Who+Are+We-+Jared,+Marco,+Andrew

home The Question "Who Are We?" has been one that the people of America have been asking since the start of the country. Although their is always debate about who we are, Americas identity today can be found in many different areas. As America, we are a nation of immigrants, so much so that other countries refer to America as the melting pot. America is also a highly religious nation. Americas identity can also be found in materials and technology which will be explained later. Globalization is also shaping the current identity of America and has to be in the discussion when talking about who we are.

In part one of Huntingtons "Who Are We" Huntington lays down the ground works to answer this very question. The question posed by Huntington is asking who we are as Americans and how Americans identify themselves. In part one Huntington explains how Americans are more patriotic and even nationalistic when America is in danger or has an enemy that poses a threat to the country like during the Cold War and after September 11. Part one also explains how people identify themselves by using six main sources of identity which are, ascriptive, caltural, territorial, political, economic, and social. Huntington suggests four possible outcomes for America's future. The first one is that America could lose its core culture and become multicultural. Second, the massive Hispanic immigration after 1965 could split America into two different languages and cultures. Spanish and English, Anglo and Hispanic. Some parts of America such as the Southwestern parts would be primarily Hispanic in culture and language, while the rest would be like it is now. Third, the fact that America is changing so fast could force white Americas to exclude, expel, or suppress people of other races. Lastly, America could go back to its roots as a very religious country, mostly Christian country.Part one then moves into what is known as the false dichotomous. Scholars label two types of nationalism and national identity as civic and ethnic, political and cultural, revolutionary and tribalism, liberal and integral, or simply patriotism and nationalism, The false dichotomy is the fact that these pairings contradict themselves.

Part two begins by explaining that America was initially defined in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, and religion. These components remained part of American identity until the late 1800's. Because of the multitude of immigrants and by WWII, the assimilation into American society of large numbers of southern and eastern europeans, ethnicity disappeared. Then after the [|civil rights movement] and the [|immigration act of 1965], race also disappeared. At this point, Anglo-Protestant culture came under attack, leaving the chance that American identity might come to only being ideological commitment to the Creed.The Creed according to Huntington is defined peoples commitment to the political principles of liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, human rights, the rule of law, and private property. Huntington also said the Creed represents "life, liberty, aand the pursuit of happiness." All principles of the Creed have three outstanding characteristics. One, they have remained remarkably stable over time. Two, the Creed commanded the widespread agreement and support of the American people. Lastly, almost all the central ideas of the Creed have their origins in dissenting Protestantism. Huntington then goes on to explain how the [|Civil War] made America a nation. The war paved the way for nationalism, patriotism, and the unqualified identification of Americans with their country. Huntington also describes Americanization and how to Americanize the immigrant.[| Louis Brandeis] said that Americanizing the immigrant meant that the immigrant "adopts the clothes, the manners, and the customs generally prevailing here... substitutes for his mother's tongue the English language, and insures that his interests and affections have become deeply rooted here, and comes into complete harmony with our ideals and aspirations and cooperates with us for their attainment." Americanization was a "social crusade" and people like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and non-profit organizations such as the YMCA, all aided the movement. Huntington states, "Americanization made immigration acceptable to Americans." It's success showed when the immigrants and their children marched off to fight America's wars.

In the third part of “Who Are We?” by Samuel Huntington, he talks about how immigration is on its way of changing America’s Identity. For example, one identity of America is speaking English. If the language was to change in America then it would be a huge change identity. America has always been know to speak english. If America want to have their own identity then we need to stick with speaking english and have immigrants and people from other countries learn how to speak english. We should not let other countries influence us. Don’t get me wrong I see nothing wrong with letting immigrants come into the America. Everyone deserves a fair living. We need to set a common identity and not let the immigrants set identity for us. I have learned that every culture has a different identity and it is important to them but if you move to a different country you need to adapt to their identity and practice your own country’s identity on your own.

