America and Its Culture

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

It astounded me that you would.

Originally Posted by Mari

I would also like to know which statement of mine made you feel culturally inferior, because it was never my intention to do so.

But I'm hearing a lot of people, in this thread, who are following a notion of "culture" that I think is archaic. It's that which I am attacking.

There are quite a lot of "Americans" who, in the US, would have no trouble identifying their "traditional dances." They've been hauled off to church basements for the "Greek festival" or the "Italian festival" or had to sit through innumerable slides of Aunt May's trip to Ireland. But, sometimes only when they travel, they find themselves at a loss to explain "American culture", because they realize that it's broader than their own personal one.

That's not a weakness, that's a strength.

We clearly can't get into a debate here about the sources of Japanese history, but I doubt you'll find many Japanese who would say they merely imitated the West.

And, all due, for you to be shirty about it is pretty funny, considering that in a discussion of culture you exempted the Dutch. That just tells me there are no regular Dutch posters, here.