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I wish I could say that my first written work
in over a year was a pleasant update on the various happenings in my life as an
expat. Unfortunately, such mundane topics don't tend to inspire ample amounts
of creativity (nor is it particularly interesting reading). Instead, my motivation
is a rather annoying churning of my stomach which I hope to quell by writing.
Sweet catharsis.
Recently, a new Miss America was chosen. The
newly crowned Miss America has been accused of not being a citizen of America.
At best, she has been implied to be of Arab origins and at worst she has been
called a terrorist.
Nina Davuluri is a beautiful, and therefore well out of my league, woman of Indian ancestry born in Syracuse, New York. In the interest of honest and open discussion, I will admit that I too am prejudiced against Miss Davuluri's place of origin. As a University of Connecticut graduate, I have a hatred for Syracuse and all their sports teams which goes beyond explanation.
Nina Davuluri is a beautiful, and therefore well out of my league, woman of Indian ancestry born in Syracuse, New York. In the interest of honest and open discussion, I will admit that I too am prejudiced against Miss Davuluri's place of origin. As a University of Connecticut graduate, I have a hatred for Syracuse and all their sports teams which goes beyond explanation.
Upon her crowning, the denizens of the internet voiced their outrage that a "foreigner" and "Arab" won the title of Miss America. Simple fact checking quickly disproves these particular claims as nothing more than superficial bigotry (It is still disturbing that such prejudice exists and so many of those holding such views feel no shame in openly posting hate speech).
More insidious are the claims that those with
non Anglo/Western European ancestry and those people with colored skin derived
from pigment, rather than tanning bed, are somehow less American. Note that
people from the metropolitan east and west coasts tend also to be excluded from
holding the title of "real" American.
While the concept of a uniquely "American
way" has been part of the American political discourse since her founding,
recent political actors have found great success reinvigorating the concepts of
"American values" and a "true America(n)". These
concepts are used to stratify America and create an intra-national
"us" vs. "them" mentality (which helps facilitate a palpable
persecution complex). An irony of creating subjective classes of Americans is
that, much like the concept of the "middle class", the majority of
Americans identify as being part of the chosen few who qualify as "true
Americans".
Ask any of your friends whether they consider
themselves upper, middle or lower class. The majority will respond they are
upper or lower middle class. That's right; Americans have created arbitrary classes
WITHIN the nonspecific, arbitrary and yet somehow special category of middle
class. Honestly, try it out. I'll wait.
The nature of a “true” American
varies depending on the audience to whom a politician is pandering. Sometimes
it is based on occupation as seen when blue collar workers are hailed as salt of the
earth “true” Americans. Sometimes, hobbies such as hunting are used to gauge a
person’s level of Americanism. Often, geography is used to determine who earns
the title of true American (people from New York City being cited as somehow
less American than others). But at the most basic level, “true” Americans tend
to be those who adhere to some revered set of core “American values”.
Modern political
discourse has introduced more narrowly defined and often subjective values
which politicians adeptly use to assure their voting base that they are somehow
special and truer Americans.
“True” Americans are not the intellectual elite, but
those who work hard at their 9-5 job to support their
family. They possess that disappearing American work ethic and gumption which made
America great. They believe in the potential for unaided social mobility in a playing field which has proven time and again to be fair to all Americans.. Again, this stratifies America into the chosen group of
people who believe in hard work and the lazy drains on society.
This is ridiculous.
This is ridiculous.
There is NO objective
list of “American values” (the Bill of Rights perhaps being the closest to a codified
list of things in which I believe Americans should revere, but not hold sacred beyond
discussion and civil debate), except maybe the very vague and cliché’ concepts of life and
liberty. There is no single and universally agreed upon set of American values
which, if you follow adamantly, makes you a better or truer American than your
neighbor.
You are American if you
were born on American soil or have been nationalized a citizen of the United
States (an act which requires an oath to uphold and protect The Constitution of
the United States). You can be a true American if you are white, black,
Christian, Buddhist, liberal, conservative, have served honorably in the military
or are a pacifist. You can be a true American if you invoke the name of “God”
in the Pledge of Allegiance or make the choice to respectfully refrain from
uttering the Pledge. You can be a true American if you work at the highest paid
levels of corporate America or are struggling to live on social programs such
as welfare and food stamps. You can be a true American if you are part of the
intellectual elite or are part of the willfully ignorant.
While some of the above listed types of people may not always be the most pleasant of company (particularly the willfully ignorant), and may conflict with your personal beliefs, the fundamental fact is that America is a diverse nation filled with diverse people. It is through America’s variety of opinions, cultures and people that she draws her strength, adaptability and durability.
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