5 Mar
2006
5 Mar
'06
12:20 p.m.
Can't have tons of culture when the country is only
400 years old at
most.
I would second that, as well as your observation that our 'cultural'
influence in the world revolves mainly around our movie industry.
It has been my feeling for a long time that what passes for American
culture is just 'Pop Culture' and the entertainment industry.
Culture stems from shared history and experience, and that which binds
people into a common system of values and behaviors - and it seems that in
America, television, movies and the inescapable crass advertising that
always accompanies it *is* that binding force.
Regional dialects are disappearing as people - especially the young - seek
to emulate the speech, appearance, and behavior of their favorite TV/movie
stars.
I'm afraid Hollywood and McDonald's *is* our culture.
So that's pretty much uniform. And this uniformity
prevents people
from facing 'tons of culture'.
As for the second point I mentioned, people having in general more
interests in things, this is very flagrant with the percentage of
Americans not caring what Bush has lead them to so far. Political
chitchat in America often boils down to echoing something heard on
TV. In Europe you at least get the feel that the individual has given
some thought to the matter.
So true, and I would attribute this to our 'Hollywood' culture as well - it
teaches people to be passive consumers of information and material goods
and to conform to media-promoted images.
Thinking is actively discouraged - I learned this the hard way in college
and graduate school - especially by the rising would-be theocrats
All my friends from foreign countries were so much more open-minded and
willing to question things and consider alternative viewpoints.
They demonstrated an individualism which while supposedly the hallmark of
American society has all but disappeared.
- Maluvia