Exotic America

While I was writing my essay based on the Nacirema article I realized that American's aren't any more different than exotic societies.

The question posed indicates that American's don't live in a society where the state is weak/unstable, which may be true, but does not have much influence on the way people marry. While marrying for love is nice ideal, it doesn't always make sense, even (and in some cases, espcially) in America.

For instance, American culture promotes the ideal that anyone can do and be anything they want to be. This encourages many Americans to jump around to different jobs in the process of finding themselves and not settle on one job or career for life. This type of thinking also puts the self first instead of the community. Both of these aspects of American culture tend to make people think of marriage as an indulgence rather than a commitment. Evidence of this kind of thinking is proven by the current divorce rate. People who are in love, but clearly incompatible are free to marry in our society, but we have seen that it often fails.

Societies with arranged marriages (such as India) are not so strange after this realization. The family, whose judgment is not clouded by emotions or hormones, can more aptly decide what qualities of the bride and groom are best matched for each other and the community.