All week I have been wondering "what website defines America" and all week I have been searching the web like crazy without finding even one decent answer until just 5 minutes ago !

Youtube ! Now, I know that Youtube technically is global, but their headquarters are in the United States. And to me it is a good image of the melting pot America is ! Plus, on youtube, you can find videos showing you all different aspects of America and the American life. America is huge just like Youtube is a vast website and one of the fastest growing of our generation ! I would have more to say about it if my head was not buzzing, but to me, youtube is definitely the website that covers the most grounds on what America is all about ! The many cultures, this idea of big, of greatness ... So, yes, Youtube also has many videos put up by non Americans, but isn't America an assortment of pieces of other cultures anyways ?!

One Final Note...........

Defining America With Fox

As a passing tribute to all that is great in those great United States, the first defining thought that comes to mind is Fox news. Whether or not you are a Republican, Democrat or (heaven help) a Socialist, you will be able to appreciate the absurdity that lies within most of Fox News programing. It stands as a testament that something so controversial could remain in a nation that watches its press so carefully, tended not to be done to the same extent in many 'western' nations.

Commentators such as Bill O'Reilly speaks as though it was for all the American people, and in a way it is. Rather than seeing it as believing or standing against the points taken, the debates often end up with leading academics in the United States shouting in each others faces. An uncontrollable mess follows and the viewer is left wondering why there was a point. It can only be a matter of time before it moderates, so I simply say
'God Bless These United States' - and Glenn Beck...........

Contemporary America - American Airlines

http://www.aa.com/i18n/aboutUs/diversityInclusion/main.jsp?anchorEvent=false&from=Nav
The website I chose that for me typifies America, is American Airlines, the world renowned major airline in the US, a representative of American exceptionalism and soft power across the globe. The page on the site that took my particular interest was the 'Diversity and Inclusion' page in which the airlines emphasize the importance of diversity and that this airline is 'more than just an airline', but a global company willing to except you into their diverse community. 'Diversity isn't just an inspirational goal. Its the way we do business'. Yet though the website may be portrayed as all 'hunky dory' and happy, we have to question the situation with the airlines post 9/11, where the idea of panic at airports, caused many airlines to shut down. Today, you cannot pass through customs without a thorough investigation. 'Diversity' is in a sense put on hold, as a lot of Americans assume that people from country's such as Iraq and Afghanistan are somewhat of a threat. Are Americans likely to let an Iraqi guy with a giant rucksack go through security without underlying suspicions... probably not. Yet contemporary America is rebuilding itself and with the American Airways website, you get the impression that all they want is a safe a country and they will nevertheless welcome you, once you've passed all the paperwork and security checks.

Contemporary America

http://www.fox.com/glee/

I have chosen the website for the TV show, Glee. It is a hugely popular show set in a high school and is about a group of outcasts who come together because of their love of singing and dancing. Its characters are all different, there is a Latino, an Asian, an African American, a Jew, a boy in a wheelchair, a gay boy, two cheerleaders and a pregnant teenager. They seem to have tried to identify as many minority groups as possible, all of them treated a bit differently and brought them all together to create the ‘melting pot’. There is also a lot of emphasis on the American Dream idea – that they can all achieve what they want if they pull together and work hard. I know its cheesy and completely over the top but it presents an image of contemporary America that we can all recognise from many other films and TV shows and one that hasn’t changed a great deal over the years. There are many of us who grew up influenced by the idea that American High School is so much better than our comprehensives!

The Decline of American Declinism

Funnily enough, I thought that when researching American Declinism I would find a lot of websites that agreed with the view that America is going down. Yet, I seemed to have found more website agreeing to the contrary ! Apparently it's the notion of declinism that is declining, not America !

http://rationaloptimist.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/american-declinism/

My choice is an article on a blog (a personal blog on someone's views on politics, society, philosophy) that argues that America is not declining, at all ! In fact, it is this idea that America is in decline that is declining and getting old ! The author of the post debates that America is the richest country in the world, a huge country too ! And that every time people thought it would go down, it didn't (after Vietnam, people were very pessimistic, yet it was the USSR that collapsed !).
Every time in history people thought America would fail as a country, it didn't and something happened that proved people wrong. So, the author is basically telling us to stop being pessimistic and to start having some faith in America, because it will not cease to work the way it does.

American Declinism

http://rationaloptimist.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/american-declinism/
My chosen sourse, 'The Rational Optimist' channels itself around the view that Americans should stay hopeful in this time of difficulty. The author goes against the view of pessimists who focus on the 'fall' of America and those who discount the view that America is a 'very rich country'. He claims that as long as America continues being productive in the world, they will be able to 'afford' the rising debts, thus maintaining the idea that America is not a 'debauched' nation who in reaching their peak, are now on a downword slope. America is still a country of great 'technological advancement' with the 'energy' and 'creativity' to silence doubters and get by without the possibility of starvation. If America maintains its exceptionalism of work ethic and high productivity, it may even get 'better'.
The article invites responses from other viewers; one which agrees with the author that 'we do need to be optimists about the future'; and one B Peterson who strongly disagrees with the optimistic outlook, claiming that 'Americans will lose either way'.

