...Michael Mainor EN106 – First Year Writing Seminar II: Academic Research & Writing Date : April 26, 2012 America vs. the World America the Beautiful, The Home of the Brave, words that we often hear as Americans in our patriotic way of life; however, are we as Americans so egocentric and or narcissistic in our way of life that we project our thoughts and way of life onto other countries in a global sense? As defined by freedictionary.com, to be egocentric is to view things from one’s own point of view as the only right. It also defines narcissistic as to be infatuated and obsessed with one’s self to exclusion of all others in a ruthless pursuit of one’s gratification, dominance, and ambition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being proud and patriotic Americans. Although most people who live in America can agree that it is a great place to live, we should not project our way of life, as the only right way, onto other countries’ cultures, or people around the world, because when we do we take the risk of being viewed as America vs. the world. In the excerpt, Moral Disagreement, by Kwame Anthony Appiah, he discusses how different perspectives to any situation and or word(s) mean different things to others based on a variety of things: culture, religion, and morals to name a few. Appiah is a native of Ghana and because of his different upbringing and perspective he views things different. For example, “Many married women lived with their brothers, visiting their husbands...
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...Wish fulfillment in the context of D.H Lawrence’s ideas is a world where all ideological concepts and dreams can come to fruition. This is comparable to the reasoning behind creating Hollywood in the early 1900’s. To create fantastical worlds based off the “American Dream”. A dream of becoming the best that you can, a dream where everyone is seen as equal and can become as successful as they wish to be. Commonly, this “dream” state of movies is shown through the relationships between characters, increasingly the “buddy-trope” is used especially in Western style movies. This Western style was first created in the James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Pioneers” as a transition between the English historical romance and the American western. In this novel, he paints a picture of a small...
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...Abstract Student describes how Neil Postman, uses ethos, pathos, logos to argue that American culture is moving towards the dystopian future described by Huxley in “Brave New World,” and not the world described in Orwell’s “1984.” He does an excellent job proving facts and disturbing anecdotes, but he lacks showing the audience an opposing viewpoint. Despite this he is able to clearly show is agreement, by proving emotion supported by fact. Postman is able to connect with his audience through his credentials. The student feels that Postman shows a dangerous path that American Culture may be on, and is able to provide a warning to those who listen to his speech. Analysis of Neal Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” “What is dangerous about television is not it’s junk. Every culture can absorb a fair amount of junk, and, in any case, we do not judge a culture by its junk but by how it conducts its serious public business. What is happening in America is that television is transforming all serious public business into junk.” (Postman, 1984, p. 2) In his speech, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," Neil Postman, Columbia University graduate, and one time chair of the Department of Culture and Communication, made the point that American culture is headed for a culture like that described in Adlus Huxley's "Brave New World," and not the culture described in George Orwell's, "1984." He described the world imagined in 1984 as a place where there were no books, and where the people...
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...that had wrote many stories that are about and how her American identity and the American culture had influenced most of it. And the way she has grown. Cisneros wrote this story, “Mericans,” which main theme focuses on American identity and how is been influenced by its other side which is the Mexican identity. It uses a lot of details so as readers we could visualize the cultural environment that is presented throughout the story. Sandra Cisneros is trying to influence us and make us see the sense of the traditional culture in Mexico instead of drawing assumptions based on physical characters presented in the story. That could confused our idea of what exactly the story is about and how is been affected by this outsiders who are bringing liberalism ideas that confront its traditional culture in this small town in Mexico. She uses different spanish words in the story that begin to focus on what the story idea is about such as, “La Virgen de Guadalupe,” and...
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...developing a Christian view of the world is not merely to evaluate and judge the world, but to change it," (Boa, 2004). Having a Christian worldview is hard enough in American but add in the entire world and it can be a little trickier. Thinking Christianly has a major impact on how someone would do business overseas, in a global economy. When it comes to a Christian worldview in a global economy there are numerous issues that can come up. Different countries and cultures have different things that they deem acceptable; however, when you are looking at it from a Christian standpoint you may have to handle things in a different manner. Just because something is acceptable or legal in the world does not make it acceptable to someone with a Christian worldview. John 17:17 says that, "The word is truth," so when one is looking for direction and guidance in any aspect of business he will always know that the word of God is truth that he can turn to. Although the field of business has many negative connotations with Christianity there are also positive ones. There are two main issues that this paper will address. The first issue, pollution, can be view negatively. The second issue, job opportunities, can be view positively. The first issue, Environmental issues play a key role in why some companies do business overseas. A lot of American based companies like to establish their productions in Mexico because of the lower environmental rules. Many third world countries do not have limitations...
