The Non-culture of America(TM)

[B_M_W]

I was just sitting at my computer, and I realized I had no culture. Not in the sense that I have no family history, but rather that this country over the last hundred years has turned whatever culture my family had into mush.

Americans think they have culture, they tell you they do. They talk about sports and Nascar, hotdogs, Columbus, Jefferson, Franklin, and all those other dead dudes. They might even bring up the natives who previously occupied this continent.

But their all wrong. The melting pot of America has mixed and churned and poured out this mess that nowhere even resembles the cuture of a collective. Sure, you find scattered pieces here and there, relics, but nothing more. Theres nothing that holds us together as a people except a bunch of old men and women in a City a thousand miles away....

And I look at this mush that is grey and bland tasting, and I wonder, "What is MY culture, Who are my people?"

...I look around and know I have no people....

No one wants an American; You go to the mountain to ask for teaching and they throw you out. Its not that they hate us, rather, they are indifferent.

I don't want fast food, or Reality television, or any of that crap. That grey crap sticks to my soul and weighs me down.

And I feel like Im lost, cause I can't quite find where I belong.

~BMW

[The Good Reverend Roger]

2 things:  

1.  There is a difference between NO culture (not possible) and BAD culture (Disney World, Dollywood, etc).

2.  The reason they throw Americans off the mountain is because the Americans won't stop bitching about the guru "needing to install an escalator".  Either that, or the American is there to affect "regime change" on the mountain.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I mean, seriously...LOOK:

http://dollywood.com/

I'd RATHER that we had NO culture, really.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

I was just sitting at my computer, and I realized I had no culture. Not in the sense that I have no family history, but rather that this country over the last hundred years has turned whatever culture my family had into mush.

Americans think they have culture, they tell you they do. They talk about sports and Nascar, hotdogs, Columbus, Jefferson, Franklin, and all those other dead dudes. They might even bring up the natives who previously occupied this continent.

But their all wrong. The melting pot of America has mixed and churned and poured out this mess that nowhere even resembles the cuture of a collective. Sure, you find scattered pieces here and there, relics, but nothing more. Theres nothing that holds us together as a people except a bunch of old men and women in a City a thousand miles away....

And I look at this mush that is grey and bland tasting, and I wonder, "What is MY culture, Who are my people?"

...I look around and know I have no people....

No one wants an American; You go to the mountain to ask for teaching and they throw you out. Its not that they hate us, rather, they are indifferent.

I don't want fast food, or Reality television, or any of that crap. That grey crap sticks to my soul and weighs me down.

And I feel like Im lost, cause I can't quite find where I belong.

~BMW

You belong here, for starters.  I have gone through this from time to time.  Here is how I dealt with it.  I looked at all the nations my ancestors came from, including this one.  And I started reading books, taking classes and talking to people.  If you are going to college(it seems like you are, but my memory is the suxors) take classes, you will need some soc credits anyway.  Or take some foreign language class that relates.  There is no one American culture.  We are too diverse and our country is way too big.  Each region has its own thing, which in some cases could be considered culture.  I hope this helps, if not, I have lots more just as helpful

[B_M_W]

You belong here, for starters.  I have gone through this from time to time.  Here is how I dealt with it.  I looked at all the nations my ancestors came from, including this one.  And I started reading books, taking classes and talking to people.  If you are going to college(it seems like you are, but my memory is the suxors) take classes, you will need some soc credits anyway.  Or take some foreign language class that relates.  There is no one American culture.  We are too diverse and our country is way too big.  Each region has its own thing, which in some cases could be considered culture.  I hope this helps, if not, I have lots more just as helpful

My ansestry is mostly german...I have found out some things. I can always find out more, and I don't really need history classes for that.

I think its more that I feel so distant from anything that has any depth. At college, theres really no sense of community. People can live next door to each other for four years and not even converse once.

I need community, and maybe I have found it here. And I thank you for saying I belong here. But words on a screen do not give me the same kind of connectedness that "in person" does.