America in decline

I have chosen this video of an interview from 2008 with Dick Meyer, author of a book called “Why we hate us”. Smith’s idea is that the ‘we’ is each individual and the ‘us’ is the collective of American public culture – he mentions politicians, the media and really everyone in their public persona. He refers to people talking on phones in restaurants and being oblivious to the world around them because of ipods and mobile phones and the fact that it means that people are less aware and therefore less considerate of others. I thought this was an interesting perspective on American decline as it refers more to the daily lives of Americans rather than its military power or its financial influence. There is also below an interview with Meyer which gives more detail – he blames television for a lot of America’s problems and his answer seems to be to turn it off!
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2008/09/why-we-hate-us/8836/

Native Indian Tribes [CATCH UP]

I have chosen the Blackfeet Indians of Canada and Montana (link in the photo). The Blackfoot were a powerful buffalo-hunting tribe of the northern plains, with most of their settlements in Montana, and Alberta. At first the Blackfoot Indians were happy by the arrival of the Europeans, since the horses they brought were invaluable to buffalo hunters, there main source of food and revenue.

However what can be seen in many areas of Native Indian life, the 'white man' led to its demise. Smallpox epidemics ravaged the Blackfoot population in the mid-1800's (white settlers may have introduced the virus and helped it along by selling smallpox infected blankets). In 1870 American army forces, looking for Mountain Chief's band of hostile Blackfoot Indians, fell instead upon a band of peaceful travelers and killed 200 of them, many of them women and children. The Website they have is slick, easy to use and well stocked with knowledge, somthing other more western nations could take not on.




Federally recognized with an enrollment of more than 35,000, the Chickasaw are currently the eighth largest tribe in the United States. They played a huge role in the wars between the nations scrabbeling for land and are often known among many people, as only a few tribes are ever remembered by the Western community.

The decline of the Chickasaw can be traced to the battles for control of upper North America between France and The United Kingdom. It could be the fact that British traders were established in their country before the settlement of Louisiana, or that the Chickasaw fought on the side of Great Britain, and French attempts to make peace with them were unsuccessful. After 1834 they moved, according to treaty arrangements, to Oklahoma. They have done well for themselfs in the United States, and as mentioned carry a large number of members to this day.

9/11 [CATCH UP]

The video I have chosen is one that I felt best summed up the way in which the United States took the tragedy, that being one of resolve and commitment to avenging the deaths. Rudy Giuliani used it as an ad campaign, and the way in which he speaks of the children and grand children of the Greatest Generation (1939 - P) who won the greatest war to date, warms the hearts of Americans, and those who watched a superpower, temporarily, brought to its knees.

The attacks on the World Trade Centre has left an inedible mark on the United States, a stinging blow that hit so deep, one believed they would never again ignore the long held troubles of most nations in the world. It has become apparent that they have not learnt well enough, but one thing lies clear, on that day the hate of the world for America hit its shores, something not seen since Pearl Harbour. Islam claimed the responsibility, and the United States chased after them, along with its western allies. Now it seems the world grows tied of chasing, and America now runs not to avenge its fallen men and women, but restore its own sense of superpower status. What know one has mentioned is that seems to have been ebbing for some time.

The American Psyche

When Choosing which article to pick, I decided to go against the theme I had chosen for the presentation, and instead pick one which interested me the most. I found his views in the article about China's oppression of the peoples in Tibet to be refreshing and going against the feeling in the international community at the time. There is a time and a place to allow differences to be set aside, and others where the world must say enough. The problem comes with China forming more power in the world, and what would be better than to have the West pour money into its industries, after all the Olympics is very expensive to put on.

'What is going on in Tibet may be seen as a form of sport in its own right, a thrilling, pre-Olympic warm-up: the Chinese beat, harass and imprison Tibetans; the Tibetans cower, run away, are imprisoned. The Chinese hit and shoot; Tibetans fall, bleed, die. Later, the world shows up in Beijing, cash in hand.'

The homophobic, homosexual pastor — American Psyche

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/mar/17/weekend7.weekend

I chose this article because of its interesting connection to the short story I picked for the presentation, My Amendment.
The article talks about a pastor who founded a very anti-homosexuality church when really he was having homosexual relations himself. Because ashamed of his "true nature", the pastor moved towns and found counseling to change his sexual orientation and is now as heterosexual as can be. Saunders mocks this by saying he tried this sexual orientation counseling which ended up turning him gay the first time round, then extremely heterosexual (as in the paroxysm of the macho man) and finally turned him into an nonsexual being. And because of this, he was going to found a church anti-homosexuality AND anti-heterosexuality.
I think Saunders critiques two things here. First the aberration of having such prejudices. He takes it a step further when talking of founding his church, meaning : "you wouldn't be against heterosexuality, right ?! Then why are you anti-homosexuality ?". Prejudice is bad and people should simply stop with it, especially if it is for something as personal as the choice of your partner's gender.
Then, I also think that Saunders critiques this fear of being different that is very present in America. People have an image in their head of what they should be and do anything and everything to attain it. In the process, they'll even renounce who they really are, just to be accepted by society, or at least the majority of society. If being gay is seen as bad, people will never fully live their sexuality and be frustrated all their lives ! And, Saunders also mocks the "sexual orientation counseling sessions", as sexual orientation change is an unpredictable science. It discredits the process completely, again asking people why would they ever want to change, especially when the results can be very unpredictable !?