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...Essay One: What is an American? Gregory Coryell American Literature I Dr. Joseph Walker January 19, 2011 What is an American? America has always been based on the precept that it was formed as a melting pot. This term means that different religions, cultures, traditions and countries were blended together to create the “New America.” Europeans from various areas have fled their countries for many reasons and settled on American soil, “the land of the free.” Religious persecution, war, famine, and the hope for economic prosperity have enticed individuals to pull up their tent poles in their native lands and move to a bold new world, known as America. This new world, America would be a starting point and a birth of a new civilization and a new breed of people who all share one common goal. What does it actually mean to be an American? There are many definitions that have existed and that have helped us understand and shape our interpretation of this term. This paper will compare and contrast two separate views of what the new American is and what it means to be called an American citizen. In William Bradford’s, “Of Plymouth Plantation,” he accounts for his journey to the new world by describing the intent of his voyage, his first impression of his surroundings, and the things and people he encounters. Our text verifies Bradford’s hopeful spirit and passion for his beliefs when Bradford uses the term, “Pilgrims” to describe the “community of believers who...
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...In “The White City” Claude McKay, a black poet from New York who wrote during the early twentieth century, tells of how a black man, possibly McKay, endures the anger he feels toward the oppressive white world that he lives in. Instead of submitting to his anger, he uses it as fuel which encourages him to power forward into the mighty white city, where he uses the features of the world around him to distract him from his own hatred. Many of the features around McKay only remind him of the oppression that the city has caused and anger him further. The speaker conveys the fury and helplessness that he feels during this time of an oppressive and uncaring society. McKay bottles up his emotions and tries to ensure that no one knows how he feels...
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...“Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” (Cesar Chavez) Culture does not deserve disrespect as it is what determines a person's views on the world. Imagine moving to a place for the first time, Everything would be completely different from the past. Experiencing a new aspect of culture never explored. Culture is the main root in informing a person how to see the world around them. In the essay “Where Worlds Collide”, written by Pico Iyer, Iyer describes his time first moving to a new place. Coming from out of the country he anticipates that every step he takes is going to be a glance at paradise. “The blue skies and palm trees they saw on TV are scarcely visible from here: just an undifferentiated smoggy haze, billboards advertising Nissan and Cannon, and beyond those an endlessly receding mess of gray streets.” (page 51, Springboard). Here he describes how his picture of L.A was so...
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...NIC Europe Group Driver Paper Budapest, April 28 - 30. 2004. Globalisation or Regionalisation? The views expressed in this and other papers associated with the NIC 2020 project are those of individual participants. They are posted for discussion purposes only and do not represent the views of the US Government. Discussion paper -- does not represent the views of the US Government NIC Europe Group Driver Paper Budapest, April 28 - 30. 2004. Globalisation or Regionalisation? Globalization—Which forces will predominate in 2020—regionalization or globalization and will focusing on one lead to neglect of the other? What will be Europe’s position in the world in 2020 and how will areas of the world look from a distinctly European perspective? Introduction The debate about globalisation versus regionalisation is misleading: it is an obvious statement that the world is more complex than that. When we make simplifications like this, we assume that the loss of understanding is minimal: the world is more complex, but the simplification is such that the essence of the processes are still captured by our model. I will argue here that assumptions about today’s world having two levels of organisation leaves out a very important factor; this in turn results in a misunderstanding. I will argue that there are so many levels between national and global -- defined by socioeconomic systems and subsystems -- that the best approximation is not to assume the existence of two levels...
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...is not publicized as before but it is still alive and well in society. With America being a melting pot of race and ethnicity one would think this issue should not exist. I chose the two poems What it’s like to be a black girl by Patricia Smith and Child of the Americas by Aurora Levins Morales. These two poems are written from a women’s perspective about how racial discrimination is perceived in America. Racism is no longer just a black and white my paper will show how these two pieces showed how cultures are subjected to discrimination. The title of these two poems catch my attention one being I am a black girl and two I am a child of America. I too have faced some challenges that are discussed in these poems. In a country that was founded and built on immigrants society makes a big deal about a person’s race and culture. Why does race matter? Does it make you a better person? Does it make you prettier? Sadly our society has placed into the heads of young women that pretty means lighter skin. That being pretty gives you an easier life. The authors of these two poems are African American and Puerto Rican and they have both faced forms of racial discrimination. In America girls were raised that Caucasian was the accepted race. “It’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering their burn in silence (Smith)”. A line for What it’s like to be a black girl is a clear example of how bad this little black girl wanted to be Caucasian. Society places this stigma...