Im sorry, Im an emo bastard. I probably should just forget about this.

~BMW

[The Good Reverend Roger]

You belong here, for starters.  I have gone through this from time to time.  Here is how I dealt with it.  I looked at all the nations my ancestors came from, including this one.  And I started reading books, taking classes and talking to people.  If you are going to college(it seems like you are, but my memory is the suxors) take classes, you will need some soc credits anyway.  Or take some foreign language class that relates.  There is no one American culture.  We are too diverse and our country is way too big.  Each region has its own thing, which in some cases could be considered culture.  I hope this helps, if not, I have lots more just as helpful

My ansestry is mostly german...I have found out some things. I can always find out more, and I don't really need history classes for that.

I think its more that I feel so distant from anything that has any depth. At college, theres really no sense of community. People can live next door to each other for four years and not even converse once.

I need community, and maybe I have found it here. And I thank you for saying I belong here. But words on a screen do not give me the same kind of connectedness that "in person" does.

Im sorry, Im an emo bastard. I probably should just forget about this.

~BMW

Naw, Emo would be if you were lamenting how only YOU had any depth in the dark wells of your soul.

You actually raise a valid point.  300,000,000 people, and nobody wants to talk IRL.  Why do you think forums thrive?

TGRR,
Doesn't care to know his neighbors.

[Eldora, Oracle of Alchemy]

My ansestry is mostly german...I have found out some things. I can always find out more, and I don't really need history classes for that.

I think its more that I feel so distant from anything that has any depth. At college, theres really no sense of community. People can live next door to each other for four years and not even converse once.

I need community, and maybe I have found it here. And I thank you for saying I belong here. But words on a screen do not give me the same kind of connectedness that "in person" does.

Im sorry, Im an emo bastard. I probably should just forget about this.

~BMW

Didn't mean history, meant anthropology, or sociology.  Sprechen Sie Deutsch?  If not, take some language classes.  You learn about a culture when you learn about the language.  Take some time and go through your whole catalogue of class options.  Sounds boring, I know, but you're already bored, can't hurt

[The Good Reverend Roger]

My ansestry is mostly german...I have found out some things. I can always find out more, and I don't really need history classes for that.

I think its more that I feel so distant from anything that has any depth. At college, theres really no sense of community. People can live next door to each other for four years and not even converse once.

I need community, and maybe I have found it here. And I thank you for saying I belong here. But words on a screen do not give me the same kind of connectedness that "in person" does.

Im sorry, Im an emo bastard. I probably should just forget about this.

~BMW

Didn't mean history, meant anthropology, or sociology.  Sprechen Sie Deutsch?  If not, take some language classes.  You learn about a culture when you learn about the language.  Take some time and go through your whole catalogue of class options.  Sounds boring, I know, but you're already bored, can't hurt

If he's bored, my job is open, now.


Meet strange people in exotic places.  Put your life in the hands of a madman daily.

And you get paid, too!

[East Coast Hustle]

he's absolutely right. Regardless of what Roger says (and I know what he menas, but I think he's wrong in a semantic sense), what we have in America is NOT "culture". it's not tradition. it's not passed down through generations, held as a sacred rite, a way to bond ourselves to our history. We've replaced all that with cheap, disposable crap.

It makes sense though. think of the other countries that are as large as we are, area-wise. In Russia, the vast majority of the country is empty. The inhabited parts have been inhabited for thousands of years by largely the same tribes/ethnicities/whatever you want to call it. therefore, they've had the opportunity to develop culture, and even within it's own borders, Russia has many different cultures. Canada is relatively young, younger even than us, but again, 95% empty and the population tends to congregate in one condensed strip, allowing a sense of bonding. They also retained much of the culture of their forbears, the Brits, since their separation was amicable and unforced. I believe the Queen is even still their "official" head of state. China has patched together many different tribes/ethnicities under the culture of statism, something we don't do (yet). Australia, same as Canada with the addition of having most of their stock descended from a bunch of prisoners, which really lends a sense of cultural identity. America is really the only country of this size to have it's population spread out as evenly as it is. I know, we're all bunched up in cities, but the cities themselves are spread out. We're young, we intentionally rejected the culture we brought with us from Europe when we declared our independence, we're highly mobile, and we place more importance on our careers than we do on our families. None of this lends itself to forging a cohesive national culture, so instead we capitalize on the mobility, ignorance, desire for familial connection, and abundance of disposable income (relative ot most other nations) and we get...

