Defining America & her culture

This nation, built by the beloved ‘wretched refuse’ from the four corners of the earth, has taught us that our collective culture lies in our desire to excel as individuals and as citizens of this great country. Our greatest achievements as a nation came about after we came to understand that we were all cultural elites. [emphasis mine, Admin]

That would be Siggy, bouncing off old piece of mine wherein Buster and I explored how American culture could be defined:

Buster thought for a second and said, “well, outside of Jazz and baseball…hotdogs…barbecue…what is our culture?”

Later that evening, I was watching a [Bryn] Terfel concert and the orchestra was playing Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, and I turned to Buster and said, “American culture is this: we hear Ride of the Valkyries and think, “Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit, kill da Wabbit!”
[…]
Hmmmm…maybe the hyper-partisanship and drastically divided blogosphere is a direct result of our kids (and ourselves) being denied the opportunity to work out our frustrations in silly and fun, ultimately good-natured ways…like cartoons.

Bugs took down every pretentious elitist by mocking them, he jeered at Hilter. Daffy Duck’s pretensions and greed made us look at ourselves with both critical understanding and shrugging self-forgiveness. Watching him grasp and splatter his way through life, we could be a little more generous with each other – we recognized a human condition.

American culture has always been – up until pretty recently – a culture that could laugh at itself, even as it took on heavy responsibilities. From the earliest revolutionaries – from Ben Franklin on – we’ve been able to look at the world and ourselves and dream big but with a wink to keep egos in check. Thus, the man who wrote: “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes,” was also the man who wrote: “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” without fear of losing his face.

Chesterton said: “…solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light. Satan fell by the force of gravity.”

Americans have always had that lightness, and perhaps that’s why it has been easy for some to misjudge American backbone or resiliency, or resolve.

Maybe the war on terror would be going better – or we’d be more unified in our vision – if Bugs were, today, allowed to put on a dentist’s smock and implant a few sticks of dynamite into Osama bin Laden’s mouth? Or if he could walk up to a John Kerry and smack a hat over his head and down to his knees? If he could go hunting with Dick Cheney?

I don’t know how he does it, but Siggy manages to remember stuff I’d forgotten I’d even written, and then to expand upon them with unusual depth. I slide the surface; Siggy breaks through the ice and swims beneath. You’ll want to read his piece in full.