The American Human

This is not a rant or rave about the shortcomings or greatness of the United States. It is actually a post made because I have found some interesting things on the country and it's position in the modern era and I would like to "spread the wealth around" (little campaign humor) with you all.

I will present you with contrasting views on different subjects and leave things free for interpretation:

First, I would like to present to you a magazine: Adbusters. Written with a, sometimes nauseating, pessimistic editorial line, it likes to critique modern western (mainly American) culture, sub-culture and counter-culture.

The first article has been much talked about and is quite interesting. I highly recommend reading the comments as well.

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html


Other interesting articles are:

America’s Slippery Slope
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/78/america_slippery_slope.html

and

Quit Facebook
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/80/quit_facebook.html

I recommend you surf around and I'm sure you will find interesting things, you may not necessarily agree on, but will give you a different perspective on a couple of things.


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In contrast, I would like to leave you with a couple of articles about the election that recently took place. Find the links to imagineering, you will undoubtedly see obvious cross-over themes.

What Have We Created?!
http://www.newsweek.com/id/165658

How He Did It
http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582

An excerpt from an article:

Obama’s Third Way
http://www.newsweek.com/id/167607/page/1

"If he truly wants to mold the future, Obama will have to demonstrate similar leadership. His favorite thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote in 1841 that "the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation ... have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made … Innovation is the salient energy, Conservatism the pause on the last moment." To create a new governing majority, Obama must now embody the idea of innovation."


And finally the video of the speech, a great speech, where the tone themes of co-creation, dialogue, innovation, the view of others not as competition or rivals, a great purpose, "big hairy audacious goals", etc. are played in to really connect and get people behind you.