Sergey Podlesnykh/Contributing Writer
Today, the U.S. is arguably more divided than ever before. Where did we take a wrong turn? Is it thanks to issues like political differences, racial inequalities and challenges presented by the global pandemic, or is it something else? I have a controversial theory that might explain why we don’t stand united.
It started thirteen years ago, when I still lived in Russia and met Americans for the first time in my life. I didn’t know who they were—just that they were tourists and that they spoke English. Curious and eager to practice my conversational English, I asked them where they were from. Their answer struck me. They told me which state they were from.
This question of origin became the essence of my unofficial research of the last thirteen years. I began to ask people of different age, gender, race and sexual orientation—from both inside the U.S. and abroad—where they were from.
Typically, people from most anywhere in the world affiliate themselves with their country, e. g. “I’m from Canada, Spain, China” etc. Americans, on the other hand, reply with “I’m from Florida, Texas, New Jersey.” By the way, the same answer applies to people from the territories like Puerto Rico, even if explained by their unique status and cultural differences. It can go even smaller than that if they come from one of the major metropolitan areas: “I’m from Brooklyn, Houston, Boston, L.A.” I have yet to hear, “I’m from the USA”.
You could argue that it’s redundant to answer with one’s country, since we are already in the U.S. I even thought so myself, but after traveling to Europe and Korea I realized Americans would answer the same way, even when located outside of the U.S. It seems that our belonging to the state prevails. We also expect everybody in the world to know what and where Oregon, California or the Bronx are. Are we ignorant and entitled, or have we simply developed a benign habit of state affiliation?
Americans with their star-spangled attitude lack the most important patriotic feature: sense of national affiliation.
Yes, with Hollywood’s impact most people in the world might know that New York or L.A. are in the US, but most people will also know that Berlin is in Germany, and Paris is in France. Yet, people of other nationalities primarily affiliate themselves with their country, not smaller regional divisions.
Is it because we have a unique federative structure with strongly independent states? Maybe, but so do Germany, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Italy and even unitary France have distinct historical regions, taking pride in their origin. Yet, they don’t forget that their preponderance affiliation is with the country.
At the end of the day, every country has loyal and proud citizens, but not the USA. We are a union of proud and clingy states, enjoying freedom of travel and sharing common currency, but very much different to a point of disliking each other. In a way, it resembles the E.U. Americans only remember they are from the U.S. on July, 4th (though the last one begs to differ), and maybe the Olympics. And even then, the patriotic feelings might get distorted into “‘Murica” rhetoric.
If you wonder why this country is divided as ever, perhaps we need to get back to the basics and realize that the free and the brave never really claim allegiance to their beloved country. Upon closer review, Americans with their star-spangled attitude lack the most important patriotic feature: sense of national affiliation.
It starts small and can be found in petty details. Note the promotion of states’ superiority: New York has the best pizza. Only Floridians know what a real hurricane is. Everything is bigger in Texas. North Carolina: first in flight. It may take forms of promoting states’ inferiority: people from Ohio can’t drive. People from Massachusetts talk funny. New Yorkers are rude and arrogant. Some of these are prejudiced generalizations, while some are merely examples of healthy state competition that is all for good fun, right?
While that may be the case, it hides the dangers of constantly comparing our own state to others, looking for and promoting our differences rather than focusing on our commonalities. That’s how innocent comparisons of BBQ, levels of rainfall and shades of green grass gradually bring us to “my state did so much better with pandemic than yours!” and “We lost the elections because of this stubborn state!”
Should we blame our history? Our politicians? Our sense of entitled superiority in the international community? Our educational system that failed to highlight the importance of national unity, concentrating instead on our states’ unique features? I don’t have a clear answer for those questions, but I do have some words of advice.
I’m afraid we find ourselves in today’s turmoil mostly because we forget that “we the people” comes before “the united states.”
Yes, we might be unique and different, but we are all in it together. Regardless of the state of origin, we are Americans, first and foremost. If we want to overcome our differences, we need to concentrate on what brings us together. We love BBQ and pizza, and it doesn’t matter where it comes from. People don’t vote a certain way based only on their state affiliation. We don’t choose different presidents for different states. To all other countries, we are not Floridians or New Yorkers—we are Americans. The next time you get asked where you are from, I dare you to answer, “I’m from the USA”.
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