EPTAmericans have no culture? - Page 4
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supdubdup
United States916 Posts
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FuzzyJAM
Scotland9300 Posts
On January 21 2012 17:22 Ansinjunger wrote: I know two hobbits that had dinner with two Numenorean men, and felt "rustic" and uncultured when they realized they didn't have a dinner ritual of looking to the West. But as a human looking in through a book, I'd say hobbits have quite an interesting culture, no matter which antagonistic characters referred to them as "imps" or their home as a "ratland." In fact, I'd suggest those meanies were the ones without culture, if anyone. Your example isn't very good. The Numenoreans can trace their heritage back to the beginning of time, invented their own language, ruled Middle-Earth, communed and were descended from the angel-gods, and just generally had an exceptionally developed culture in all the arts. Hobbits, meanwhile, used a language invented by men and didn't really have much in the way of cultural heritage at all - in fact, the Numenoreans knew more about the history of the Hobbits than the Hobbits themselves. + Show Spoiler + Yes, I may have taken this post more seriously than it was intended. :D On January 21 2012 17:25 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: You're just saying that because Scottish Enlightenment helped develop the modern world. Including the United States, even Europe for that matter. Well, there's no doubt that being Scottish and believing my own culture to have contributed a decent amount to the world gives security in telling people to stop waving their dicks around. If I can continue the fantastically graphic metaphor, there's nothing like knowing your own dick is pretty large (at least compared to the rest of you) when it comes to confidence in telling people that size doesn't matter. :D On a more serious note, it also lets me notice that Scottish culture is closely linked to the rest of Europe. Nothing that Scotland has done would have happened if it weren't for the heritage of Scotland as a part of Europe. America is honestly largely an outworking of European culture, which is realistically Eurasian itself, and there's nothing really wrong with that. Europe is largely an outworking of Roman culture, which is an outworking of Greek culture, which is an outworking of Babylonian culture, and then you can look at lots of specific influence from the Vikings to the Ottomans to the Celts to the Huns to the Caliphates to the Phoenicians, etc. European culture wouldn't exist without the Middle East, which wouldn't exist without Europe and India. American culture wouldn't exist without the rest of the world, and that's fine, because it's a nice illustration of the connection in modern society. A melting pot is a kind of culture and produces unique things; the only difference is that the influences are more apparent and recent. | ||
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redemption
United States112 Posts
Culture: The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. When you have civilization, culture is an inevitable by-product. Someone previously mentioned that America doesn't have culture because all we care about is money. Whether you like it or not, that would make capitalism and self-interest a part of our culture. Other people mentioned that we don't have culture because it's borrowed from other countries. Well, that gives America the unique culture of being made up of thousands of different cultures. The fact that we have easy access to Greek food, French food, Chinese food, Korean food, Indian food - all within range of a 30 minute drive or a short subway ride and we don't even think twice about it is a part of our culture. I also don't think it's possible for one culture to be superior to another. Some people prefer apples to oranges, or vice-versa, but that make it a fact that one is better than the other. They're just different. Culture is constantly evolving everywhere, and at the end of the day, it is what it is. | ||
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Deleted User 183001
2939 Posts
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pavement ist rad
United States226 Posts
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ManicMarine
Australia409 Posts
No but srsly, America has culture, it's just not generally regarded to be particularly high brow. Rioting at football games is part of English culture, but it's not what people bring to mind when they say "English culture". Culture in that sense is things like opera and fox hunting. American culture is viewed as too mass marketed, there is thought to be a lack of intellectualism. I don't hold this view, I'm merely describing what I think the OP meant about america lacking culture. Also I dispute the idea that baseball is a global sport. It's pretty much only played competitively in North America. The "world series" of baseball is just a bunch of American teams playing lol. | ||
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Deleted User 183001
2939 Posts
On January 21 2012 17:56 ManicMarine wrote: What's the difference between the USA and a bowl of yogurt? If you leave the yogurt alone for 200 years it grows a culture. No but srsly, America has culture, it's just not generally regarded to be particularly high brow. Rioting at football games is part of English culture, but it's not what people bring to mind when they say "English culture". Culture in that sense is things like opera and fox hunting. American culture is viewed as too mass marketed, there is thought to be a lack of intellectualism. I don't hold this view, I'm merely describing what I think the OP meant about america lacking culture. Also I dispute the idea that baseball is a global sport. It's pretty much only played competitively in North America. The "world series" of baseball is just a bunch of American teams playing lol. Don't forget Japan and some Caribbean countries!! | ||
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forgottendreams
United States1771 Posts
On January 21 2012 17:54 pavement ist rad wrote: Look at pop culture (music, movies, shows etc) in every single other country in the world and tell me they're not trying to be more like America. Culture is America's #1 export. Quantity = Quality assumption.... Assumption two is that pop music, TV shows and movies = culture | ||
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zalz
Netherlands3704 Posts
