also help fatten the local populations." This shows that as long as there are fat people in America, than many businesses will continue making money, which in the long run will boost the economy because people making money can help stop other economic repercussions.
Overall, the main idea that is trying to be portrayed is that it is known that obesity is bad for ones health and bad for the economy of the nation, but in a way that might not be normally seen... is that it’s good for American innovation and entrepreneurship. It is bringing out the best in the two, which is somewhat bringing out the best in the economy. Thanksgiving as a whole is some what weird to me. So much time and dedication is put into preparing food and eating, which is something that stands as a issue to many Americans today. New York was named the 37th most obese state in American by the fifth annual F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America, 2008 report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Johnson Foundation. This is appalling to hear because during thanksgiving I bet there are few families that have concern about how many calories or carbohydrates they are consuming. This shows a lot about the American way of life, and how things are just seen as good because of the on tradition and glorifications it hold, but when really examining the facts...it can possibly be a problem to America.
Some people may argue that they don’t see how Americans can gobble down so much food, while African children are starving to death. I believe that the reason for this is just based on the overall affect of thanksgiving. The affect of it is basically to have a good time and eat, so therefore no one is going to think about the bad side of having the blessing to enjoy food. Thinking about the bad side of thanksgiving will only ruin some of the fun that many people have while eating, so I believe that these people put the issues that other people are having on the back burner while enjoying thanksgiving the best way known to mankind. This relates to the way people view Americans. They don’t see us as being the most caring people, but instead being people who only care about the way things are going in their life. This is true even though some like to deny it. I guess it shows that many Americans like to block out the troubles in the world, to have fun living their own life.
Other troubles that we are having in this country as of right now, are troubles based on money. There is a recession going on and although we all see it, media has said that it cannot be classified as a official recession because it has to go on for a certain period of time which It has not done yet. Even though this seems to put a damper on societies well being, this isn’t stopping individuals from spending money. Black Friday and buy nothing day shows the weird ways Americans think. One day people go out of their way to go bargain shopping, trampling over people killing them...but then on another note many people want to decide not to buying anything at all. Make up your mind! Its just a big contradiction of one another. Or maybe is just shows the different views of different Americans It supports the fact that Americans are different and how it cannot be only one definition of all Americans lives. During black Friday and buy nothing day a man was killed while shopping (spending money) in Wal-mart.Hearing about the person trampled at Wal-mart was unbelievable. I’ve heard stories about people actually dying from being trampled, but for some reason this situation seemed much worse. On black Friday (November 28th, 2008) a Wal-Mart worker died after anxious shoppers ambushed the store and trampled him. Taking the door off of the hinges, shoppers rushed into the store to grab certain items as fast as they could. Not worrying about the safety of each other or even of themselves, at the end Jdimytai Damour was pronounced dead and four other shoppers were said to only have been injured. This situation is simply sad. You take something from a person that cant be replaced, just to buy something that can always be replaced? This shows the priorities of many Americans. Putting replaceable things ahead of lives should never take place, no matter the situation. From all of the hype that this day receives, it probably gave the idea to people that they are suppose to be vicious on this particular day, because that’s all its known for. The individual involved in this probably didn’t see what they were doing wrong, all they were doing was following the unwritten rules of black Friday. Get what you want, push through crowds if you have to...these rules have been being followed for years so of course these people didn’t see it as something they weren’t suppose to be doing. America is ignorant!!!! This shows something very important about a certain American way of life...Selfishness. It proves that just because these people were getting something that they wanted, they didn’t care who got hurt in the process as long as they get what they want. Having more concern about others lives is something that many Americans need to work on. Everyday before black Friday I would articles or see media coverage discussing black Friday. Estimating the amount of people that will go out and shop or just explaining statistics of shoppers and income from different stores from the previous years. This made Americans pay attention to this day even more, and inspired them to go out themselves to try getting the best bargains. At a time such as this in America (recession) I believe that these stores liked the media to talked about black Friday daily, because they knew it would benefit them at the end. Stores such as Wal mart knew that if this day was put out there more to the public, than it would increase the amount of money they would make...which is exactly what they wanted during this time. The focus was on making money, and at the end Americans took advantage of cheap prices for items, while also taken the life of a man.
Buying in stores or buying online still represents some of the same things. I was able as an American to experience the chance of buying an item off of Ebay. This entire process mixed with my experience of black Friday and buy nothing day helped me to think about capitalism. Capitalism is something that is seen everyday in America. It is a social-economic system in which production and distribution has private ownership, there is a profit motive, and free market. One of the main factors of capitalism is the motive for producing goods and services to sell them for a profit, not to meet different individuals needs. The products of capitalist production have to find a buyer of the product, so they can therefore make a profit off of the product and end up with more money then was originally owned. The free market role that takes place in capitalism is based on supply and demand, with little or no government interference. Supply is the availability for sale of a commodity at all prices, and demand is the amount purchased at a commodity at all prices. A commodity is something that can be bought or sold in the market place. There is also something called the Equilibrium in which there is a price where both agree on. A completely free market is the ideal form of a market economy where buyers and sells are allowed to buy, sell, and trade freely based on a mutual agreement on price without any state intervention in the form of taxes, subsidies or regulation. Some factors that also contribute to capitalism is land, labor and capital. Land is the natural world and natural resources that are used to make the product that is either being bought, sold or traded. Labor is all the work that is necessary to produce and distribute the product, and capital are the factories as well as transportation methods that are used to transfer materials.
