America and Americanization

I have to admit I really like some American products, like Coca Cola, Nike and big mean cars with large V8 engines, but I am not sure about the country in general. I have been to the USA once, to Charleston in South Carolina, and I really liked it there. However, both people in South Carolina and people from Europe that I have spoken to say that Charleston is a very European-like city. I would like to travel back to the USA and see more of the country, I would like to visit cities like New York, Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles and Las Vegas and I really would like to rent a car and drive from coast to coast.

The media easily gives off the impression that there are many stupid Americans. I don’t know if that is correct or it just seems so because there are so many Americans and therefore many stupid people among the population (I know it is not nice to claim that people are stupid, but you asked for my opinion).

I have mixed feelings about USA`s influence on the rest of the world, I mean the US have many great ways of solving everyday problems. A lot of the household equipment we hold dear originates from the states. Many great authors, athletes and artists come from the USA. Even the subway system, which is rightfully copied from the European original, functions really well in most of the huge American cities. Just look at the subway system in New York for instance. The New Yorkers usually walk everywhere and if they need to travel from one end of the city to the other they can use the subway and they don’t have to wait long for a train because of the fluency of the system.

What I don’t like about their influence is their racism and their way of showing the world that they are superior to the rest and can do what they like. Many of the TV-shows that are aired here in Norway nowadays especially the reality-shows are originally TV-shows from USA and it is “garbage-TV”. I mean, what is the point of locking a group of people that have nothing in common in a small apartment for 100 days and mount cameras everywhere just for people too see? And shows like “American Idol” or “So you think you can dance” are only aired to make fun of poor people who think themselves can sing or dance just to be humiliated for not only national TV but world TV, since both shows are sold abroad the USA. But there are exceptions also in reality-shows, shows like “Survivor” (Robinson-ekspedisjonen) is quite ok, here you have a group of people actually having to solve tasks to get somewhere and their survival-skills are really put to the test. Shows like “Extreme makeover” and “Extreme makeovers house edition” are other examples of good influence. In these shows the tv-producers actually pay to help unfortunate people to get back on tracks and to improve their life-standard. Also, I think the movie world would be quite a sad one without Hollywood, but it is also great to see (especially for the last decade) that other nations are just as capable of producing great cinematic experiences. And a paradox is the copying of international films by the Hollywood “machine”, for instance “The Ring” and even the Norwegian “Insomnia”.

The United States is often referred to as a melting pot, meaning that many different cultures are melted into one. This can be argued back and forth as both positive and negative. In one end one can say that a society of multiplicity is a very positive thing giving a colourful population. In the other end it generates a whole lot of different problems. In my opinion, discrimination is a big problem. Hispanics or “wetbacks” if you like (referring to the illegal and often lethal swim across the Rio Grande) are very much the objects of discrimination, especially in the south. Even though they are a much valued work force doing a lot of the dirty work they are in many cases viewed as second rate citizens. Black Americans were for many years discriminated by whites especially in the southern states. However, great people like Martin Luther King and the likes of him managed to shed some light internationally on that situation, but even now 44 years past Mr. Kings “I have a dream” speech the average black American is not exactly viewed as fortunate. The story of the American Indians is a very sad chapter in American history in which I will not portray in any detail. In the present we can see a new kind of racism towards Muslims caused by the September 11^th attacks. 9/11 did not only go into history as a dark day in American history, but also for the western world. The terrorist attacks gave rise to many more casualties than the ones that died on that horrible day since it gave rice to the world wide war on terror. Who can blame them in the initial stage, they where under attack, and attacked back….. Now six years on even some of the most pro war in Iraq politicians are questioning the motives to send more troops. George W. Bush, the president of the United States is a man that does not come across as particularly intelligent. The media dominated world we live in does not exactly help the man when he does huge blunders on international television like one of the recent ones where he claims that Nelson Mandela….”and all the Mandelas” are dead because of Saddam Hussein. That really makes you wonder, and it makes me a bit scared. Clips like that are automatically broadcasted on You Tube for the world to see and comment on. I am a bit scared of the United States military use and how easily the US uses its military forces in countries far from its own borders, especially in countries that has a lot of oil. You could say that I am a bit concerned that USA may look our way when their oil reserves and the Middle Eastern oil reserves run dry.

There you have some of my opinions about the USA. I have in general mixed feelings about the nation. I admit they have given rise to many of the products I use every day. I enjoy great American television entertainment, and I even eat Americanized food. However I think the whole country would benefit from having a President that comes across as much smarter than the present one. If the US in addition could spend less money on war and more on education there might be a lot of potential there….. They do like the rest of the world to look up at them; however in my opinion they are not that position worthy today!!!!

In conclusion one can say that the USA is and will probably be for a long time the country many of us love to hate.