Disney and Dollywood, in a rental car, memorialized with a disposable camera.

which is why this will be the prelude to my next rant:

SECESSION TIME.



(apologies to BMW for the idea-jack, and a "RAH" for the original post)

[B_M_W]

Im taking an anthropology class next semester. I speak some spanish...And really, Im not bored. Im never bored, and I pity people who constantly are.

Its like I said, I need community. And I can't find it where I live. So I feel lost, and I go online, and I meet really cool people who have lots of depth and character. But, living over a computer is not enough. At least for me.

Roger: The neibours I do know are assholes, and the rest have selective sight, as far as I'm concerned.

~BMW

[East Coast Hustle]

If he's bored, my job is open, now.


Meet strange people in exotic places.  Put your life in the hands of a madman daily.

And you get paid, too!

how's the $$$?

cuz that sounds like my kind of gig.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

he's absolutely right. Regardless of what Roger says (and I know what he menas, but I think he's wrong in a semantic sense), what we have in America is NOT "culture". it's not tradition. it's not passed down through generations, held as a sacred rite, a way to bond ourselves to our history. We've replaced all that with cheap, disposable crap.

That's still culture.  The Aztecs were utterly stagnant when the Spaniards showed up, anthropologically speaking, but they had culture.

And what are we but stagnant?

TGRR,
Can't wait to see who the Spaniards are, this time around.

[East Coast Hustle]

having a culture that has stagnated is one thing.

we've never developed a culture in the first place.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

having a culture that has stagnated is one thing.

we've never developed a culture in the first place.

Not true.

From an anthropological standpoint, we developed a massive culture, in the blink of an eye.

Our culture is a "Friday rush job", and it shows.

[B_M_W]

he's absolutely right. Regardless of what Roger says (and I know what he menas, but I think he's wrong in a semantic sense), what we have in America is NOT "culture". it's not tradition. it's not passed down through generations, held as a sacred rite, a way to bond ourselves to our history. We've replaced all that with cheap, disposable crap.

It makes sense though. think of the other countries that are as large as we are, area-wise. In Russia, the vast majority of the country is empty. The inhabited parts have been inhabited for thousands of years by largely the same tribes/ethnicities/whatever you want to call it. therefore, they've had the opportunity to develop culture, and even within it's own borders, Russia has many different cultures. Canada is relatively young, younger even than us, but again, 95% empty and the population tends to congregate in one condensed strip, allowing a sense of bonding. They also retained much of the culture of their forbears, the Brits, since their separation was amicable and unforced. I believe the Queen is even still their "official" head of state. China has patched together many different tribes/ethnicities under the culture of statism, something we don't do (yet). Australia, same as Canada with the addition of having most of their stock descended from a bunch of prisoners, which really lends a sense of cultural identity. America is really the only country of this size to have it's population spread out as evenly as it is. I know, we're all bunched up in cities, but the cities themselves are spread out. We're young, we intentionally rejected the culture we brought with us from Europe when we declared our independence, we're highly mobile, and we place more importance on our careers than we do on our families. None of this lends itself to forging a cohesive national culture, so instead we capitalize on the mobility, ignorance, desire for familial connection, and abundance of disposable income (relative ot most other nations) and we get...

Disney and Dollywood, in a rental car, memorialized with a disposable camera.

You hit the nail right on the head, Turd. And said what I wanted to much better than I did without the angst. Feel free to thread jack me anytime. ^_^

~BMW