====Part four of "Who Are We" by Samuel P. Huntington is all about renewing Americas identity. Huntington points out that the future of American identity is being significantly shaped by four trends in American Society. 1, The virtual disappearance of ethnicity as a source of identity for White Americans. 2, the slow blurring of racial distinctions and the fading salience of racial identities. 3, the growing numbers and influence of the Hispanic community and the trend toward a bilingual, bi-cultural America. 4, the gap between the salience of national identity for many elites and its salience for the overall public. Huntington points out that the growing number of Hispanic people living in America will greatly shape the future identity of this country. This growing population could led America to becoming a bilingual culture. More emphases would be put on teaching students Spanish and immersing them in Hispanic culture. Many Hispanic leaders have been actively pushing for Americas to become actively fluent in both English and a second language, meaning Spanish. If this were to happen it would greatly change Americas identity. Another area that Huntington address in this chapter is the topic of religion in America. Huntington pointed out that Americas identity right now is very religious. A poll taken in 2000, showed that Americans strongly equate religion with personal ethics and behavior, considering it an antidote to the moral decline they perceive in our nation today. Americans believe that most (if not all) of the worlds problems would be fixed if people were more religious, and to most people it doesn't matter which religion is involved. Two things help lead to the resurgence of religion in America. 1, the numbers and proportions of Americans who were evangelical protestants or who identified themselves as "born-again Christians" increased significantly in the latter decades of the century. 2, large numbers of Americans become concerned about a decline of morals in Americas society and this led them to believe that people needed more religion in their lives. Huntington sees the America going on of three ways with its interaction with the world, cosmopolitan, imperial, and National. Cosmopolitan is where the world reshapes America. This means that immigrants coming in shape America and America becomes a nation of immigrants. Imperial is when America starts to force its believes on other people, and national, is when America remains America resisting all other trends.====

The Jihad Vs. McWorld article by Benjamin R. Barber lays out the future of globalization in our world. Barber talks about how a crucial paradox is happening in the world today. This is that the cultures of the world are being torn apart by different religions race and ideology known as Jihad and at the same time it is being unified by economic and technology forces known as McWorld. A big part of this has to do with the question "who are we?" As a culture and a world Barber thinks we have a major dependence on technology that is leading to globalization. This in turn is leading to the Jihad conflicts where countries are trying to force beliefs and values on other countries. The article points out that globalization is happening at a fast rate and could lead to countries getting to powerful. This point is backed up in the article tilted "A Strategy to Straddle the Planet" This article talks about how powerful China is getting and the dangers America is as a country to having its identity shaped for it by China. In these couple articles globalization is given a bad rep, but not everyone feels that one about it. In a article by Erin Ailworth she talks about how globalization is actually a good thing, you can read the article using this [|link].

In an article by Thomas L. Friedman tilted "The World is Flat" he talks about globalization and the effect it is having on the world. Globalization is defined as "the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor." This article points some good things about globalization. Some of them are, how it is a good thing that people in other countries like India no longer need to leave they homeland to innovate new products and make a good living. This a good thing because it helps preserver local cultures. Before globalization, people would have to spend their whole life savings to move to America to try and make a decent living for their family. This in turn is going to shape Americans new identity. Globalization could be the number one driving factor behind Americas new identity, and will directly lead to the answer of "who are we" as a country. Globalization is forever changing America and the whole world. To read more about globalization visit [|here].

Today, technology has also played a part in defining our identity. Americans rely on so much technology that it’s [|outrageous]. The newer generations have thought that having technology can make everything easier. For example having the internet has made it easier for doing research. Instead of going to the books at the library we can now go to the internet that has everything we need. Our society thinks, “What is a way that I can make this easier for myself and everyone else”. Why should we work hard when a touch of a button could do the same work that we do and we don’t have to do anything but sit here and watch? Our society use to take pride in our work and today it is different. Don’t get me wrong I still think we take pride in our work but like we use to in the early 20th century. Doing hard work is good for our body. I feel like the less hard work we do then the less disciplined we are today. Another example would be the I-phone. The i-phone has allowed Americans to do so many things without really doing much work or moving around. My point is that Americans are becoming lazy not only in jobs but also in school. Here is an article quote about the i-phone that help proves my case, “ Another critical advantage for Apple was that China provided engineers at a scale the United States could not match. Apple’s executives had estimated that about 8,700 industrial engineers were needed to oversee and guide the 200,000 assembly-line workers eventually involved in manufacturing i-Phones. The company’s analysts had forecast it would take as long as nine months to find that many qualified engineers in the United States.”( Duhigg, Charles, and Keith Bradsher )  Time has changed since the mid 20th century till present. People would get hired from experience instead of a degree. Of course most people back then could not afford a degree and getting a job was the next best thing that did not require a degree. Today society complains about jobs not being out there, when in reality there is. There are jobs out in America but today jobs are requiring people to have a degree instead of just experience. Our identity in work has diminished and technology has taken over. As Huntington describes in book about different identities on page 27, most Americans would be economic, social, and territorial. We are proud of the technology that we have compared to second and third world nations and even our neighbors. Which bring me to my next point the State of Union message by President Obama. You can view the article here using this [|Link]. After reading the State of the Union message I was pleased to hear what President Obama spoke. He spoke the truth about what America needs to be, like it was 15-20 years ago. We need jobs to come back to America. Why do we make it so hard for factories to setup here in America. Why have companies or factories pay so much in taxes. If we give them some tax relief that will help them stay in America rather than going overseas. I want America to thrive but I also want it to do it the right way. I want everyone to have a fairshot of making a living like President Obama said. In order for that to happen we need to educate ourselves or atleast have help. So many people my age have dropped out of school either high school or college. We talk about not being able to find jobs, when in reality there are some out there that require degrees. More of the companies require people to get college degrees instead of a high school degree. We the people have become so lazy that we want the government to do everything for us. Now the government is giving us a challenge and that is for us to get a degree and make it possible for us to get a degree from a univserity. I we want to be on top again then we need to start making changes. Our cultural use to grow up on about working hard will benefit you in the long run. Well that is still true today but we americans have been irresponsible and lazy that we don’t want to work hard like our parents or grandparents, or even our great grandparents. How we live is how we value eachother. Rich value the rich and the middle class value the middle class. The middle class gets jealous of the rich class for making all the money but the rich class gets mad about paying more on taxes. What we have in our possesion or house hold is how we view others and ourselves. We need to be thankful for what we have. What President Obama was right, in order for our economy to come back again it has to start with the people and changing rules or regulations. It also has to start with people on top and taking a pay reduction. You can view this article [|here].

