ex-idaho

I have heard an increasing amount of rhetoric over the years praising Ameican culture and calling for the protection of it. I feel that these calls are referring to traditional Xian principles and thinly veiled attacks against non-white immigrants. People like radio host Micheal Savage calling for protections of "culture, language and borders" to me demonstrates just how close to the truth I may be.

I would like those inside and outside of the US to give their views on just what is American culture in this thread.
Thanks

Jat

Is rampant consumerism a culture?

peacenik

I'm through being soft with these neo-fascist, neocons. All this talk about "preserving America's culture" is just a way of saying I hate blacks, hispanics, Jews, or anybody else who doesn't look like me and believe like me. It's just code words for and a means for carrying out their bigotry against people that are different from them. That's all it is!! And what does the corporate media do? They put hatemongers like Michael Savage on television for crying out loud!!

ex-idaho

Thats an excellent point. Have media ethics desintegrated to the point that for the sake of ratings and the almighty dollar they would put any hate monger thats popular on the air?

Fjordaniv

It's difficult to quantify: in many respects, we have a more unified "culture" today than we did years ago, if we measure the impact of homoginization (Wal Marts, McDonalds, etc.). Local cultures and languages are becoming increasingly commodified and monochromatic.

As other have said, what we regard as "American Culture" is white, middle class culture, religious and conservative in nature.

It is also a myth, as there was an almost infinate variety of subcultures with regional customs, mores, dialogs, foods . . . It might be more widely regarded as an idealized image of a common culture, one that ignores the multiplicity of ethnicities that the U.S. has always harboured.

When we "export" American culture, we general equate it with rampant consumerism and commodification: American culture is identified as a string of brand names and chain stores.

The paradox of it is that the very people who reject more liberal notions of cultural diversity are the ones who generally champion corporatism and its erosion of traditional (that is to say, heterogeneous) cultures. Perhaps this is their aim; under the blanket of big box stores and big budget advertising, we will all eventually buy into a marketed conformity.

All of this is merely a wordy way of saying that I don't believe that we have a singular "culture" per say, nor can we even speak of a white, black, Asian, northern or southern culture. But it would seem that we are being goaded into accepting uniformity.

Fred

Vorkosigan

C'mon. It's more than that. It's intense civic-mindedness and volunteerism, more so than anywhere else except Canada, and definitely more than Europe. It's progressive personal development. It's hobbies, a big part of American culture. It's small town independence -- 100 or so communities refusing to countenance the Patriot Act. Could that happen in Europe? It's democracy on a massive scale, we have lots more elections, and lots more elected positions. It's utopian, messianic, and positive about the future. It's very focused on time-efficiency, more than any other culture. It's direct, and productive. It's service-oriented.

I could go on.

Vorkosigan

Jat

We're speaking of America in the real world, not some 1950's delusional version of it.

RED DAVE

Gandhi was once asked what he thought about Western culture. He said he thought it would be a good idea.

RED DAVE

Sakpo

I with what's been said about the people calling for "protection of American language, culture, etc." That said, there is American culture, and it has worthwhile stuff, and bad stuff...and I love it.

-I love Afro American culture, it's varied, rich, and quite often amazing (not that it doesn't have lots of crap too). The music, visual art, etc, blows me away: jazz, the blues, soul, rock and roll, rap/hip hop, the writings of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray, the art of Sargent Johnson, the paintings of Jacob Lawrence, etc etc etc...

-Food. The hotdog, hamburger, chili, the milk shake, fried chicken, cola, etc. Sure, they all have origins elsewhere, but the American end products are great and unique in their own right. Greasy, fattening, filling, delicious...and easily accesible.

-All the writers, all their great novels, stories, poems, books, essays, etc. Far too many to dream of listing...

-The arrogance, the optimism, multiplicities of naive and entirely unfounded faiths, the fear, the senses of entitlement, the naive optimism, unfounded and founded feelings of being screwed over, all of it much more raw than elsewhere. Sure, this stuff is everywhere, but America has a unique blend.

-The people on the bus, on the street, inside, outside, everywhere, who talk to you (I've engaged in far more chit chat in American places than in Canada or Europe)...in Canada it's mostly just the crazy strangers likely to talk to you.
This does depend on region though, in my experience.

-Stuff, stuff everywhere. America, land of stuff. You really have to drive out a good ways from human inhabitants before there isn't stuff everywhere.
More stuff than in Canada, England, or than what I've seen of western Europe.

I could go on, and I certainly ought to give more details, but I just got off a flight and I'm exhausted. I'm not denying the horrible aspects of American culture (I'vce listed some negatives, I've left out many more terrible ones), but America has a great culture too. I think I have a unique perspective, as both an insider and an outsider. I have an American passport, but was born and have spent most of my life just on the other side of the Canadian border. I consider myself an American, and once across the border am indistinguishable from other Americans, but I have another passport as well and can see things as an outsider a bit too.

Luiseach

It was the sight of a big, shiny American car turning a street-corner on a cold and rainy day in the U.K. that made my father decide to emigrate to the New World...

...that's always the image I see when I think of America...