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...Unlike friends you can never leave them. You are bound to your mother since your first breath in this world. You owe her your life, and much of who you are is because of the influence of your family. However, we still find much to quarrel about within the household. Perspective is a source of much conflict within the Family. Whether it be someone's ignorance, pride, or simply their lack maturity, a person's understanding of a situation within the family can be skewered by their faulty point of view as shown in Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” We all come from different backgrounds....
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...This essay is aimed towards determining whether a relationship between cultural diversity and globalization is present or not, and if globalization does indeed pose a threat to cultural diversity. “The negative side to globalization is that it wipes out entire economic systems and in doing so wipes out the accompanying culture.” Peter L. Berger (American sociologist) Globalization is broken down into different categories, these being cultural, economical, political and technological globalization. It is due this process that barriers are broken down and interaction occurs between individuals of different races, nationalities and cultural back grounds. It is a movement towards an integrated global economy characterized by the free exchange of goods and capital. In popular discourse, Globalization is often related to the Internet revolution, free-market economies and the predominantly western political, economic and cultural lifestyle. This movement is supported by a large range of modern technologies. It is because of globalization that society believes that wealth and higher standards of living will strike developing nations. The above statement was supported by authors of the book, the effect of globalization on African countries: an over view of Nigeria. The two authors (C. R. Eze and J Nkwede) firmly believe that globalization is a strong enforcer of development and poverty reduction in Africa. Plenty agree with Eze and Nkwede as they have deemed the process as a positive...
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...Steven Pou Professor Malloy American Civilization 2 Term Paper 4/21/15 The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society Arthur M. Schlesinger, whose original name is Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger was born on October 17th in Columbus, Ohio, and died February 28th, 2007, in New York. He had graduated from Harvard University in 1938, and in 1940, Schlesinger was appointed a three fellowship at Harvard. This is derived from the society of fellows at Harvard University which gave Schlesinger the opportunity in the early stages of his scholarly career to pursue studies in any department, free from any formal requirement. This opportunity was only given to individuals who display exceptional ability, originality, resourcefulness, and academic achievement of the highest caliber. Unfortunately for Arthur, this opportunity was interrupted once the United States had made its entry into World War 2. When he failed his physical military examination he was appointed to the Office of War Information department, in which he served as an intelligence analyst from 1943 to 1945. In 1952 and 1956 he became a presidential speech writer to democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson the second. He had also served as an assistant and Court historian to President Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. He had also supported the presidential campaign for Kennedy which had ended when he was assassinated in Los Angeles. Arthur eventually returned to his teaching career in 1996 as a professor...
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...but don't confuse him for the wimpy FBI. Fighting for the red, white, and blue he is living symbol for freedom, but don't confuse him with the president. Captain America- despite him being a super soldier- provides idealistic life and morality: he is a strong role model for americans and always views things on the bright side, while being a great leader. He is not only the best superhero ever but gives hope to everyone and provides a positive message on never giving up. He started from the bottom of the pit and never gave up; he became the best “man” he could, even though he had a little help from science. Transforming his life to be accepted, volunteering to become a super soldier, accepting his new reality, Captain America never gives up. People look up to him because he started off not accepted by societies view; he was a scrawny malnourished man that got rejected multiple times. Even though he had the help of military science, the olympic athlete abilities and physical attractiveness gave people hope that if they never give up they can succeed at anything they want. He is still human though. “ But we are also human beings, with feelings and emotions.” (page 59 Our Superhero Ourself) says Captain America, this shows people that even though he has this special ability he can relate to how humans feel and how tough it is to over come that specific standard. People can relate to him after the science experiment just as much as they...
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...Most people already know what the definition of hard power is as such it can be made optional or compulsory. However, in a world dominated by information rather than imitation, there are more ingredients that mark important roles in managing and winning international awareness. The changing nature of power by Joseph S. Nye is an article emphasizing the changing role in the political view and how to take advantage in the new century in which old-fashioned political are not helpful. In the new era, leaders need to have both soft and hard power, including attractiveness, legitimacy and credibility, to be ahead in international affairs. In this article, the author defines power in international settings. In defining power, one cannot measure without knowing the background of the behavior of others. In the modern era, technology has changed the dimension of international power. The traditional authentic politics of the military and economic power have been converted into cyber-dimension based on technology. It has both positive and negative aspects, but it helps spreading nationalism. This trend marks a changing point of view of the role of traditional power. Internet communication has shaped both political dialogues and civilization conflicts. Therefore, countries have to reconsider the power of technology as the changing shift in the interaction between soft and hard power. In defining power, I accept humorously that power is just like love: easier to experience than to define...
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