American Psyche

I chose this article as I felt that it was a good representation of 'Fake America'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/jul/28/weekend7.weekend1
Saunders satirises the various mistakes made by American journalists.
The first one: 'Father kills bear charging at Son with log' as a reader we are confused. Yet the point that Saunders puts across is the ridiculousness of these stories and the false ideas they put across in the heads of the American youth, from this I draw on the story of 'jon' in the In persuasion nation collection. In this story 'jon/Randy' is dominated by false images of society, in which he rarely has the freedom to explore outside his camp, his confusion over the identity of his mother and even his own name comes solely from advertising. Here Saunders identifies that what we are told, in media and various adverts, doesn't mean that it is true. In this article it is the case with journalism, where American media consistently fails to 'check the facts' therefore a false representation of reality comes out.

George Saunders - American Psyche

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/may/24/healthandwellbeing

Saunders has written several articles for the ‘American Pysche’ series in the Guardian about the influence of advertising in America. The articles are very cynical about the images portrayed in order to endorse products – I particularly like his comments in this article on the advert for anti cellulite cream featuring ‘four wafer-thin women with no cellulite on their celery-thin legs’ and that these women had quite clearly never had cellulite. A phone call to the company confirmed that this was true, two had never heard of cellulite and another thought it was a new form of food sealing technology.
The article backs up some of the aspects of My Flamboyant Grandson in that it perpetuates the idea of the bombardment of Americans with advertising. He is commenting on the pressure that Americans feel to have the next big thing in order to be happy. There is also the cynicism about the extent that advertisers will go to in order to push these products.

Masculinity issues in Contemporary America [catch up post]

This blog post is on the issue of masculinity in America. Because this was our first topic this semester, I had to read my notes on the subject to refresh my memory.
The blog task was to research and find one america website dealing with the issue of masculinity and what we could understand through it, how masculinity is perceived. I chose a blog as I thought it would be closer to the population and give a real personal insider view of the issue. The blog, http://masculineheart.blogspot.com/, is all about masculinity but in a different way to what we apprehend it normally. It talks about contemporary issues (parenthood for example and metrosexuality). Offers a lot of material about philosophy, metaphysics, and a different approach to being a man. It breaks down the clichés and reassure men it is totally normal to not be the stereotypical man. Men are also emotional, fearful and questioning creatures.

9/11 world trade center memorial

I chose this video as it represented a highly nostalgic outlook on the tragedy. I found this video particularly powerful and moving, driven by the emotional soundtrack of Jeff Buckley singing 'Hallelujah', it is done in documentary style with the producer carrying what must camcorder taking us on a journey inside what was once the world trade center. The video shows real footage of being on the top of the two towers, looking out over Manhatten, the views really are amazing and its somewhat ironic and sad that the view no longer exists. I should also emphasise the importance of the soundtrack in this video, much of the lyrics in the song act as an eery echo of the event, lines like 'I've seen this room and I've walked this floor', bringing a visual nostalgia of once being actually inside the buildings as well as the line: 'there was a time when you let me know, what's really goin on below but now you never show that to me do you', conveying the sense that the victims remain suspended in time, suspended in the last moments of their life, high up inside the two towers. It is a haunting video in that respect. Unlike the other videos, this offers little in terms of hope and emphasises more on loss, as people are still grieving and will most likely grieve forever for their lost loved ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tznSfXplNRU&feature=fvw

9/11 Tribute to those who died

I chose this video because it struck me as being different. At least different from the others I had seen. Most videos which are tributes are an assemblage of pictures, footage and music. But this video offered something more : on top of the music, and the pictures and the footage, you can hear the words of George Bush and some journalists. I think this adds gravity to the pictures. The song chosen is also very sad and the lyrics, on top of those images, gives a whole new dimension of emotions.
Of course there is the tribute to the people who died, but with the speeches incorporated, it also shows that America was not ready to give up, it was "being tested" and had to stand the test.

9/11 video

I chose this video as it is a good representation of many of the videos available on line. It contains many iconic images from the events of 9/11 – pictures of the World Trade Centre before the attack, the planes colliding, and the horrific aftermath. The accompanying song called “I Believe” talks about love being the answer and the American flag appears on numerous occasions. All these images combine to give a strongly patriotic message of hope. There is the hero worship element to this video – pictures of firefighters and police who risked their lives. There is a religious element to it which is unsurprising given that religion plays such a big part in many Americans lives – mention of God and prayers in several places. The whole video combines to give a picture of Americans shocked but undefeated by the events.