American Culture

[Haphazard]

Childish name calling. We're not a lazy culture.
I suppose it may be linked to pursuing modern conveniences (driving, not walking, etc), but that's really just to free up more time to work, right?

I know! So you can get that second job, exactly.

 

[INTJ123]

I have taste, and I have more culture that most people I've come across during my foreign travels... so you know, speak for yourself.

This "America is lame, everything is lame" mentality is the bastard child of 60s counterculture and the lackadaisical self indulgence of the subsequent decades.

Don't like the place you're living in? Either work to change it or find a better place to live in. And quit your loathing - nobody thinks that shit is cool aside from other haters.

I thought I was speaking for myself. Hey that's one thing I do like about this place, I can say it sucks publicly.

 

[~~ENFJ~~]

Volunteerism is a good one! We seem to be strongly attuned to social justice, though different political ideologies see different means of attaining it (private charities, individualism, social organizations, government intervention). I think it ties in with our lack of cynicism and our religious ideals, but not from a causality.

I would say that the personification of US culture isn't in the cowboy, but that the cowboy is the stereotype most readily identified as an American archetype. Pioneers, colonial settlers, abolitionists, women's suffragists, mountain men, prohibitionists, Hollywood stars, oil tycoons... there are so many American archetypes to choose from and cowboy is only one of them.

 

[Athenian200]

I suppose it may be linked to pursuing modern conveniences (driving, not walking, etc), but that's really just to free up more time to work, right?

Oh, not WORK. I don't want to work anymore than I have to. Why would anyone want to live that way, focused on work all the time?

I think... it's too much work. They demand so much energy and focus.

Everything is too much work! AHH!

 

[OrangeAppled]

Oh, not WORK. I don't want to work anymore than I have to. Why would anyone want to live that way, focused on work all the time?

I think... it's too much work. They demand so much energy and focus.

I agree, but our culture celebrates the workaholic. I am, in fact, lazy, but that makes me an atypical American

 

[Athenian200]

I agree, but our culture celebrates the workaholic. I am, in fact, lazy, but that makes me an atypical American

What ever happened to moderation? You know, doing enough work to earn money and lead a semi-comfortable existence, but then focus on other aspects of life? Didn't people ever do that?

 

[Scott N Denver]

I agree, but our culture celebrates the workaholic. I am, in fact, lazy, but that makes me an atypical American

How INFP of you! :yim_phbbbbt: Sorry, I couldn't resist

 

[OrangeAppled]

What ever happened to moderation? You know, doing enough work to earn money and lead a semi-comfortable existence, but then focus on other aspects of life? Didn't people ever do that?

Preaching to the choir

How INFP of you! :yim_phbbbbt: Sorry, I couldn't resist

You know you love it

 

[~~ENFJ~~]

Childish name calling. We're not a lazy culture.
I suppose it may be linked to pursuing modern conveniences (driving, not walking, etc), but that's really just to free up more time to work, right?

I know! So you can get that second job, exactly.

You have to have the second job to afford the gym membership, the gas for driving to work in the huge SUV that doesn't hold all your 1.2 kids' soccer and key club supplies, the SUV payment, the day care costs for while you're working two jobs, the pet grooming, the yard maintenance, the hair highlighting and lowlighting, the convenience foods since you aren't home to be preparing them more, the tickets to some sort of expensive outlet to allow yourself scheduled downtime after the hectic and stress-filled week, etc.

I know a lot of people who choose not to live this way, but they're definitely counter-cultural. And America is a place where being counter-cultural is increasingly a strong undercurrent to the culture. Our culture tends to identify more by saying what we aren't than by saying what we are. We aren't British. We aren't racist. We aren't wasteful. We don't do that. We wouldn't do that. Whatever.

 

[slant]

America...first thing that comes to mind....
Capitalism.

 

[OrangeAppled]

You have to have the second job to afford the gym membership, the gas for driving to work in the huge SUV that doesn't hold all your 1.2 kids' soccer and key club supplies, the SUV payment, the day care costs for while you're working two jobs, the pet grooming, the yard maintenance, the hair highlighting and lowlighting, the convenience foods since you aren't home to be preparing them more, the tickets to some sort of expensive outlet to allow yourself scheduled downtime after the hectic and stress-filled week, etc.

:cough:ESTJs:cough:

 

[~~ENFJ~~]

What ever happened to moderation? You know, doing enough work to earn money and lead a semi-comfortable existence, but then focus on other aspects of life? Didn't people ever do that?

The American answer to that is "Put in your dues by working now and playing later because it is the early bird who catches the worm."

