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that if you put your mind to it , use all your talents and work hard enough , success is almost guarenteed
LOL - that's supposed to be an American invention? I've done a lot of work on my family tree spanning the past five centuries. All the migrations I've discovered by direct ancestors from one area to another or from one country to another seem to have been prompted by that dream.
LOL - that's supposed to be an American invention? I've done a lot of work on my family tree spanning the past five centuries. All the migrations I've discovered by direct ancestors from one area to another or from one country to another seem to have been prompted by that dream.
Of course they were. Generally speaking, if people choose to move, it's because it's a better option than staying put. This is why I said there's a certain universalism to what's been termed "the American dream."
LOL - that's supposed to be an American invention? I've done a lot of work on my family tree spanning the past five centuries. All the migrations I've discovered by direct ancestors from one area to another or from one country to another seem to have been prompted by that dream.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 415_s2k
Of course they were. Generally speaking, if people choose to move, it's because it's a better option than staying put. This is why I said there's a certain universalism to what's been termed "the American dream."
I don't believe it is an American invention per se but rather a term which was coined by James Truslow Adams, an American who was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1878. As with most new terminology, yes...it can be said they have a universal quality (appeal) to them; similar to midwestern values, if you will.
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HomeIsWhere...
American Dream
Adams coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America. His American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."
Politicians love to talk about "the American dream." However, the phrase wasn't coined by an elected official. That distinction belongs to writer and historian James Truslow Adams.
Adams penned it in his 1931 book "The Epic of America." Of course, he couldn't have known it would go on to define the type of life most Americans aspire to. In fact, in his book, the phrase seems to have an entirely different meaning.
It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.
So, apparently Adams intended "the American dream" to be one of equality across class barriers. Over the years, the definition became more modest -- a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a manageable amount of credit card debt. Even so, the dream is just a dream to many.
A neologism from Greekνέο- (néo-), meaning "new", and λόγος (lógos), meaning "speech, utterance") is a newly coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language
Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event.
I'm talking reality here. In spite of its problems, the U.S. is still the major economic engine, innovator and driving force in the world today. We know the story right? At different times, the same position was held by Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, the Islamic world, Rome, Egypt, etc. What comes around goes around.
tru dat. i suppose the u.s. will pass the mantle back to china then, who has historically been all that you've listed prior to the past few hundred years.
tru dat. i suppose the u.s. will pass the mantle back to china then, who has historically been all that you've listed prior to the past few hundred years.
Maybe in the long term. It's become a point of rhetoric amongst those not that familiar with China, but while China is rapidly developing from an agrarian society to an industrial one, that's low hanging fruit whose path has been blazed by hordes of other countries before it. The technology is all invented and the blueprint lying right before them. They've done a good job and a great many nations have failed to achieve what they have achieved, but they're hobbled by some very serious problems that will plateau their growth and keep them from achieving their true potential if not reformed. China works exceedingly hard at image management and it's worked to a degree, but the country is seriously messed up behind that mask, and these are not flaws where it will be able to just thrive despite them.
Best candidate to replace America in the event of a power vacuum, of course. I don't think I'd prefer that scenario, TBH. America can be very nasty, but it's one of the better hegemons humanity has had and I think the Chinese would be much worse.
Maybe in the long term. It's become a point of rhetoric amongst those not that familiar with China, but while China is rapidly developing from an agrarian society to an industrial one, that's low hanging fruit whose path has been blazed by hordes of other countries before it. The technology is all invented and the blueprint lying right before them. They've done a good job and a great many nations have failed to achieve what they have achieved, but they're hobbled by some very serious problems that will plateau their growth and keep them from achieving their true potential if not reformed. China works exceedingly hard at image management and it's worked to a degree, but the country is seriously messed up behind that mask, and these are not flaws where it will be able to just thrive despite them.
Best candidate to replace America in the event of a power vacuum, of course. I don't think I'd prefer that scenario, TBH. America can be very nasty, but it's one of the better hegemons humanity has had and I think the Chinese would be much worse.
China's biggest hurdle is the way that it has cultivated its society over the last few generations. Their "People's Party" has turned into a government-sanctioned oligarchy where the wealthy and powerful openly strip the poor of all their rights with absolutely no oversight or recourse against, and because of this, the poor fear the wealthy.
I imagine they'll have to go through some sort of massive social upheval/revolution before China can realize its full potential. But, once they have that revolution, then what? How do they organize themselves to pick up thepieces left by the party?
Yet, Canadians, Australians or New Zealanders, who are in a similar boat, seem to know much more about the outside world than Americans. So the isolation or the sheer size of the US doesn't seem to be the only reason behind it.
Vacation time may be a point, but many middle-class Americans also get 4+ weeks of vacay time a year and even if not, you can still be informed about the world without actually visiting it.
Well gee thats true but considering that there our tons of major cities across the states not to mention 300,000,000 people in this country and a big country canada land is moslty isolated same with australia and new zeeland is a tiny country.You obvioslu dont live in the us because if you did you would know most people do pay attention to the world in fact too muxh since were alwyasnpoking our heads in other countries buisness. Also im a middle class and i can tell you everyone is different. Plz just stop talking your the one that is ignorant saying all this crap that doesnt make sense.
I barely know anyone who gets 4+ weeks of vacation per year other than teachers, who (unfortunately) tend get paid like chumps. Most places offer you something like a week of vacation per year, plus you have a certain number of paid time off (PTO) days, which you can use on top of your vacation days... however, these are also your "sick" days for when you geet the flu or have to take your kid to the doctor, wake up and your car won't start, etc. So, that two-and-half week vacation could end up making it so that you have to unpaid time off and lose money if you get sick later in the year.
Most Americans we receive here in Barcelona are wealthy. I guess that most are professional, have rents or are retired. Those Americans are very well travelled. Occasionally, you find Americans that are extremelly parochial and not wealthy (they eat at local Mc Palaces and complain about prices, eat junk food and travel on a very reduced budget).
So as everything in the US, you have both extremes.
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So the isolation or the sheer size of the US doesn't seem to be the only reason behind it. 