Guest Nomad: Learning To Love American Culture In New York City
Dec 02, 2009
3 Comments
Anil Polat is a traveler and travel enthusiast who has spent his entire life traveling, studying cultures, and picking up tricks along the way. He writes foXnoMad to help you travel smarter.
Millions of tourists head to New York City from foreign countries and the rest of the US each year. People come to see the lights, the buildings, and a city that has inspired the world. As someone who formally studied anthropology and has been lucky enough to grow up in two worlds (US and Turkey) it pains me when I hear people, including Americans, say that America doesn’t have culture.
Of course the United States has culture – 233 years as a nation but before then thousands of years of indigenous peoples living and later influencing American culture. (George Washington fought the Revolutionary War in moccasins and with a tomahawk; he and his soldiers looked more like Native Americans than Europeans which was a deciding factor in the outcome.)
New York City is a place to appreciate that culture and learn more about it. Whether you live in the city or are coming from around the world, put politics aside and embrace the culture many are beginning to forget.
“Your Huddled Masses Yearning To Breathe Free”
Reading the inscription on the Statue of Liberty will remind you of a time when traveling wasn’t so easy and people not as welcoming of others. The symbol of the statue is something many have forgotten but the idea shouldn’t be lost on any of us. New York City was once (and still is for many) the place you went to better your life and be given a chance. Immigrants from all over the world traveled under extremely difficult conditions to build one of the greatest cities in the world.
Melting Pot
How well the ethnic groups in New York City get along is also lost on many people. In many parts of the world, including European nations, discrimination is very open and people may treat you differently based on the way you look or your religious background. Many nations have difficulty integrating just one minority into their society whereas New York City has almost all of the ones you can think of. It’s not perfect of course, but it’s a great example of what can be.
Anything Is Possible
New York City is all about being the best. Tall buildings, boisterous people, and a place where anything is possible. You want to quit your job and travel around the world, be location independent, or go to another city and set up a business? The idea that you can do these things (and some of you are) and not taking “no” for an answer is something uniquely American and quite evident every New Yorker.
More New York Influence
-
Look Up. We’re all jaded by skyscrapers around the world in places like Dubai, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Tall buildings and thriving metropolises almost go hand in hand after the city that started it.
-
Government. The Iroquois League (a collection of 5 Native American nations in the New York region) was a representative democracy and used as a model by the American founding fathers for the current state and federal government system.
The Brooklyn Nomad is always looking for quality guest posts. If you have an interest in writing for this blog, please contact me.
This site uses valid HTML and CSS. All content Copyright © 2010 The Brooklyn Nomad
If you like what I do, please don't hestitate and subscribe to our
No, you’re wrong. NY is not very interesting culturally. It’s a good place to make money and pursue your career, but for culture you want to look elsewhere. Unless you mean, relative to sprawl world, anywhere USA.
To each their own. But NYC is full of many diverse cultures all interacting with each other on a daily basis. Yes NYC is a place to make money, but most of the neighborhoods in Queens, Brooklyn, etc are full of rich history that you will not find in most big U.S. cities today.
It depends on how you define culture. If culture is defined as the depth of personality of the city’s people, then yes, New York has culture. If culture is defined as a city having a quality that sets it apart from other cities, then yes, New York has culture. If you define culture to be simply having an extended history that dates back a thousand years, I suppose London’s got New York beat on that one.
By the above definitions, New York probably isn’t the only city in America that is graced with “culture”. San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Miami, New Orleans. All these places have an extremely distinct regional flair.
Personally, I think what goes on in the city is the how it rates on the culture scale. And New York’s got a lot going on, arts- music- culinary- and entertainment-wise.