Andrew Guzdial's personal response/connection To be honest I never really thought that hard about who are we as Americans. There were times I identify America as a lazy, stuck-up, stubborn, and prideful country, yet I am still thankful for living here and have the freedom that we do have. There were times where I would wonder what it would be like to live in another nation. After I thought about it for awhile, I told myself that I would have a hard time living in another nation. I don't think that I would be able to survive very long. I also thought America as country where immigrants wants to flee to, to have a better life. Yet I never really fully understood why people who hated America would come to America. But now I understand a little more clearly. The right that the American people have, the living conditions, and being able to provide for you family is better than it would be for them back in their own country. I am so thankful for what God has given me and where he has placed me in this world. so America is slowly learning the importance of other cultural traditions and that we need to respect them even if we do not agree fully. But I have to agree with Jared that globalization is changing the way Americans look at other countries.

Jared Laubers personal response/connection This question has been one that I didn't think about much before this class. When I was first asked the question "who are we" I answered by saying "Awesome." I said this because I am very proud to live in this country and I have a lot of pride in the fact that I am American. I love the freedoms we get here in America and I think their is no greater place to live in the world. That being said I know their is a much deeper, more scholarly answer to this question but at the time I didn't know what it was. After studying this subject for a few weeks I now have a better grasp on the appropriate answer this question. Although I still think America is awesome, I know think the answer to this question has almost everything to do with globalization. Globalization is changing the way Americans look at other countries and how they view themselves. Globalization is forcing Americans to better understand other cultures and countries. Learning about who we are as Americans and how we can relate to other cultures has giving be a better grasp on how to interact with some cultures. learning that America is a country of immigrants and that many of those immigrants feel lost in this country (as demonstrated in the card game played in class) has helped me realize my place in helping them feel at home in our wonderful country. This makes me think about the bible verses where Jesus answers the question to which is the greatest commandment. This is found in Matthew 22:36-40 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." If I am really following God then I should try and do this to the best of my ability and I believe that everyone I come into contact with is my neighbor. I should be trying to show all the people I come into contact with love and that involves loving all the immigrants that come into America. This is one of the biggest things that I personally learned during the study on "Who are we?"

Marco Bernardini's personal response/connection I have never really thought about the question who are we as Americans. If I were to be asked where I was from, I would most likely say Italy. Now, I am not actually from Italy, but my dad and his side of the family are so naturally, I am proud of my heritage. But, like Huntington explained, when there is a threat posed to the United States by another country such as when September 11 occurred, I become an American. I think that this is the way it is for most Americans. When our country is in danger or when tragedy strikes, the nation as a whole becomes more patriotic and everyone shows their true feelings of being proud that they are an American. I do not think that our country needs to be in danger for us to feel patriotic. The feeling is always there, but it just shows more when these things occur.

The Answer to the question "Who Are We?" is not a simple one. It can be highly analyzed and talked about. In fact it has been, as many books, and articles have been written about this topic. The answer is that Americas identity is found in many different things. Immigration has changed the Americas identity for centuries and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Religion is currently shaping America and playing a huge role in defining who we are as a country. A new found dependence on technology that has lead to a globalized economy is also defining who we are as Americans.