This is an excerpt from a dissertation I have started writing. I dream of it having an impact along the lines of Thomas Payne’s Common Sense pamphlet; however, one does not usually achieve such a place in history by seeking it directly. Therefore, I just hope that many people will be inspired to think about our nation, ourselves as citizens of that nation, and subsequently, how we can better unify ourselves as people.

Before you read any further, you should know something about whose perspective you will be reading from. I am an African-American born and raised in Washington, D.C. I am 21 years old at the time of this writing. I am a computational media undergraduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I have interests in normal youth activities such as: video games, music, movies, sports, comics, social networking, and other things. In short, I represent many aspects of the standard American youth culture of my generation. But then, what exactly is a standard American youth, or a standard American at all? This dissertation was inspired by a recent study abroad experience in Copenhagen, Denmark. Being around a plethora of nationalities (going beyond just Danish people) made me start to wonder about my own nationality. More than one of my new international friends asked me about the various facets that make up being an American. What do we eat? How do we feel about each other? How do we socially interact? How do we identify ourselves? The world around us has formed many conceptions about us as people based on the culture we export and the news that they import. Young people of other countries have formulated their own stereotypes and generalizations (just as we have of them) of us from watching American television programs and hearing news about American politics and social movements. The idea of an American is formed from shows like Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and Jersey Shore (not realizing that these kinds of shows are exaggerated and region specific) mixing with hot-button political issues like gay marriage, abortion, healthcare, and the upcoming presidential election. This is not to say that there is a majority negative view of Americans in the rest of the western world. I would not deign to make such a sweeping claim as that without the statistical backing to support it. However, I suppose a prevalent perception (particularly by older people towards young ones) of normal American citizens as being noisy, gluttonous, disrespectful, space consuming, cretins that pay no attention to the rest of the world. But this essay is not a rebuttal to such a train of thought, only a logical tangent that seeks to reach a conclusion on what an American actually is. Please excuse any seeming inconsistency as I am writing this over time in spontaneous bursts rather than a single planned writing. I only hope this will inspire consideration of one’s existence as an “American.”