What is America - Assignment Example

Reaction to Baudrillard book Utopia Achieved Thesis: Baudrillard’s thesis that the history and culture of Americans is doubtful and their culture uncultivated is inaccurate. He claims that “America ducks the question of origins; it cultivates no origin or mythical authenticity; it has no past and no founding truth. . . and that it lives in a perpetual present” (Baudrillard 110).  Comparing these generalizations to facts however reveals that Baudrillard’s generalization does not reflect the truth.

Badurillard judgment about America’s history of immigrants and its revolutions were taken out of context because it was painted as an illegitimate revolution that “we” have to “duck” away from. The truth is, America takes pride of being the world’s cultural melting pot whose society is composed of immigrants from all over the world who dreamt of better life. The social upheavals it undergone from the Civil War to Martin Luther King are part of America’s proud past that it struggled to end tyranny and discrimination.

America became what it is today because of these circumstances. It became the richest country in the world and the most technologically advance because of the varying perspectives its citizen contributed. It is also inaccurate to generalize that America is a cultural barren as how Badurillard portrayed America in his book. The truth is farthest from his observation because many of the most extensive museums in the world are found in America such as the Smithsonian Institute, MOMA etch. I believe that Badurillard’s assessment of America does not reflect the historical and cultural truths about the country.

Furthermore, it can be argued that the history and culture of America as a nation presents its peopl with the opportunity to act and behave in a manner that Badurillard finds despicable. Thus, I believe that the circumstances and position that America finds itself in is as a result of the amalgamation of historical and cultural events that the country has undergone since independence.