America and Its Culture

[hectorberlioz]

I'd like to fire up this debate if possible. I resent it when people say that America has no particular [good] culture.

Let me point out that:

1) It doesn't necessarily take 5,000 years to gain a "cultural flavor"...

2) The South & North, going back, were very different from eachother, and why? Not just because of the people's accents, but because of the culture and traditions that had grown up.

Americans DO care about Culture and Heritage, at least most of us. It's a sad thing that it DOES get trampled on, things like Thanksgiving and Christmas, by the super commercial overkill, but it is there.

I've become a Christmas critic myself in recent years, because of all the bruhaha about shopping on time etc...
Of course when you scorn the lady with a full shopping basket because she's doing exactly what you expect, how are you sure she doesn't really care about Christmas for the right reasons same as you? People might be anxious looking and disraught when you see them in town, and it's probably Traffic that made them look like that. But does that mean they don't care about Tradition, only about shopping? I would hesitate to think so. Just because people enter the store that's overdecorated DOES NOT mean that they are going in there for the overcommercialization.

I know for a fact that military families almost always have special pictures in glass casing, along with cherished memorabilia.

Exactly how up close do you have to get to check and see if everyone is practicing their culture?
You certainly can't judge America by the present apathy of most of the youth.

Now for our culturalisms:

Firstly religion; feared by foreigners who read the polls about religion in America, our brands of christianity have stricken fear into the hearts of many people who fear the evangelical at their doorstep. Billy Graham! A nice guy, for a long time he was a hardcore evangelical, he went to Russia and made friends with many of the Orthodox leaders there.

Holidays of course: and the most important one because it is indigenous to our country: Thanksgiving (which sadly seems to have gone the way of the Christmas as far as commercialization).

Sports: Basketball is the only truely All-American sport, and even though it still is only popular here, we do have a number of foreig players in the NBA.

Music: lets get past the Jazz people, fastforward to where Aaron Copland wrote the first truely American ballets: Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Billy the Kid.

Movies: I don't really have to say much, except: Star Wars anyone?

Our Heritage should never really be in question, and while the british may consider George Washington a traitor (and he was, as far as they are concerned-we have our differences!), to us he is the leading Founding Father (though I like Madison the best).
Whatever their faults, and there are plenty; they established a country and it's democratic system which, with it's fair amount of problems, has worked.

Let's not forget the BAD culturalisms: we've had our share of nasty (and unique) criminals, horrid music in abundance (which the french are imitating), and sometimes terrible movies.

Sure your average Joe here isn't related to the Duke of Mantua, but neither were the peasants in an older England (it's true!). No disrespect, but it's mostly the aristocracies of the world that have cared about heritage most, mostly because they could afford to hang on to everything.


Let's Discuss!