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The term, "authentic" comes from the same root as does the term, "author". And author (of a book") is the one who created the book. And an authentic tradition of a a country is one that was created by that county. So, the United States has many authentic traditions. Many of which have been mentioned.
George Washington was a slave-owner. He left 1/2 yearly DC to keep slaves from freedom.
Just my way of screaming WAKE UP!!!
So go ahead and sing "The Star Spangled Banner" (if you can hit the high note) to your heart's content and wave your flags, but don't let yourself be fooled into believing that this present abomination called the United States of America bears the slightest resemblance to the ideals and ideas upon which it was founded.
I take a different perspective. The United States of the founding fathers had ideals and ideas, but it also had slavery, limited rights for women, manifest destiny and imperialism.
Working conditions today are many times better then at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Materialism is a human instinct and the modern complaints are just repeating the old.
You only hate the present if you take a rosy view of history. You even said that when you felt you had an authentic american identity you didn't know the uglier truth.
True identity comes from with in. That's the only authentic identity. You can't get a real identity by saying "I'm with this ethnic group, from this country, I like this music, I'm a democrat, and I'm a colts fan". Each of those are things that people will identify with. The people who get most of their identity from a single one of those are the nationalists, music snobs, partisans, and rabid fans.
I must admit I love to watch the Simpsons! And hamburgers my uncle makes so well. The canvas Converse and my first calculator from Texas Instruments. I love the friendlyness in general, but don't understand it has to be so loud.
Mt. Hellens was also very beautifull
I must admit I love to watch the Simpsons! And hamburgers my uncle makes so well. The canvas Converse and my first calculator from Texas Instruments. I love the friendlyness in general, but don't understand it has to be so loud.
Mt. Hellens was also very beautifull
Loud? My German friend complains that to speak like an American, she has to talk in monotone without moving her lips. When she talks to her mother on the phone in German it sounds like they're fighting to me. German is loud.
It is universal on the left end of the American and European social spectrum. I actually find it hard to believe that you're not aware of this.
And I would also add that it will be in the name of a longing for cultural identity that the American people in the future will embrace a leftist pseudo-absolutist form of government. I think we are already far down that path.
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My-my, Pythagorean! Your description of "authenticity" was quite vivid, but it still leaves me confused. I don't understand what all the talk of selfishness and liberal-antiliberal attitudes has to do with authenticity. I have thought of authenticity as meaning to be authentic, to maintain fidelity toward essential values maybe? Anyway, I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered its application in philosophy, especially existentialism, as meaning to live consistent with internal, personal values rather than the values placed on one by his society, religion, etc.
I am not an authentic person. I have lived my life by the constraints placed on me by society and other external factors. I have tried in many ways to conform. In my mind, I want to believe that I am authentic because I have maintained strong personal values and have lived consistent with them often--as I suppose many of us live partially authentic lives, at least in our opinions of ourselves--,but I know that the essence of authenticity is to live life in a manner that clearly and consistently manifests our internal and personal, I would even say spiritual, values. Is this about right?
Samm