dhbailey wrote:
If anybody can define American
culture in as succinct a manner as they can define French or German or
British culture, I will be amazed.
Despite its obvious literary flaws, here is a pretty good attempt:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
(Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus").
I read an article somewhere recently by a self-styled jaded European
writer who seemed continually amazed that Americans talk about "freedom"
in such an unabashed way. No matter which side of the current US
political mess a particular American stands on, a genuine almost naive
belief in freedom, both as a concept and as a possibility, seems to be
our common ground.
The current flap about the huge influx of Spanish speakers across our
southern border sounds so similar to the noise we have always had. In
the 19th century it was the Irish on East Coast and the Chinese on the
west coast. The ones that are here want to keep anyone else from coming.
(And some Hispanics are the most virulent about it, too: I am thinking
of the political cartoonist Michael Ramirez.)
Where I live there has been an astonishing rise in the number of Spanish
speakers. So much so that in some pockets of the city it is now the
dominant culture. But this does not change the fact that for Spanish
speakers, as for every other language that has come here, the next
generation speaks English, and learning English is one of the single
biggest success factors for upward mobility. Anyone who comes here is
highly motivated to learn it if they can. On the Spanish TV channels,
every other ad is for an English course.
Of course this discussion is about the current US American culture,
which so often conveniently forgets about the earlier cultures it
obliterated. But that's a discussion for another forum, I think.
--
Robert Patterson
http://RobertGPatterson.com
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