# "Getting" America **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 6, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697 "2003-11-06T14:02:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/81 "2003-11-11T00:27:48Z")
I just _knew_ somebody was going to say that. Tom Brokaw. Or is he a Communist? ---
**Author:** ![Wheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@Wheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheel)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/82 "2003-11-11T00:50:17Z")
In a more practical vein, take a look at [Vida Americana](http://www.vidaamericana.com/english/index.html). It’s a site that trys to help people acclimate to this country when they come here to live and work. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/83 "2003-11-11T03:48:53Z")
My understanding is that CNN is seen around the world. That doesn’t make you all Southerners. And watching the same television shows doesn’t mean that we have the same traditions, accents, interests or food on our tables. Maybe my neighborhood is unusual in its diversity, but there is a grocery store nearby that has it’s name spelled out in seven different languages – most of which I cannot identify. Within a three mile radius there are Americans who were born in India, Iraq, Egypt, Mexico, Cambodia, Laos and Alabama. And those are just the cultures that I know about. That’s just one neighborhood inside Nashville. In South Nashville alone, 25,000 Mexican immigrants have settled. Welcome to the New South. 🙂 I can’t wait for the Latin infuence on country music! Assume nothing. No boxes. No labels. By the time you fold the box or print the label, things have changed. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/84 "2003-11-11T05:13:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t wait for the Latin infuence on country music! Well, to a certain extent that would be Tejano, or Americana. Or, if you want to be more mainstream, it could run from Freddy Fender in the '70s to Bobby Flores today. But if you want to hear latino-flavored country, you need to be in Austin, not Nashville. The future is now, darlin’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/85 "2003-11-11T06:19:15Z")
Love Austin’s contributions! At least we’ve got Willie for the night. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/86 "2003-11-11T15:31:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Usram \* > **Because, unlike most parts of the world, you can travel 3,000 miles and still be in recognisably the same country. The news is still read by Peter Jennings** Except for the local news stations of course. At any rate, can’t you get the BBC all over Europe? > [@](#): > > **, the big sports are still football and baseball,** Unless you go north, where hockey is big, or go to my college, where basketball is big, or go to any number of places and see how soccer is followed. How many people still watch baseball, anyways? > [@](#): > > **local politics is still Republican vs. Democrat,** I’ll give you that one, but even so I’d say in many local elections personality is more important than official affiliation > [@](#): > > **numerous customs and practices are the same, and so on…** Unless you want to get sweet tea, which is only sold in the South, or you want to go clubbing to go-go, which only exists in the DC area, or you want to listen to good country, in which case you go to Nashville (or Austin, according to **Jodi** for a completely different spin on it), or you want gumbo, in which case Louisiana is your best bet, or you’d like to hear Gullah, in which case you’d better skip along to South Carolina, or you’d like to see what a historically black college or university is like, which you’re not likely to find in the West, and so on and so forth. > [@](#): > > \*\* in other words, it’s basically the same culture, local variation notwithstanding. A natural consequence of being a big country. \*\* How much local variation constitutes culture to you? ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/87 "2003-11-11T19:43:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ellis Dee \* > > And we (in America) do **not** live in a democracy. We are a democracy and a republic, simultaneously. It is possible for a republic to not be a democracy–look at the Roman Republic, for an example of a state that is simultaneously an aristocracy and a republic. Likewise, it is possible for a democracy to not be a republic, although that’s never been done on a major scale–too messy. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/88 "2003-11-12T08:13:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*…Likewise, it is possible for a democracy to not be a republic, although that’s never been done on a major scale–too messy. \*\* Er, what about all the Europe monarchs of democracies? You know those small places that don’t count as major scale like the UK, Spain, The Netherlands, most of Scandanavia etc. But maybe you have to be a country where you can fly 3000 miles and still be in the same country to be “major scale” which only leaves you with democratic non-Republics like Canada and Australia… ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/89 "2003-11-13T02:12:20Z")
I’ll grant you that states are democracies, but on a federal level, it is absolutely a republic. The electoral voters are not bound by popular opinion; they can vote against their constituents if they so choose. There has been at least one documented presidential election where the candidate who won the popular vote did not win the election. That is airtight evidence that we are not living in a democracy. Being a democratic republic does not make us a democracy. It makes us a republic. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/90 "2003-11-13T02:23:56Z")
> [@](#): > > There has been at least one documented presidential election where the candidate who won the popular vote did not win the election That would be two, actually. As far as I know, the facts are not in dispute in either of them. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/91 "2003-11-13T04:25:11Z")
I’ll bite! I gotta know, **AHunter3**! What was the other one? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/92 "2003-11-13T16:55:54Z")
Sammy Tilden [outpolled](http://elections.harpweek.com/9Controversy/overview-controversy-1.htm) Rutherford B. Hayes but after some back-room deals in which the Republicans allegedly threw southern Blacks to the wolves (dismantling Reconstruction and leaving Blacks to the tender mercies of the KKK for about 80 more years, at which point it was the Dems who finally rallied to their cause) the Electoral College came out with a majority for Hayes. And guess what state was centrally involved in the final determination? (When I said the facts are not in dispute, I meant the fact that the losing candidate received more votes in the popular vote. Other “facts” are quite obviously in dispute in the recent circus, and that was true of Tilden/Hayes as well) ---
**Author:** ![Fishyempire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Fishyempire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishyempire)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/93 "2011-11-27T18:56:39Z")
to post #7 the U.S. is fighting other peoples wars. not only our own. Stupid American citizens joining the army only to get killed fighting other peoples wars. ---
**Author:** ![Fishyempire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Fishyempire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishyempire)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/94 "2011-11-27T19:01:26Z")
hi ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/95 "2011-11-27T19:26:18Z")
> [@APOC](#): > > Okay my phrasing is off. > > Living in the states means that I have little else to so than talk to americans. On this current trip back home I am trying to garner what I have seemed to learn and find i get no fuirther in understandign the nature of the American. > > I just cant seem to crack the skin of what I am asking about. f > > I tried so desperatly to not be seen as generalising but it is a general issue. > > Thanks Kunilou , > Given your answer you do seem to understand what I’m asking. American here. I still think you are not understanding how diverse America is. In my State of Colorado there are Countys that I would not like to live in because of the difference in culture. That’s Just one state. And don’t forget that it is the blowhards, and extremes in any culture that make the most noise. We have plenty of them, but at least for me, they are pretty easy to stay away from. That’s not to say that they should be ignored though. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/96 "2011-11-27T20:31:44Z")
> [@Fishyempire](#): > > hi An impatient bump, eh. Did you really think you’d get a quick response to an comment made about a post from eight years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697/97 "2011-11-28T20:34:05Z")
An interesting topic, to be sure, but since this thread is so old, and because people may read along thinking it is new — only to find the people they wish to talk to are long gone — I am going to close it. Anyone interested in re-opening the topic in a new thread is welcome to do so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-america/211697.md?page=4)