You are very lucky, living in America.
Yes, you, John Smith, and you, Jane Doe, and you, Mei-Ling and Abdul and Yvette and Hamadi and everybody else.
Perhaps you are living on the streets, but at least there’s the welfare and food stamps, because the American government takes care of everyone.
Perhaps you are trapped just beneath the glass ceiling of invisible workplace discrimination, but at least you aren’t living on the streets, jobless, having to rely on the government for welfare and food stamps, because America is a land of endless opportunity for those willing to grit their teeth and work hard.
Perhaps you are black, yellow, blue, gay, straight—but whatever you are, it doesn’t matter, because you live in America, land of the free and the brave, land of democracy and justice and equality.
So you wake up every morning and get your Starbucks and check your iPhone—unless you live on the streets, but that’s your own fault, you lazy freeloader; if you worked harder you could get a job and an iPhone and a coffee—and maybe go vote in that election, because it’s important to exercise the constitutional rights your fathers fought so hard for. You are, after all, living in the “city on a hill” (and don’t tell me you’ve never heard of John Winthrop, because here in America education is also a right for all), and you should set a good example for the poor nations of the world living without the glorious light of democracy.
And maybe others will call you conceited, and full of yourself, and just because you live in America, you think America’s so great, but you just let the insults roll right off, because yes, you do think America is great, and you have democracy and freedom and individual rights and look at Canada, they don’t have a democracy, now do they?
Oh, yes, you are lucky.
You are smarter, richer, prettier than people who are not from America. You are more diverse and less judgmental, more hard-working and creative and innovative and cultural than people who are not from America, because America is a great melting-pot of people and ideas. America is the biggest, best melting-pot in the world—America, where the streets are paved with gold and the sky's the limit.
You might take a moment now to wonder if this is maybe a little too much, a little sarcastic and cynical, unable to see the good points of America, mocking patriotic Americans (and by extension, yourself)—but don’t doubt yourself. America is indeed exceptional.
America is not perfect, but it is a country of freedom and individual rights, where you will not be punished for criticizing the government or killed for believing in this god or that. America is not a true meritocracy, but it is a society where hard work can and will be rewarded somehow. America is not without its problems and idiosyncrasies, its corruptions and small inequalities, but it is always changing, always evolving and trying to become better.
The very structure of the American government enables change. You can make a difference, however small—so go out and vote in that election, or run for the position yourself. Laws are not set in stone, and the Constitution can be amended—so speak out, if you see that something needs to change.
And maybe the system is slightly broken, and maybe you still face discrimination for the way you look or the way you act, and maybe you can’t get a job and an iPhone however hard you work—but you are still very, very lucky to live here, in a land of freedom and opportunity, because America is exceptional—in individual freedoms as well as in egocentricity—and so are you.
First off, this essay made me laugh (in a good way). It was lighthearted and playful, and despite all the sarcasm, your point still got across: America is exceptional. The structure of the essay allowed the reader to follow along easily, and there was a clear distinction between simply poking fun at the reader/the idea of American exceptionalism and supporting this belief with facts (rights, structure of gov't, etc). I also liked that you addressed the fact that America is not perfect, but it is still considered exceptional because of all it has achieved. Do you think that people often mix up the terms "exceptional" and "perfect", so they begin to believe that America can do no wrong?
ReplyDeleteThis piece intrigued me because it was not only simple and reader-friendly, but it also subtlety argued that America is an exceptional country. This was done through both sarcasm and irony which made it actually fun to read and kept me interested throughout the whole piece. Additionally, I though your style, diction, and structure in the essay were great. A discussion question that came to my mind while I was reading your post was this: who is your intended audience? When you say “you” who are you referring too?
ReplyDeleteThis post was well done; you were able to get across two points at the same time and the whole thing flowed together very nicely. It is easy sometimes to think that American Exceptionalism is just all talk and ideals and that all the things that are "exceptional" are only considered so because it's not as bad as somewhere else in the world rather then being actually good. I do agree that America does change very quickly; I mean just a couple decades ago African Americans had no rights. Do you think perfection is possible or can America only compare itself to the past and others to see how exceptional it is?
ReplyDeleteAlice, I loved this piece because it involved the reader so much! There is a directness and rather forcefulness in this piece. I felt like I was almost being scolded for not appreciating the exceptional nature of America. I like that by reading this piece, I can tell the point is that America's exceptionalism is because of its freedoms and egocentricity. In response to Jerry's question, I think America will always be more exceptional in the present than past, we have come far. Perfection would be a Utopia, however, and I don't think its possible for any country to develop a Utopian society. You mention in third to last paragraph that America is not perfect. What are our flaws and how come they don't override the exceptionalism in America?
ReplyDeleteReally intriguing, and definitely unique. I agree that directly addressing the audience and the repetition of "you" is effective in keeping a hold of the reader's attention. I found it interesting how you remained sort of ambiguous throughout the essay. It was hard to say if you were using "you" to detach yourself from what Americans generally think about themselves or if you actually believed all these things yourself. My interpretation was that you agree with most of it since your final conclusion was that America is indeed exceptional, though maybe not on as passionate a level. The one line that really caught my attention was "unless you live on the streets, but that’s your own fault, you lazy freeloader", which could seem outspoken but brings up an interesting point. Do you think the government provides enough support and financial aid for everyone that the only way one can become homeless is by self-error?
ReplyDelete