America – say “cheese”
It so happens that 17 years ago this day I came to the States, armed with a very oddly accented English and a strong conviction based on some vague notion of becoming an “American,” whatever that might happen to mean. The accent may have improved slightly (or maybe not, I have no way of telling). I also don’t think I’ve turned into a typical American (still trying to figure out what that means). The pursuit did allow me to clarify for myself in what way America differs from many other cultures, which I know directly or indirectly.
Naturally, there are incidental differences, which can be dwelt upon sequentially by a dozen Scheherazades. I’ve always tried to identify the essential. One differentiating quality that appeals to me personally is the relative optimism of the country’s denizens. A paper article the other day gave some bombastic statistics on people’s convictions about their financial future. While 3% of the population can apparently be considered rich, something to the effect of 30% are convinced that they will make it big. Unrealistic? Certainly. But the “it can happen” attitude gives America as a whole the audacity to think fairly big.
A corollary of the above is the approach that things can be done. When someone comes up with an impossible idea, people more often than not will provide “Give it a shot” as feedback. Maybe “drop it – there is no chance for this to work” is a more appropriate response in 9 out 10 cases. It’s the fact that the 1 out 10 that can actually work a gets encouragement, which accounts for the many success stories we can find on this continent.
Many consequences of this attitude can be viewed as negative – Hollywood movies with their Hollywood endings for instance. Still, even those can be quite enjoyable if one confines oneself to the good ones and watches them in moderation. Americans also smile on average more than any other people I know. Most of the foreigners I know (including those who immigrate to the States) hold Americans in contempt for that – I am not sure why. Whether the contempt is justified or not, I find that it creates a much better atmosphere.
Finally, there is a certain inherent right for strangeness. Certainly the culture that I come from looks very much askance on people standing out from the norm (whatever that is supposed to be). This attitude can be found anywhere, including in the States, but here people who want to be different are left to themselves much more than in any other place I know. As a consequence, the “weirdoes” often find their kin and skip the scourge of loneliness.
People have the tendency to dump on the States, and I guess they are entitled. But even Noam Chomsky admits that this is the freest country in the world. I’ll stick around.
5:58:35 AM 
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