What is the American frame of mind?

I would say that a culture consists of the complex of ideas that a group of people hold dear. One can speak of the culture of a small group or of a very large group.

In the United States our culture is determined to a large extent by how we hold "these truths to be self-evident"; we are held together by ideas perhaps more than other societies. Next, religion plays a great role, and in our case it is the mixture of Protestantism, Judaism, and Catholicism. Following this is our infatuation with capitalism; following that is our narcissistic view of our uniqueness and greatness.

Our culture is a general attitude toward our self and toward the world based upon these four ideologies.

To what powers have wo/men given allegiance in order to solve the paradoxes of life? To what or to whom have each of us given our uncritical allegiance? “Into what hero-system do I fit the expression of my talent”? What or whom has become my fetish-god?

It is possible for the adult to choose which power s/he will serve; however, to do so, when the choice is contrary to one that has resulted from the family and community clan, is an extremely unusual and heroic act. “The great tragedy of our lives is that the major question of our existence is never put by us--it is put by personal and social impulses for us.”

Very few of us discover our authentic talent—if it is ever found it is generally found accidentally through plain fate by us in our social milieu as we tap...tap...tap our blind way through life.

From a personal point of view our principal task is to somehow find our way out of the fate that we stumbled into and to grow out of our idol worship and fetishism and to expand our horizons, allegiances, and to drop our mere preoccupations. We need to free our self from the opinions of others.

“Since aggression is a reaction to frustration, by remaining tightly bound to the success of our social world we increase our aggressiveness, life invariable frustrates us.”

Disinterested knowledge is the energy bunny. It generates the energy for exploration and for overcoming some of the inhibitions conscious reason places on the unconscious.

Studying disinterested knowledge is like taking off a month every year to visit a strange new land. Curiosity is reinvigorated and new meaning is created.[/b

Knowledge is like a jigsaw puzzle. We have created many puzzles in coping with reality and when we received a new piece (knowledge) that does not fit our present puzzles we forgetaboutit. However, if through disinterested knowledge we have created new puzzles we might find a place for this new fragment of knowledge to fit; thereby this fragment becomes our new knowledge.

Our mind is constantly working for us and when we do not give it a worthwhile project, i.e. a new puzzle, it will just waste away in boredom or worry.

[b]In America one might best see this attitude manifested by this frame of mind “I’ve Upped My Income; Now Up Yours”; a manifestation of this attitude may be seen in concrete form by the fact that 45 million citizens are without proper health care.

Do you think that the attitude “I’ve Upped My Income, Now Up Yours” is an American frame of mind?

Quotes from The Birth and Death of Meaning: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Problem of Man by Ernest Becker

America is a large and diverse culture with many different interests and motivations. It is a mistake to try to summarize in a few words the nature of the entire culture which derives from many different cultures, both ethnic and intellectual, and much cross culturization. There is, no doubt, some truth in the original post and the media and politics has much coercive force in the directions indicated but their powers are not absolute or total.

Learning is a process of moving from the specific to the general.

And generalizing from insufficient attention to multiple specifics leads to gross errors.

wow.
how were those incomes upped?
"my" communities have sold and leased back their infrastructural basics to facilitate this great american framework, most can be suspected in halfwitted compliance with shady politicial deals.

Coberst, that's really cool how you speak for the United States with your "we" and "our" and "us". There's always that 10%.

coberst:

your analytical summary is brilliant, imho.
an outside observer would always admire this type of societal gathering and idealize the individuals arriving at the honor places.

stopping at disinterested knowledge! \!!

either for or against from there.
the character being created to fit the narrowing frame may be ugly but the most fitting to "survive".

schöne aussichten!

p.s. spontaneous association: tina turner, what's love got to do with it?

American frame of mind?

^you didn't find a mirror in the internet, just like me.
in any case, what's worse talking to, since we really ("literally") cannot see ourselves?

It's an empty-frame.

a frame nevertheless, and paradoxical enough.

Pretty dry on this side of town.

fearing to get a nose bleed when punches fly through open windows?

a nose bleed among other things, yes, definitely.

"What is the American frame of mind?"

plebeian, so much so three things only need addressing work, family, safety. if these three things are met, Satan himself will get two terms in office. however this is pretty much the mind-frame of most peoples not just Americans