Cultural Critique

You here talk about the American Spirit all the time, but what is this “Spirit” we always talk about? Is it some ghost that follows us around, or is it an animal spirit that guides Americans like many Native American tribes believe in? I will be the first to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of what the United States has turned into over the years, but once I came across the articles “Is America Falling Apart,” by Anthony Burgess, and “9.11.01: The Skyscraper and the Airplane” by Adam Goodheart I started to really think about it. Is America really just a big country that thinks so highly of itself or is it a country devoted to trying to improve not only it’s self but others as well. I believe that the American Spirit can be found by looking at these kinds of questions. In Burgess’ essay, “Is America Falling Apart,” he examines the differences between the “spirits” of both Americans and Europeans. He explores different aspects and actions of both individuals and the governments in the two separate continents. Burgess hails from Britain and while writing his essay he resides in Italy giving him a very European look on the matter, Europeans are usually more laid back and easier going than American’s seem to be now-a-days. He explains that Americans seem to have a younger attitude, which he calls the “Pre-War” attitude. This “Pre-war” attitude he suggests is a more optimistic outlook on life. For the most part American’s view there day as good, if one thing goes wrong however it sometimes or more likely ruins the whole thing for them. Europeans on the other hand have what Burgess describes as a “Post-war” attitude. A “post-war” attitude is a more pessimistic outlook on life, they view there days as dark and drudging, but if one thing goes right they seem to cheer up for the rest of the day. When I first read this I didn’t quite understand what he was talking about, then I looked at my day. I for the most part had a good day but then I got one semi-lousy grade on a quiz and I was in a bad mood the rest of the day. He also talks about how American’s are all about individualism and protecting our rights to make ourselves be strong and be able to be ourselves. Europeans tend to be more of a country oriented more towards groups. In Europe most countries have a majority of government run programs such as healthcare, and insurance that takes care of the masses and not just individuals. The most important point made in Burgess’ essay is how America is, what Burgess describes, as a “Timocracy.” We are a country driven and run by money and the people who have it. Families who have money usually have had it for many years and usually have more opportunities offered to them. Whether it be better schools, higher paying jobs, or government positions it seems that most of the country is run by these families that have the ability to pay for things, or pay their way into things. In Goodheart’s essay, “9.11.01: The Skyscraper and the Airplane”, he does what you expect talk all about 9/11 and everything that happened, but he takes a very large spin on the whole idea. Goodheart focuses on the evolution of both the airplane and the skyscraper to help us envision how they grew up in the United States where they were “born”. He goes into depth of how designing and building the first skyscraper was almost like a floodgate into the future. Not only was this building large and taller than anything but it opened many doors. Now we had more jobs, took up less land space, electricity, water, and the list goes on and on. So, “did the modern city give birth to the skyscraper, or vice versa?” (9.11.01-306) Goodheart goes on to describe how the airplane came into existence, he asks the question of why we trust being in a skyscraper so much more than being in an airplane. The image of 9/11 is brought back into the picture after his in-depth look at the two technology advances. Why would the terrorists choose to run an airplane into the Two Towers? Perhaps it is because they were sending us a message that they believe the fall of America is coming. They used two American inventions to ruin what he believes is the American Spirit. I came across the editorial, “Giving Thanks for the American Spirit: When People Talk, Barriers of Culture and Race Slip Away,” by Richard Riker when searching for essays. Riker takes an experience he had in one of his college advanced organic chemistry lab to show what he believes the American Spirit has turned into. His lab was a very ethnically diverse class students ranged from Germany, China, Columbia, Sweden, Nigeria and all came from wealthy families. “I learned more about the world, the U.S., our role in the world, how the rest of the world viewed the U.S., male chauvinism, discrimination, language, sex, etc.” (Riker-1) He tells the story of how all the students in the class walked to lunch in the student union one day and the students from Nigeria were encouraged to join a black advocate group. The group walked alongside the students and gave numerous reasons as to why they should join, including the fact that there is discrimination in the this country. The Nigerian Students responded with, “You niggers don’t know what discrimination is. You Americans don’t know how lucky you are; you’re healthy and well fed. In my country, you either have a maid or you are one.” (Riker-1) This is just an example of one of the encounters that Riker saw. The conversations in, and outside, the class, were “no holds barred and not topic was prohibited”. (Riker-2) The essay suggests that we don’t have to flex our military might or try to show up people, they already look towards us and, most, want what we have. In my opinion the American Spirit is always evolving so it is almost impossible to define. When the founding fathers originally came to this country it was all about be free and have a country that was run by the people and not by a monarch. Since then I feel as though we have moved in a different direction. Most of the decisions made in Washington are made by the President but by the officials inside the government that, for the most part, the American citizens have no control in electing. The American Spirit is how we view ourselves, not the way others in other countries view us, but by the way us as the individuals view our country and ourselves. Some may say that the American Spirit is not in good standing that we are too full of ourselves or too self-centered, and I would have to agree with them. I also have to agree that we need to view ourselves as a great country and be proud that we are here and where we stand in the world. In conclusion I would point out that the American Spirit is hard to define because it is not an actual item or something you can touch. The American Spirit resides within the people that live here. You, the reader, may disagree with me, and I may disagree with you, but we should be able to agree that the American Spirit is not something you should be looking for, but something you need to discover inside yourself.

Works Cited
Carolina, Western. "Is America Falling Apart?." The Norton Reader, Twelfth Edition (Western Carolina). 12 ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. 297. Print.
Carolina, Western. "9.11.01: The Skyscraper and the Airplane." The Norton Reader, Twelfth Edition (Western Carolina). 12 ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. 303. Print.
Riker, Richard. "Editorial: Features." Welcome to Northern Express, Northern Michigan 's Largest Newsweekly. Northern Express, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. <http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=850>.

Cited: Carolina, Western. "Is America Falling Apart?." The Norton Reader, Twelfth Edition (Western Carolina). 12 ed. New York: W. W. Norton &amp; Company, 2008. 297. Print. Carolina, Western. "9.11.01: The Skyscraper and the Airplane." The Norton Reader, Twelfth Edition (Western Carolina). 12 ed. New York: W. W. Norton &amp; Company, 2008. 303. Print. Riker, Richard. "Editorial: Features." Welcome to Northern Express, Northern Michigan 's Largest Newsweekly. Northern Express, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. &lt;http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=850&gt;.