Conversations Ongoing: A Bunch of Amateurs


Jack Hitt's a Bunch of Amateurs


To analyze the American character one must take into account the narratives of our country, specifically the three metanarratives that it is based on. In Hitt's analysis of our national character he finds an endless list of examples stretching back to our early Vaudevillian days of americans striking out, trying to get-rich-quick, seemingly fearless in the face of overwhelming odds.

I believe that piggy-backing onto the narratives of scientific progress, manifest destiny, and modernization one can easily get caught up in them. Cherry-picking evidence of those who have succeeded, painting a picture of our collective desire to innovate is troublesome. Simply put, I can create the opposite narrative quite easily. Many people in the USA have little to no interest in innovation, modernization, or the like. Quite the opposite.

This place is much more than a collective bunch of amateurs but rather it includes them into the fold of our national identity. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on his part to affirm what he sees as a consistent drive to better ourselves and our world. But I can also make the opposite case. To be sure, the desire and ability to rise from obscurity is present in our society (celebrated in fact), moreso than perhaps any other in the world, but this is a limited view and smacks of American exceptionalism.













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