Graham 1

Andrew Graham
Jane Stidham
English 1301
7 September 2011
FINAL DRAFT:
American Stagnation
It`s 1969, and you`re on the moon. The Iirst ever vibrations we know as music spring
Irom the Iirst ever cassette player to reach this white, sandy desert. It is hard to hear; with almost
no atmosphere, you can hardly hear anything. As the vibrations take their sweet time reaching
your ears, you wonder what the Iirst music played on the moon is. Is it Beethoven or Mozart?
No, the music reaches you and it is neither oI those. It`s 'Fly me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra.
When America Iirst landed on the moon, it was the pinnacle oI human achievement. As a
country, we had achieved what only a century beIore would have been deemed impossible, and
to commemorate the moment, Buzz Aldrin played a contemporary Iavorite, 'Fly me to the
Moon. The 1970`s was a time oI great triumph, but in the decades aIter aIter the Apollo
missions, the start oI MicrosoIt, and the deIeat oI the USSR America has come to something oI
a stand-still. Here we are, not the most well-educated country (18
th
out oI 36 nations, according
to one study), or the one with the best economy (our currency has only recently improved over
the euro, but is still less valuable than other currencies, like the Swiss Iranc) or tallest skyscraper,
which is in Dubai (U.S.; World`s). America still considers itselI the top oI the world, but it is
time to ask ourselves 'where are we going? The answer, Ior now at least, is nowhere.
Stagnation is what our contemporary culture can be deIined as because we have Iallen into a
decline in innovation and patriotism since the 1970`s. We became the superpower we are today
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through competition and strong patriotic ideals. II today`s culture is deIined by stagnation,
yesterday was deIined by innovation. A closer look at America`s competitive and inspiring past,
bread-and-circus present and impending Iuture will help to deIine the meaning oI 'stagnation as
it applies to the United States today.
We know where we`ve been, but where are we now? Right now, we live in a nation with
a patriotic spirit that would pale in comparison to that oI the earlier halI oI the twentieth century.
It is easy enough to say that patriotism has gone down in the past Iew years, but how can we tell?
One way to show patriotic decline is our own view oI our selves. When you ask a child or a
young adult 'what are you? today, you get a diIIerent answer than you would get a Iew decades
ago. I`ve heard so many people say 'I`m Greek or 'I`m Italian or 'I`m German, when asked
what they are that I sometimes wonder how many Americans we have in our country nowadays.
Another way to compare devotion to the red white and blue is the contrast between Pearl Harbor
and 9/11. The two have similarities, both involve attacks on the U.S. and the death oI Americans,
but one oI the biggest diIIerences is enlistment aIter the attacks. One journalist wrights:

'More lies were told the day aIter Pearl Harbor than on any other day in
American history. You had to be 17 to be admitted into the American armed
Iorces. On that day aIter, lines oI American men snaked around the block two,
three, even Iour times in Iront oI Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard
recruiting stations (Farber).

Military recruitment did go up aIter 9/11, but it wasn`t the kind oI surge that Pearl Harbor
prompted. This example is a more literal deIinition oI stagnation; like how water is
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stagnant iI it doesn`t move; America is stagnant aIter not jumping to action in the wake oI
disaster.
There are other deIinitions out there Ior stagnation. Dictionary.com`s deIinition oI
the word is 'a Iailure to develop, progress, or advance, but this might not be entirely
accurate Ior America. There is another deIinition which is more Iitting Ior today`s
culture; 'a Ioulness or staleness. American culture has become stale in recent years. It is
diIIicult to deIine something as complex as 'cultural staleness, but it becomes easier
with an example. Consider once more 9/11. On September 11, 2001, airplanes were
hijacked and Ilown into the World Trade Center in New York. Many experts and news
anchors would later tell us, as the war on terror began, that terrorism is a product oI
poorly educated, reactionary Muslim Iactions popping up in the Middle East. This may
seem logical, but under close scrutiny, this assertion Ialls apart. The un-educated, the
dumb, and the impoverished are not the kind oI people who become martyrs or join
causes and nor would a terrorist organization give such a task to someone who may be so
incompetent. The men who wage war with us across the sea are the cream oI the crop,
and the war they wage goes beyond physical arms, it is cultural.
The Islamic radicals believe that the United States is a sinIul, overly decadent
nation and seeks to destroy it, so they put bombs in our cars and planes and knock down
our buildings. They knew we would respond to the 9/11 attacks with war and they went
ahead with the attacks anyway. But showing the terrorists that we are willing to use our
extensive military resources (the largest in the world) does not necessarily show a
dominant culture, and it doesn`t disprove stagnation. We haven`t oIIered much oI a
response to these attacks. The biggest suggestion oI our inability to respond to the


