contemporary America

http://www.nra.org/home.aspx

I chose the National Rifle Association as the website because I feel it represents many aspects of contemporary America.

One aspect it represents is Patriotism. Patriotism in present day America is still very strong as a result of things such as American flags flying outside houses and everyone standing up for the National anthem being a common occurrence. This is despite many recent events which have made people outside America to view the country negatively, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The website displays patriotism through a number of different means, such as the NRA logo displaying the Eagle, (a symbol of America and it’s power) and by stating on it’s website as being “America’s foremost defender of Second Amendment rights”. Protecting the constitution which defines America and it’s way of life is another example of patriotism.

This can be linked to another aspect of contemporary America which the NRA represents, which is the country’s strong defence of the constitution as a whole and refusal to have a total revamp of it. An example of this is that although the constitution was created over two hundred years ago, America still continues to live by it without many changes, despite life in present day America being a stark contrast to what it was like in the past. This refusal of major change can also be related to a current event, such as the shooting of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona earlier this year. Despite that being a result of someone who was mentally unstable being able to purchase a gun and shooting, causing many deaths and injuries, there was no change, or even major discussion in government about changing the laws regarding guns, and instead the main discussion to come out of this event was about the possible restriction of violent political imagery. The fact that the shooter is deemed to be mentally unfit to stand trial, but was still allowed to buy a gun displaying the lack of restrictions regarding gun control in America is shown in the following article in the Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-louise-slaughter/unfit-to-stand-trial-yet_b_867128.html

Therefore the NRA website which attempts to display the positives for allowing Americans to own guns, protecting their constitutional rights represents the aspect of contemporary America in which they still live by the American constitution, despite the problems it can be linked to.

In conclusion, the NRA website represents the defence of the American constitution and patriotism, which I believe are two main aspects of contemporary America.