The Invention of The American Americans are different I think. There is a particular American personality that can be explained by the invention of the American. The American myth is that this continent was a refuge for people fleeing oppression, seeking freedom. There is truth to this, but not much. We have to understand the kind of people who came here. Many like to believe they were refugees from the burdensome social and cultural norms of the Old World and persecuted Christians wanting to worship as they pleased. Others claim most of these settlers came only to make money. To profit off of the bounty of timber and furs and land available here. Many of these newcomers were one jump ahead of a prison cell, people whose reputation had run out seeking a new identity, debtors running away from their debts. And the religious refugees were extremists often turned out of countries more for their trouble making than their beliefs. Today we would call them cults and hire people to rescue our children from them. All of this is true to some extent, but misses the point. What came to America were the five percenters. The five percent rule was discovered by Chinese Communists during the Korean War when they were swamped by allied pows. They discovered that only five percent of their prisoners had the will to actually do anything. All the others would just sit and wait and if they located and put under close confinement the five percenters, they really didn't have to worry about the rest. I believe this is true for all human beings. The vast majority will stay in their rut no matter how bad it is. They fear change so much they will live in familiar misery. It is a very small minority who protest, complain, rebel. America was 'settled' by European five percenters. They pre-dated the Enlightenment, that great move away from dogma and toward truth as it is evident in the world, but you might say they were of the same type. For whatever their reason, the white wave that broke over America were the restless, the malcontents, the doers. But this doesn't explain the American personality completely. What it needed was given them by the new world's native people and this was the importance of the individual. Perhaps you could say the whole concept of the individual and his personal sovereignty was given to our forbearers by Native Americans. Individuality was a relatively new idea and still rare in Europe where common people were still considered property. You were defined by your class and the position in society your were born into strictly. Your personal character, your merit or lack of it had little do with anything. Of course this was changing, even in Europe, but it took the American tribal peoples to teach the newcomers the American notion of the individual. The people our restless ancestors met were free in a way even the malcontents couldn't understand. The whole notion of 'chiefs' was and European effort to explain the native culture by old country terms and notions. Mostly the natives had no all-powerful leaders to be followed blindly. They were not obligated to follow orders from anyone. Men of power in the group achieved their position through their own deeds and the reputation they built. It reminds me closely of existentialism in that an individual is measured by his deeds, not his family or wealth. Of course there were exceptions and aberrations, but this was a common aspect of Native American culture. No one had the power to force you to do anything. When a VIP came to meet the natives, while his retinue of Europeans were bowing and scraping, the native walked up to the VIP and started a conversation, man to man. Even for the restless and daring cream of Europe, this kind of individual freedom was beyond their experience, not to be hoped for. I don't know if they realized this was possible, given the tightly bound cultures they grew up in. It seems to me that this fortunate culture clash hasn't had its importance recognized. It is at this sparking point between the five percenters of one continent and the free individuals of the other that the American began. This is a blog formerly published on Hub Pages. I was just wondering what you guys thought about it.
That may be true to an extent but if you at how America is filled today, you will see that the majority is nothing more than cultures that have come here and the natural inhabitants, which are American Indian is reducing greatly. I would like to extend on one point you have there. Oppression and fear of a change is exactly right but it is because they fear what could possibly happen to them if they fail to leave and get caught. Cubans have a problem with this greatly because it still is a communist country. The majority of my family left when that huge wave of people started leaving. Vaccinations were necessary and those who were not married, but in a relationship, were forced to in order to claim their children for a right to freedom. They are scattered everywhere within the Americas but if you look at the United States alone, you can find the Cuban culture across the eastern states and a small percentage where I am at, which is California. It was the best thing that could have happened because I was born an American but still embrace my roots.
I like it, but wouldn't agree entirely with it. The 5%ers idea is interesting, and feasable for some of the people that made their way to this continent, but I wouldn't agree that completely. While the leaders of a lot of the expeditions that found their way here may have had a greater propensity to be considered part of the 5%ers, there were other types of personalities that also found their way here. Over time even that number would have become diluted. It's not so much that the 5%er idea is wrong in concept, it's actually quite reasonable, I'm only saying that the 5%ers probably brought 19 people each with them here lol ...meaning that, although there may have once been a larger percentage of 5%ers here, it quickly dwindled back down to a more normal level as more and more people arrived. I'd agree that the natives here certainly impressed their beliefs upon many who came into contact with them, and that their concept of individuality was certainly unusual to the newcomers. It really showed in battle, when the newcomers adopted and adapted the various native styles of warfare, the guerilla hit-and-run style being particularly effective against the rigid lines of British soldiers. The idea of counting coup didn't take hold though, and at the cost of the lives of many braves who didn't expect a bullet to be fired at them after injuring an opponent. Eh, live and learn. Or don't.