radicals is ground zero, where only recently has work begun to Iill a gaping hole leIt aIter
the attacks. This hole that used to be an integral part oI the New York skyline isn`t just 16
acres wide, but ten years long as well. It is hard to get more 'stale than that. II we really
wanted to show who`s who, the United States would have started a monstrous
construction project in the wake oI 9/11 to put the old Trade Center to shame. The Iact is:
we just don`t have the same patriotic Ieel we had halI oI a century ago, and, like a
stagnant body oI water, we`re standing still.
One way we`ve been standing still is in terms oI advancement. We haven`t developed
much in the past Iew decades. We have had a Iew medical breakthroughs, like stem cells and
MRIs, but we`re still Iighting that same cancer and AIDS we have been Ior years. No more
structural miracles have come up; no Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, or RockeIeller Plaza. A
Iailure to develop is essentially the deIinition oI stagnant. Think oI Rome, which was once the
center oI the civilized world. In its later years, Rome stopped growing and became diluted,
morphing into what is known as the 'bread and circus. The Roman government made
entertainment, such as plays and tournaments, a thing to be enjoyed by all classes at a cheap
price in order to keep their minds oII oI the Iailing political system. This 'bread-and-circus
system is what did it in Ior Rome because no one Ielt the need to advance since many needs were
provided cheaply. In modern times, the biggest technological breakthrough has been the Internet,
which is basically our modern circus. Facebook has helped bring us closer together and has even
Iacilitated new rebellion in other countries such as Tunisia, but it isn`t the same as building a
skyscraper.
The Iuture oI America is already looking dim. We have a mediocre educational systems
compared to several Iirst world nations with a bureaucracy that keeps it Irom modernizing. This


bureaucracy is what is really preventing advancement. According to the movie Waiting for
Superman, the U.S. is ranked lower in education compared to several other developed nations
because we have a school system based on a 190`s economy, a system designed to pump out
Iactory workers (Waiting). Children used to be tracked to see iI they were better suited Ior
academics or Ior manual labor. UnIortunately, the times have changed and Iactory workers are
no longer needed. The movie also states that one oI the reasons this system hasn`t been changed
is that many groups actually try to prevent change in the educational system because they beneIit
one way or another Irom the stasis. We are preventing ourselves Irom stirring up the waters, and
like all pools oI standing water, nasty stuII will begin to grow, i.e. crime and poverty at the hands
oI bad schooling. The Iuture oI this Iestering pond is bleak iI we can`t teach the Iuture
generations to compete in the rapidly changing world.
Backtracking Irom a possibly dismal Iuture you Iind that it is easier to articulate the
stagnated state we are in iI you have something to compare it to; Ior instance, the past. What has
made America so great in the past? In 1961, President Kennedy gave a speech challenging
America to put a man on the moon by the end oI the decade. By the end oI the decade, Neil
Armstrong said those Iamous words: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
There are other examples oI American exceptionalism, but landing on the moon is the pinnacle
oI American achievement. As shown earlier, America has a long tradition oI engineering genius.
Even in one oI our bleakest moments, the Great Depression, America was able to complete the
Hoover Dam. But that was back when our streams moved rapidly. Compared to today, with such
a bipartisan attitude, halI oI us wouldn`t even bother to listen to the president even iI he did issue
us a challenge as Iormidable as Kennedy`s. Bipartisanism has prevented several changes in
America. II innovation is the opposite oI stagnation, and this two-minded attitude prevents us
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Irom moving Iorward, then it is logical to say that ambivalence is another symptom oI our great
American stasis.
The great stasis we`ve Iallen into is anything but irreversible. We`ve been through more
than most in our short time here as a country, but there are several things that have propelled us
Iorward. We`re a country based on Ireedoms that have allowed us to overcome debilitating
arrogance in government. We`re a country that values innovation, where those who are willing to
adapt rising to the top. But more importantly, in our past we have been a country Iounded on
values rather than common culture and geography. This is what really has made us great. II you
are not born in Britain, it is hard to be deIined as British. Likewise, iI you are born in Britain, it
is hard to become un-British. In America, to become American is to uphold a mind set.
American is more a set oI values, and without this set oI uniIying ideologies, we`re no more than
a mix oI races and creeds standing around, occupying the same space, turning stale, like stagnant
water. It is obvious that iI we continue down our set path, cultural stagnation will lead into
cultural decline, and Irom there, who knows? But we do know this; all it takes is the winds oI
change to move the great cultural pool.

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Work Cited
Farber, Barry. "Today's American Patriotism Falls Short." ewsMax.com. Americas ews Page
- ews Archives. 9 Sept. 2006. Web. 1 Sept. 2011.
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/8/2128.shtml~.
"U.S. Slipping in Education Rankings - UPI.com." Upi.com. 19 Nov. 2009. Web. 1 Sept. 2011.
http://www.upi.com/TopNews/2008/11/19/USslippingineducationrankings/UPI-
9022122710776/~.
Waiting for "Superman" Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Walden Media, 2010. Film.
"World's Tallest Building: Burj Dubai." The Skyscraper Museum. 16 May 2008. Web. 1 Sept.
2011. http://www.skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/BURJDUBAI/index.htm~.