Jenner, Szegedi, USA: There's More to Identity than "I"
From the selfie culture to the Obama Presidency, the bankrupted argument is rising, one of self-definition and redefinition, as though we own nothing to past generations, or future considerations.
One crucial tenet of the American Dream, and by extension our country’s political temperament, is the notion of “self-made man.” From the Puritanical and then Protestant Work Ethic, to Emerson’s featured essay “Self-Reliance”, to latent talent of young immigrants turning into wealth, fame, and influence now celebrated on “American Idol”, making something of ourselves is a theme as American as apple pie (and Johnny Appleseed, by extension).