Comment Re:Better yet (Score 1) 452
VJ42, I agree with most of your post, and I'm an American. In particular, I'd like to comment on your choice to visit European destinations rather than American ones. Personally, I've travelled as much as my budget has allowed me in the past few years, due to a lack of interest in my local environment; I've seen Japan (where I currently live), Singapore, China, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and all parts of the US. While I'm proud to be an American (as all Americans are, causing the popular cliche), I find that it's such an extreme monoculture, where even in the ethnically diverse cities such as Los Angeles the minority groups are pushed aside into small communities where they can't impact the groupthink, that it quickly becomes boring. If you've never been to America, you probably have the standard McDonalds and Baywatch stereotypical view of America. And while it's true that 20% of the females I've met in the States idolize Paris Hilton and roughly the same want to be John Elway (or Michael Jordan, et al), there is a good percentage of people who are interesting, unique, and dedicated to independant culture, be it art, cinema, literature, etc. The problem is that American culture, though not necessarily the people, is so driven towards capitalism that the culture itself places no merit on real artistic endeavors. You can see this in all forms of art, and not even that, you can see it in what interests are popular among the masses - I gravitate towards people who know who Miles Davis or H. L. Mencken are, but often find myself sifting through those obsessed instead with Britney Spears or Brad Pitt, the faces that are exposed to them in every possible media: television, film, music, even Google god-damn News on a daily basis.
My basic point is that America DOES have a culture, the problem is that it's very difficult to find above the layers of bullshit stacked on top of it by the media. There's somewhat of an upside to this, though. As a native, if you are dedicated and you do find bits of that underground culture, it is extremely rewarding and is usually better developed for the fact that it's been simmering under a heap of commercialistic nonsense for years. The downside, as we all know, is that to the outsider, it appears that America is completely devoid of any intelligence. Trust me, there are just as many Americans out there who despise "American Culture" as there are Europeans. The ultimate problem is that 20% of the people spending their dollars on one thing will bring more attention than the other 80% spending their money on a very diverse culture (be it Classical authors, Jazz/Underground Hip Hop/Indie Rock music, Indy Film, Indy Comics, Small run Literature, etc).
Slap
(my e-mail ain't public but feel free to hit slapspam /at/ yahoo.com)
My basic point is that America DOES have a culture, the problem is that it's very difficult to find above the layers of bullshit stacked on top of it by the media. There's somewhat of an upside to this, though. As a native, if you are dedicated and you do find bits of that underground culture, it is extremely rewarding and is usually better developed for the fact that it's been simmering under a heap of commercialistic nonsense for years. The downside, as we all know, is that to the outsider, it appears that America is completely devoid of any intelligence. Trust me, there are just as many Americans out there who despise "American Culture" as there are Europeans. The ultimate problem is that 20% of the people spending their dollars on one thing will bring more attention than the other 80% spending their money on a very diverse culture (be it Classical authors, Jazz/Underground Hip Hop/Indie Rock music, Indy Film, Indy Comics, Small run Literature, etc).
Slap
(my e-mail ain't public but feel free to hit slapspam
