AP Government Final Project
AMERICA: Land of Opportunity or Land of Corruption?
I consider myself very privileged to have lived overseas for the last five-and-a-half years because I have been able to experience things that most other teenagers don’t get to. Living in England for three years and then in Germany for two-and-a-half has given me the opportunity to look at America through an outsider’s view, and I have been able to develop my own personal view of America.
While I love the United States because we are the “home of the brave and the land of the free” there are many problems in America. The biggest problem that I see in America is our focus on popularity, celebrities and fame. The whole concept of Hollywood has brought down our country and made it into some superficial creature. During my last year in England I attended a British school, and so I got to really see how the British viewed us. Most importantly, this was the time that politicians were campaigning for the presidency. I got to see how the international media portrayed the candidates, and I got to see the first hand support for Obama. It was truly an amazing thing because they all focused on the true merits of his career so far, and they took Sarah Palin as the joke she was. People were literally disgusted by her and they simply did not buy into the circus shenanigans that were going on. This is one of the great things about Europe: they don’t go through a circus every time there are elections. No one is trying to make up rumors like Obama being Muslim. They focus on their platforms and work for the public good. Britain already has their first openly gay Prime Minister, but here everyone was fussing over the fact that we had an African American running for the presidency. During my time at the British school I often times felt embarrassed to be American because of what was going on her. Americans get a bad rap for their shenanigans.
Outside of the political world Europe is a very calm and serene place to live. Out of all the places I visited throughout Europe, Germany was definitely the most culturally sound and hospitable. Germans live a very down-to-earth life that does not involve all of the glitz and glamor of the U.S. They are very family oriented and just live life. The U.S. is obsessed with celebrities and fame, and it is truly damaging to our country. Yes, it’s perfectly fine to admire a musician or an actor that you love, but the media circus that entails and all the constant exposés are completely ridiculous. People in Europe just think that we’re absolutely nuts. I’m definitely not saying that Europe doesn’t have its share of scandals and corruption, but it is nowhere near as great as it is here. When people like Octomom or Jon and Kate Gosselin become famous you know there is a problem. The way we are living in the U.S. only contributes to people’s insecurities and unfilled desires. There are problems in our country involving suicide because of bullying or homosexuality, and anorexia because girls want to be models. What’s causing this? It’s society itself. We need to change things in order to create a better tomorrow. We’re probably in a hopeless position now, but it is never too late to try. Europe has done it, so can we.
Another qualm that I have with our American society is the fact that everything has to be censored, and there are regulations placed on everything. The Federal Communications Commission sets asinine rules that censor music because it is inappropriate, or certain TV shows can’t be played until after 10 P.M. or certain music videos get banned from being played on TV. What is the point of this? After living in Europe for many years I have realized that our country goes way over the top in its censorship and makes mountains out of molehills over the tiniest things. I am a huge music lover, and that was one of things I loved the most about living in Germany: no censorship of the music. After song was played as it was written by the musician. Parents in the U.S. are so overprotective that it aggravates me. By shielding kids as much as they do they are creating a very restrictive society. People seem to think that kids can’t handle things; well if parents would just explain stuff to their kids then it wouldn’t be a problem. In Europe the Sunday paper contains nude women. That’s just how it is; it’s part of their society and nobody fusses over it. Homosexuality is also more accepted. Nobody complains about it; they just accept it as a part of life and move on whereas the U.S. is so repressive that kids are killing themselves over it. The Europeans, like I said before, live a very relaxed life. We are creating a repressive environment that is damaging to our society.
I love being an American because we enjoy so many rights and freedoms that other countries do not have, but at the same time I am a little embarrassed to be an American. People all over the world hold us to very low standards and they make stereotypes out of us that only incorporate a select amount of people. The U.S. acts as if it is the best country in the world, when in reality other nations enjoy a better life that is morally acceptable. America is a land of opportunity, but it needs some serious reform to be the place it boasts to be.
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