Americans are not who they think they are

What do Americans want? According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, they have an "overwhelming hunger" for something called "nation-building". Americans, he thinks, recognize their own national malaise -- the infrastructural crisis, the financial debt, the absence of political leadership. To rebuild America, Friedman believes, requires the values of our parents' generation: "work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means". But this, he recognizes, is a complicated message that requires a special messenger. So, Friedman asks, who will tell the people the bad news?

Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes. We still have all the potential for greatness, but only if we get back to work on our country.

The Friedman argument is intriguing. He is the messenger to the special messenger. He is suggesting that "Americanness" is defined by a common misreading of its people's own identity. The bad news is that Americans are living a lie. But the good news, he says, is that Americans are ready for the truth, ready to finally face themselves.

Oh dear: we are not who we think we are. So what, exactly, do Americans think that they are? What are the illusions that they hold in common? What deludes Americans?

It's such an illuminating question that I'd like to come up with my own equally illuminating answer. So, tomorrow, I'm flying to New York City to hook up with a film crew. And, on Wednesday afternoon, we'll go out onto the highly unrepresentative streets of Manhattan to discover the lie/truth about who those poor deluded Americans think they really are. 

Hardly scientific, I admit. But a start, at least, to the great question of our age: What has become of America?

Comments

[gordon lane]

Well, you recognize NYC is a poor choice, so change your flight to Portland, Maine, instead. I've the day off from work. I'll show you a real America... ;)

[Stephen Smoliar]

Andrew, after all that talk about reading matter with intellectual substance, I am frankly surprised (not to mention disconcerted) that you would consume so many of your cognitive cycles on the likes of Thomas Friedman. If you read this comment before boarding, I suggest you pick up a copy of THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES by Clifford Geertz for airplane reading. I can think of no better preparation (at least the first three chapters) for your project.

As to your primary question, I doubt that what people say they think they are will tell you much about what America has become. To address that question, you have to shift your focus to what people say to what they actually do and then tease out the motives behind what they are doing. Furthermore, since there really is no such thing as a "normative American" (given how diverse the population is), you might do better to seek out some really interesting outliers. This is basically what Henry Miller did in THE AIR-CONDITIONED NIGHTMARE, which would also make good preparatory plane reading.

[Jared Stein]

It's an interesting question to investigate, but I think by going to NYC you're going to end up with responses that are not very representative of Americans in general.

If you were to ask me, I'd say we Americans think we are (in very large, purposely generic categories): (1) rock stars, (2) intellectuals, (3) revolutionaries, or (4) traditionalists. All of these communicate some degree of insulation from reality, and may drive us to self-deception and excess when exaggerated. But they all (with possible exception of the first) also contain a potential for individual excellence, achievement, and positive change.

[Mike]

I think most Americans have a very confused idea of what it means to be someone from another country, because they have been so shielded from what the rest of the world thinks and does. Unless they know who they've borrowed their time and dimes from, they're not going to answer your questions very well.

[Mike]

I have a hard time imagining what it's like to not grow up being fed the idea that I live in the undisputedly greatest country in the world. Just constantly being inundated with that, and the American Dream, is going to make everyone crazy when they grow up.

[George Feelgood]

As an immigrant in the US, it is very interesting attempting to shed off the steriotypical perception of the typical American the World has of this great country.
"We" (and I'm using this terms very looselY) really need to understand our role on Planet Earth.

In a World with over 5 billion people, I think it's pretty myopic for America not to consider that we're all players here, and not the pied piper.
We have very limited geographic knowledge (literally), of this planet, and that's what makes us somewhat dimwitted on how to make decisions and engage in dialog among ourselves.