The 4 primary reasons are, in proper order:
1) Puritanism
2) Progressivism
3) Capitalism
4) Empiricism/Logical Positivism/Analytic Philosophy

(09-10-2014 04:59 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  

(09-10-2014 03:54 PM)Cunnilinguist Wrote:  

(09-10-2014 03:41 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  You should also read several comprehensive histories of the US. Not polemics, but real scholarly histories that go into detail about things.

Quintus, any suggestions you can throw my way? I've read some of the McCullough books (1776, John Adams) and found them to be pretty good. Any specific authors?

I'd recommend the following:

Charles & Mary Beard, The Rise of American Civilization (2 vol.)

Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Letters (any collected version will do)

D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature. This book is very short, very readable, and written in a very colloquial style.

I wonder if any of you has read "The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States" by Benjamin F. Morris.

I kind of follow a pundit who keeps saying how vital this book is on understanding present issues concerning religion and the State.

Tried to read it, but the thing is pretty rough.

The best way to learn about The United Sates of America is to travel around America and experience the wide variety of cultures and people that live here.

I don't mean to just visit New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Etc. (By the way, all of those places provide a different culture, experience, and way of life.)

One's education of America is not complete unless he has spent time among the "haves and have nots" in The South, the "haves and have nots" in The Northeast, the "haves and have nots" in The Mid-West, the "haves and have nots" in The Great Plains, The Southwest, The West Coast, The Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska.

All of these places offer a much different experience and way of life.

Things which are legal in California could get you thrown in jail in Texas.
Things which are normal in New York City are totally abnormal in Ohio.

We are almost like 4 or 5 different countries rolled into one.

If you really want to get to know the cultute and people of America, I recommend visiting places like Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennesee, Wisconson, Illinois, Washington (the State not the DC), etc.

Many people describe these places as "fly-overs states" but this is where you will find the some of the best parts of American culture as well as a good look at the way "average" Americans live.

You will find that we are regular people just like everywhere else in the world.

Trying to make sweeping generalizations about American Culture will result only in generic, overly simplified cliches and caricatures.

(09-10-2014 06:28 PM)DChambers Wrote:  I'll second this. The more you read about American History the more remarkable it becomes. The fact that there was this place that all the criminals, dreamers, upward climbers, and restless souls were able to come to, forge a government that was incredibly radical for the time, and have a free market that saw the greatest growth of wealth in human history is awe inspiring.

This reminds me of a quote I read in Chuck Klosterman's book The Visible Man:

"I’d say 25 percent of our populace has craziness in the blood. It’s genetic. It’s historical. I mean, what kind of person immigrated to the New World? Not counting slaves, there were only four types, really: people who didn’t think Europe was religious enough, people who thought they could make a lot of money, antisocial failures with no other option, and fruitcakes who thought risking their lives on an alien shore might make for an interesting adventure. Those are the four explanations behind everything good and everything bad that’s ever happened here."

(09-10-2014 04:28 AM)Sp5 Wrote:  Oh, another bash the USA thread.

I've lived in Europe (Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain) and it's easy to feel that these places are wonderful. And they are wonderful, up to a point.

Over time, you notice the faults in these places, too. German unfriendliness, Spanish customer service, Irish small-mindedness, Italian dishonesty. Overall authoritarianism.

Americans think of Europe as high culture. The truth is that European proletarian culture is lower than American. Cheesy pop songs on the same drum machine beat, football hooliganism, vulgar TV shows, porn almost everywhere.

People are more constrained in Europe. Pretty much everyone gets "tracked" at an early age, and that's what their life is. Everyone you meet can be classified immediately - by social class. It's true that they "enjoy" life a lot, if by enjoyment you mean one month vacation and 35 hour work weeks. But the USA is still ahead of Europe in dynamic thinking.

For all its problems, the US excels in one area better than any other country in the world: entrepreneurial thinking.

The default path for most young people in Europe, excluding London and a few other major cities, is live at home with your parents and accumulate university qualifications until you find a good job working for either the government or a large company.

Having lived in countries such as Spain and Italy, it amazes me that young people still look to the system for employment when the system has so clearly failed them in the past. Young people with master degrees find themselves underemployed so they go back and study for another degree.

In the US you can just register an LLC in Delaware and create your own job.

More people are hustling on some kind of side income. If you tell people in Europe your an entrepreneur they look at you like some kind of crook or alien.

Simple- demographics (driven by our immigration policy), and the decadent, post-modern lifestyle granted to us by advances in technology. You can say feminism, socialism or political correctness, but those arent the ultimate factors, just proximate ones.