“Claudia Rankine's Citizen comes at you like doom. It's the best note in the wrong song that is America. Its various realities-'mistaken' identity, social racism, the whole fabric of urban and suburban life-are almost too much to bear, but you bear them, because it's the truth. Citizen is Rankine's Spoon River Anthology, an epic as large and frightening and beautiful as the country and various emotional states that produced it.” CountryStatesWholeRealityAmericaBeautifulSongSocialToo MuchIdentityEmotionalBearsCitizensRacismRiversNotesVariousFrighteningFabricUrbanEpicMistakenDoomSpoonsAnthologyClaudiaMistaken Identity Author:Hilton Als
“In America, it stands out, because it's raw, it's big, it's emotional. My face is raw, big and emotional. It didn't work for the longest time.” BigsAmericaFacesEmotionalStanding Out Author:Patti LuPone
“The feminization of America has made emotions sacrosanct while condemning as cold and unfeeling rigorous concepts such as duty andhonor. Propelled by incessant hosannas to woman's "finer" this and "softer" that, we make emotional decisions instead of ethical ones and then congratulate ourselves for having "heart.” HeartMadeAmericaDecisionEmotionFeminismEmotionalDutyColdConceptsEthicalCondemningIncessantUnfeeling Author:Florence King
“I don't really identify with America, I don't really feel like an American or part of the American experience, and I don't really feel like a member of the human race, to tell you the truth. I know I am, but I really don't. All the definitions are there, but I don't really feel a part of it. I think I have found a detached point of view, an ideal emotional detachment from the American experience and culture and the human experience and culture and human choices.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsHumansAmericaChoicesCultureFoundViewsRaceEmotionalMembersIdealsDefinitionsPoint Of ViewHuman RaceHuman ExperienceDetachmentDetached Author:George Carlin
“Why ... do the myths of America the Hateful take such powerful hold? Because anti-Americanism provides a useful emotional function which goes beyond logic and reaches deep into the darker recesses of the European soul. In centuries past those on the Left who wished to personalise their hatred of capitalism, who sought to make it emotionally resonant by fastening an envious political passion on to a blameless scapegoat people, embraced anti-Semitism. It was the socialism of fools. Which is what anti-Americanism is now.” PeopleSoulAmericaPastPoliticalPassionLeftPowerfulCenturyEmotionalFoolCapitalismHatredLogicFunctionMythSocialismHatefulEnviousAnti SemitismScapegoatRecessAmericanismBlameless Author:Michael Gove
“Like Americans, people outside America want fun, want an emotional compensation for the utilitarianism and calculation that mark the rest of their lives.” PeopleWantAmericaFunEmotionalMarkCompensationCalculationsUtilitarianism Author:Todd Gitlin
“When my birth parents were murdered, I stayed outdoors all night with the bodies. Years later in America, around fourteen, my psychiatrist explained to me that staying with the bodies that night made me fearless. He said that it made me an 'emotional exhibitionist' and told me never to let people convince me that I was weird for speaking with clarity and passion.” PeopleYearsMadeSaidBodyAmericaNightPassionParentEmotionalBirthClarityFearlessConvinceStayingAll NightPsychiatristFourteenExhibitionistBirth Parents Author:Kola Boof
“America has also forever lost the service of thousands of good soldiers who are now disabled as a result of battle wounds in Iraq. Many others will need mental and emotional rehabilitation before they can return to normal life.” NeedsAmericaLostResultsForeverEmotionalReturnBattleNormalSoldierIraqWoundsDisabledNormal LifeRehabilitationGood SoldiersBattle Wounds Author:John Olver
“The more people have, the less content they seem to be. In America, the cultural expectation that we're to be happy all the time and our children are to be happy all the time is toxic, and I think that really gets in the way of emotional well-being.” PeopleThinkingWayWellsChildrenSeemsAmericaEmotionalExpectationsOur ChildrenWell BeingToxicEmotional Well Being Author:Andrew Weil