You work, work, work, work, work so you can save for retirement, at which time it is socially acceptable, and expected, that you will stop working and only appreciate leisure activities.

 

[Edgar]

The American Dream... I don't know. It doesn't sound like anything more than pure idealism that anyone who thinks highly of themselves and humanity could come up with.

No, the American Dream is a destinct concept that anyone, despite their ethnic background or class, can achieve immense wealth and prestige based solely on their work ethic and innovation - and that America is the only country that would allow such success to flourish.

 

[Scott N Denver]

You have to have the second job to afford the gym membership, the gas for driving to work in the huge SUV that doesn't hold all your 1.2 kids' soccer and key club supplies, the SUV payment, the day care costs for while you're working two jobs, the pet grooming, the yard maintenance, the hair highlighting and lowlighting, the convenience foods since you aren't home to be preparing them more, the tickets to some sort of expensive outlet to allow yourself scheduled downtime after the hectic and stress-filled week, etc.

I know a lot of people who choose not to live this way, but they're definitely counter-cultural. And America is a place where being counter-cultural is increasingly a strong undercurrent to the culture. Our culture tends to identify more by saying what we aren't than by saying what we are. We aren't British. We aren't racist. We aren't wasteful. We don't do that. We wouldn't do that. Whatever.

Living [renting mind you] in a kinda well-to-do suburb surrounded by even more well-to-do suburbs, this rings painfully home...
Now we just need to add in "tummy tucks" and "hyper-parenting"...

 

[Athenian200]

America...first thing that comes to mind....
Capitalism.

Adam Smith was English...

The American answer to that is "Put in your dues by working now and playing later because it is the early bird who catches the worm."

You work, work, work, work, work so you can save for retirement, at which time it is socially acceptable, and expected, that you will stop working and only appreciate leisure activities.

But... I don't want the worm. When I did I express interest in the worm?

If I wait until I can retire, I'll be too old to enjoy the sort of things I want to do. And it's not like I need a lot of money to do the things I want to, because they're not really material things. Mostly conversations, buying books, maybe eating, etc.

No, the American Dream is a destinct concept that anyone, despite their ethnic background or class, can achieve immense wealth and prestige based solely on their work ethic and innovation - and that America is the only country that would allow such success to flourish.

That'll be the day! The American Dream is not rooted in American Reality at all. I wish, LOL!

They should start calling it the American Delusion. I've seen little evidence that things often work that way in America. Many can't even find a job despite searching desperately.

 

[Scott N Denver]

Adam Smith was English...



But... I don't want the worm. When I did I express interest in the worm?

If I wait until I can retire, I'll be too old to enjoy the sort of things I want to do. And it's not like I need a lot of money to do the things I want to, because they're not really material things. Mostly conversations, buying books, maybe eating, etc.

An INF in an EST culture, but at least you share the J

 

[INTJ123]

Adam Smith was English...



But... I don't want the worm. When I did I express interest in the worm?

If I wait until I can retire, I'll be too old to enjoy the sort of things I want to do. And it's not like I need a lot of money to do the things I want to, because they're not really material things. Mostly conversations, buying books, maybe eating, etc.




That'll be the day! The American Dream is not rooted in American Reality at all. I wish, LOL!

They should start calling it the American Delusion. I've seen little evidence that things often work that way in America. Many can't even find a job despite searching desperately.

The problem is, you can only see the American dream when you are sleeping, now wake up...looks like you already have...

 

[OrangeAppled]

Many can't even find a job despite searching desperately.

Well, in the American Dream, you generally start a business, not find a job.

 

[Scott N Denver]

We are very entrepreunerial [sp?] in spirit. Freedom, capitolism, entrepreunerial character. "Leave me and my money alone!" I once heard a business owner say "Economic freedo is the ONLY freedom that matters" He also said "CNN is on the left, Fox news is in the middle, and I']m on the right"

 

[Athenian200]

Well, in the American Dream, you generally start a business, not find a job.

You know, that's interesting. I had someone do an astrology reading for me recently (just for fun), and they basically told me that I had an unusual concentration of Cardinal signs in my nature, but that I was likely to be deluded about this in myself and go around in circles.

This essentially boiled down to the fact that unless I took all the risks myself, and "ran the show," I wasn't likely to get a place in the show. Basically, that unless I started a business myself, I wasn't likely to get a job. That I'd have to create whatever I was looking for rather than continuing to seek it.

Really, really hoping it doesn't turn out that way... I haven't developed leadership qualities because I never thought I'd need them.