Our American Culture

I have a friend who had to write an essay about our American culture. What is the American cultural experience? Here's the two cents I gave her. Is there anything that was left out?

well, if you look at the country as a whole, and not just through the lives of individuals, we do have a distinct culture. We (Americans) are fiercely patriotic, impassioned about open debate and free speech, our country as a whole is religious, (not everyone is a Christian but most people participate in one), our country is a capitalist nation, our economy pretty much determines how we see our country's health, and we work A LOT. In countries such as Europe, they take the whole afternoon off, everywhere. Everything closes from like lunch to dinner. Our society is the society of workaholics, and 24 hour business.

Our country is the "melting pot", where everyone is supposed to assimilate to our society, but bring flavor of their own culture. We are also celebrity obsessed, entertainment overloaded, and technologically advanced. Think of all the gadgets we think we need to survive, cell phones,ipods, mp3s, video games, dvds..the list goes on and on.

If we think of just ourselves, it tends to look like we just live our lives and don't have anything in common with people beyond our bubble, but we do., That's what makes us a strong nation, and one that has flourished as a democracy when so many other countries have failed.

Thoughts?