Ebay is a big market which serves as an example of capitalism. Selling, buying, competing. The seller sits back while buyers compete for an item, and at the end of the auction the buyer and the winner are the only ones who profits. This shows a big part of how the American way of life is based on technology. The new generation of how things can be sold and bought serves as a easy way for Americans to consume things they want. Americans being some of the laziest people around, just sit back, place bids and wait for a win. That's the beauty of Online shopping. It also shows the competitive streak that many Americans have. Massiel, a student in my American way of life class, said that she even went as far as contacting the seller after she was outbid, and offering him/her a deal in which she would pay more for the item than the person who won. Even though this is clearly going against Ebay policy, she still decided to do it...this shows her greed for the item. This is a trait that many other Americans possess.
Recently there has been a big historic event taking place in America. Barack Obama is now the 44th president of the United states. He serves as the first African American to take office and this is seen as something that will forever be cherished and remembered. Barack Hussein Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America. As a supporter of Obama, personally I was very excited that he won the presidential race. While watching the news, there were a variety of different reactions. Obama supporters were excited, and McCain supporters were booing Obama because they did not believe he should have won. This shows although Barack has won the race, there is still a percentage of people in the world who see him as a bad representative for America, they also view him as a terrorist, and a horrible threat to Americans. Many people believe that just because Obama has won the election, that Americas issues will now disappear...but the truth is they wont. Being that America is going through one of its worst financial crisis, Obama will not be able to resolve all of the issues that we face as a country. People expect so much from Barack, that when he isn’t able to turn everyone’s life around, he than will be looked at as another president who promised Americans a better life, but didn’t live up to his promises. This will serve as a good chance for republicans to say that America made a big mistake, and should have voted for McCain, although that would not have been the right answer to the problem. This will also make democrats look as if they don’t have much control over political and social issues. Overall Obama will have a lot of pressure on him as the new president, and that pressure will come from a variety of people in various situations.
Being a supporter of Barack Obama, I thought it would be insightful for me to know his thoughts on the constitution being that it is seen as one of the most important documents of time. I found that ina 2001 radio interview with Barack, he stated that “the constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can do to you, it says what the federal government cant do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal or state government must do on you behalf. And that hasn’t shifted.” I think Obama makes a good point when saying this. He isn’t saying that the constitution is something not worth reading, but just something that doesn’t fully tell you what you as a person is receiving from the federal and state government. I believe that Barack does see this document as something important because its something that allowed his ancestors to be free. Amendment 13-15: This amendment is one that really set a tone of freedom in America. When slavery was abolished, it seemed as if things changed for the better. The government now is diverse, and consist of different races, instead of only Caucasian people. If this amendment weren’t passed, who’s to say that blacks would even be free to this day? Or would have the rights that whites have had for a long time? Slavery being abolished serves as a big part of history, and it’s the reason why my family today has a chance to make a living of their own. Even though this amendment is referred to as a major turning point, I believe that we are still living in slavery...modern day slavery. I believe that black people still do not have the same rights as white people or the same opportunities. Many black people are still deprived of things, such as jobs and education. College tuition is very expensive for many black families and by not being allowed to send their children to college, just adds on to the gap between the two races. White people in the past were the only individuals that were allowed to vote. This made their race more isolated and held a higher importance than any other, this has been hard to change over the course of the years. When people of all races were allowed to vote, it showed that the government opened up and saw that white people weren’t the only people in the world who deserved to have a say in how representatives of the state were chosen. It gave the United States a feeling of being a equal place, with less problems of separation. Overall, these amendments still paved a way for all people to be free and not be a known prisoner of the world.
Barack Obama and all black people in government benefitted from most of the amendments that were passed. Amendments 12, 13, 14, and 15 are the considered the amendments that changed the United States because they are the ones that have shaped America today. Before many of any these amendments gave power to white people, instead of other races that also lived in the country. If these amendments were not passed, there would probably be slavery and many Americans wouldn’t have much of the rights that we have now.
Amendment 12 changed how the president and vice president are elected. It discusses how they both are able to be elected on separate ballots, instead of it being the president/vice president being voted for as one.(In which the vice president is chosen because he had the second highest amount of votes). Now in days, when the vice president is elected...it is because the president chose him/her. This was a turning point that really made a difference in the way government ran things. This is something that reflects on the way Obama is in office now.