In everything from the way we dress to the music we listen to. I have heard people say that America has no culture, but i simply sigh at such a silly comment. It's not even something you can defend, it's just factually not true. Quantity = Quality assumption.... America produces a great deal of these things but it also produces the best. America for example has produced "The Wire" which dwarfs anything the rest of the world has ever produced in terms of television productions. Assumption two is that pop music, TV shows and movies = culture They are. | ||
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Chaosvuistje
Netherlands2581 Posts
It's probably just an uneducated European that shouts that kind of bull just in the name of being anti-america. | ||
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zalz
Netherlands3704 Posts
On January 21 2012 18:00 Chaosvuistje wrote: If America did not have a culture the government wouldn't be able to steer them. The US is a huge country, and diversity in moral values exists in all the states. It may not have a single overwhelming majority across all the states, but neither does Russia or China. And to say that China does not have a culture would be pretty outrageous. They may not have a long history like European countries, but is that really a requirement to culture? I wouldn't say so. It's probably just an uneducated European that shouts that kind of bull just in the name of being anti-america. Irony has it that China actually undertook a very severe attempt at destroying it's own culture. | ||
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Solidarity
United States78 Posts
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forgottendreams
United States1771 Posts
On January 21 2012 18:00 zalz wrote: America's culture is actually present all across the world. In everything from the way we dress to the music we listen to. I have heard people say that America has no culture, but i simply sigh at such a silly comment. It's not even something you can defend, it's just factually not true. America produces a great deal of these things but it also produces the best. America for example has produced "The Wire" which dwarfs anything the rest of the world has ever produced in terms of television productions. They are. Well I meant that pop art doesn't equate to total culture, it occupies one segment of culture and it derives from maintstream and is rather rudimentary. Anyways goodnight (ON MY END) my fellow insomniac, get some rest  | ||
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Ahelvin
France1866 Posts
And even if, from a rational point of view, I know for sure that American has indeed a rich and vivid culture, things like Fox News blatantly spreading lies, close-mindedness about different form of economic conceptions, religion playing a major role in the political scene, evolution considered a theory in spite of blatant scientific proofs and so on, is making me doubt about the quality of American culture, culture being "the common background of knowledge, value and rites shared among the whole population". Moreover, without being an elitist prick, can I say that American has an uncontested domination in terms of mainstream and pop culture (movies, pop music, etc...) but may not be the best reference in terms of "high culture"? | ||
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zalz
Netherlands3704 Posts
On January 21 2012 18:07 forgottendreams wrote: Well I meant that pop art doesn't equate to total culture, it occupies one segment of culture and it derives from maintstream and is rather rudimentary. Anyways goodnight my fellow insomniac, get some rest Dutch people are waking up, we work whilst you sleep. | ||
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Noro
Canada991 Posts
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forgottendreams
United States1771 Posts
On January 21 2012 18:07 zalz wrote: Dutch people are waking up, we work whilst you sleep. :S I just thought you stayed awake through the night, well good morning then. | ||
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chenchen
United States1136 Posts
On January 21 2012 18:03 zalz wrote: Irony has it that China actually undertook a very severe attempt at destroying it's own culture. Currently China very much embraces its culture and its past. Nevertheless, elements of traditional Chinese culture will always survive in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Sometimes Chinese culture is preserved more in those countries than in mainland China itself. | ||
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redemption
United States112 Posts
On January 21 2012 17:36 christophequirion wrote: In numerous languages, culture = tradition and\or knowledge. American popular culture is the world most dominant culture by far. Very few people disagree. But the common cliché is that people living in USA are poorly informed, aware of what is happening in the rest of the world + lack of basic general knowledge (even the political "elites", CF the Republican primaries). Capital of Morocco ? Speaking 3 languages ? year of gutenberg printing press invention ? Polical parties in India ? Basis of Kant's Philosophy ? Name of the President of China ?.... I see the general point you're trying to make, but who mandated that those specific questions are the "general knowledge" that everyone should know? They are very biased toward the social sciences and history. To be frank, the answers to them have little relevance to most people's everyday lives, so it's a little unfair that you expect everyone to have the same level of interest in the subject as you do. Unless you formally studied history or are interested in the topic of history as a hobby (or maybe planning on being on Jeopardy), how many people actually recall the year the printing press was invented? Or the political parties in India? Sure, we may have briefly memorized it for an exam in high school, but I don't know too many people that would still remember it. Furthermore, I wouldn't deem such people uneducated or unrefined because of it. That would just be pretentious. | ||
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lvlashimaro
United States91 Posts
Yeah, America is a multicultural society, and immigrants directly bring their traditions, causing a "melting pot" society, but even that is a misnomer. Usually, these immigrants stay within their own culture, so instead of a conglomerated mixture of many cultures, you get many, distinct subcultures. It's more of a "mixed salad bowl" culture. You have your "lettuce", "tomatoes", "cucumbers", etc etc. Does that take away from America being America? No. It makes America what it is. It's a culture that thrives on opportunity, and quite frankly, that means a lot of other people want to come and test their luck. | ||
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