Kachi wrote:
Haven't been reading your argument at all lately, myself, but I've had several people from other countries tell me that they don't see the U.S. as having any culture. Not sure if they helps/hurts your point-- just tossing it out there.
It does, but not so much in this current discussion because the posters are only focusing on the usage of the "America/n" term as opposed to my initial claim.
Aripyanfar wrote:
Almalieque wrote:
That's not what I meant, you just supported my argument. They chose names reference to their country, not continents. What country only goes by "European", "Asian" and "African" without a more term personal name?
Australia does. There are two Australias. The continent of Australia, and the nation of Australia. Up until 1901 the continent of Australia was not in its entirety occupied by one nation, but by a collection of colonies.
While the word Australia is most frequently used to describe the nation, the official list of continents is this: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
I am Australian because I am a citizen of the nation of Australia, and I live on the continent of Australia.
Gbaji already mentioned this and I laughed at him because of the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_%28continent%29 wrote:
Australia is the smallest of the geographic continents, though not of geological continents.[1] There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent"; the lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface" (Oxford English Dictionary). By that definition, the continent of Australia includes only the Australian mainland, and not nearby islands such as New Guinea. From the perspective of geology or physical geography, however, a "continent" may be understood to include the continental shelf (the submerged adjacent area) and the islands on the shelf, which are taken to be structurally part of the continent. By that definition Tasmania, New Guinea and other nearby islands such as the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands are part of the Australian continent since they are part of the same geological landmass. These islands are separated by seas overlying the continental shelf — the Arafura Sea and Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea, and Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania.
I was taught the definition for the continent consisted only the main island. Even if that were wrong, I already mentioned, a handful of countries is reasonable, two entire continents of 50 plus countries (including the 2nd largest city in the world) is something else.
Arip wrote:
You HAVE a set of morals, values and beliefs that the US as a majority support. It's called The Law. You have a system in place for the majority to change those it wants changed. It's called voting people into and out of the Congress and Senate. If you don't like the present system of changing the Law, you can change it via the Constitution.
If an immigrant doesn't agree with the Law, s/he still must abide by it, and can try changing it via democratic processes. But the immigrant must abide by the Law or STFU and get out. Same with born citizens. If you don't agree with the Law, lobby and vote to get them changed, but abide by them until they are. There's your common identity.
You can have all the cultural, gastronomic, festive, clothing, languages differences you want, but you are all united under the one Legal system, and the legal system applies to you all equally. (In theory).
You're overlooking the point. I'm not referencing the voting process, it's the fact that officials can make decisions that don't represent the public, i.e. presidents winning off of electoral college as opposed to the popular vote. That's just one example, may not be the best example, but the point is, people in power will do what they think is "politically correct", which is not the same of what the people want.
Just because you and friends created and/or founded a religion, doesn't mean the U.S. should or have to recognize it, i.e., FSM, Jedi, Wicca, etc. Instead of saying "STFU", we do the politically correct thing and accept them. In some instances, I can see acceptance, but others are obviously absurd, but it is accepted due to "political correctness".
