American Culture

[Kscott]

I just recently heard the song Amerika by Rammstein and must say, its a kickass song. However it got me thinking.

I know many say it in jest, but it has been said non the less. That America has no culture. I find this incredibly funny. Everyone is pissed because they live in America, yet we are the ones with no culture?:hmmm:

Also another related issue I want to bring up. Many around the world dislike American mass production. This is highly hypocritical to me. Do you guys not drink coke? Listen to Ipods? Eat at a McDonalds? Wear a pair of Nike shoes? Obviously mass produced items are not the highest quality. No American goes to McDonalds cus it tastes the best, we go for convince. We certainly have many places to eat that are based on quality and these are the places that people go to when they really want a good meal. So really, why all the hate on mass production?

Im sorry if this sounds aggressive, I don't mean it to be so. Im not implying Europe has no culture. Just that if America does not, then the world most certainly does not. Please try to keep things civil guys.

[JP226]

Are you drunk? Your sentence structure is a little off base. Not that i'm technical about spelling mistakes, god knows I have no talent for it, but...

"Many around the world dislike American mas production."

"No American goes to McDonalds cus it taste the best"

and

"We certainly have much places to eat that are based on quality and..."

Not that i'm a stickler, but my slang is better than that

[Kscott]

Well the post was more so a stream of consciousness than anything well organized. As such I certainly made some rather erroneous grammatical mistakes that have been fixed now.

However I do think that your post could have actually tried to address the topic.

[the_mango55]

People who say America has no culture simply want to insult America and can't think of anything better.

[Primvs Sextvs Loverlord]

People who say America has no culture simply want to insult America and can't think of anything better.

Agreed.
Furthermore, it's commonly believed in Eastern countries that family values have no or very little place in America (they use old people's homes, kids living away at an early age as examples). I believe that's not true.

Most American values come from Europe, by the way, However, the American pop and business culture evolved on it's own thereafter. People all over the world watch American shows, use American brands, etc and it's turned out to be one of the most influential in history.

[Aristophanes]

I just recently heard the song Amerika by Rammstein and must say, its a kickass song. However it got me thinking.

I know many say it in jest, but it has been said non the less. That America has no culture. I find this incredibly funny. Everyone is pissed because they live in America, yet we are the ones with no culture?:hmmm:

Also another related issue I want to bring up. Many around the world dislike American mass production. This is highly hypocritical to me. Do you guys not drink coke? Listen to Ipods? Eat at a McDonalds? Wear a pair of Nike shoes? Obviously mass produced items are not the highest quality. No American goes to McDonalds cus it tastes the best, we go for convince. We certainly have many places to eat that are based on quality and these are the places that people go to when they really want a good meal. So really, why all the hate on mass production?

Im sorry if this sounds aggressive, I don't mean it to be so. Im not implying Europe has no culture. Just that if America does not, then the world most certainly does not. Please try to keep things civil guys.

Europe has an inferiority complex masquerading as a superiority complex.

[RusskiSoldat]

Riiiight.
America has no culture.
New York has a culture, Dixie has a culture, California has a culture.
While they do share a lot of common elements, so do most western cultures today.

[Caelius]

Well in terms of global influence, the mere fact that 4 of the world's 10 most important "Alpha" cities are American (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and in a more political extent Washington D.C.), anyone trying to claim that America has no culture or isn't a hub of culture can easily be dismissed as not knowing what they're talking about.

[Scorch]

I think what they mean is probably that such a wide array of cultures has diluted the 'traditional American culture', whatever that was to begin with.

I wouldn't go as far as to say America has 'no culture', but America's culture is how I see Australia's in a few years time - watered down by multiculturalism.

[RZZZA]

Well right off the top of my head, i can think of two cultural movements born in america: the hippie culture and the hip hop culture. Whatever you have to say about these two things, you cant deny that its cultural and it was born in America and propogated globally afterwards, right?

So there you go, the "no culture" myth has been dispelled easily.

[the_mango55]

I don't know if I would count Chicago as a top 10 city in terms of global importance.

Hell it sometimes gets forgotten about in this country.

(sorry if I offended any Chicagoans)

[RZZZA]

I don't know if I would count Chicago as a top 10 city in terms of global importance.

Hell it sometimes gets forgotten about in this country.

(sorry if I offended any Chicagoans)

How could you forget about the second city? Chicago is one of the top 3 most recognizable (and largest I think) cities in the U.S. It goes N.Y., L.A., and Chicago.

[ErikinWest]

I don't know if I would count Chicago as a top 10 city in terms of global importance.

Hell it sometimes gets forgotten about in this country.

(sorry if I offended any Chicagoans)

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/citylist.html

Chicago does pretty well. This is a list of the top global cities.

Erik

[RZZZA]

How can you think multiculturalism dilutes culture? I think it adds to it, every minority in the U.S. has contributed something to our culture. Except the arabs, they dont contribute anything. :thinking:

[Elric von Rabenfels]

You can´t say America has no culture. But one thing you can say for sure is that America hasn´t got that much and good history. It´s a new country, the history of it can´t compare with the history of Europe or the eastern lands. And for that fact I think America is playing a little bit too much "World-Police". This is no offense, just facts.

[Aristophanes]

You can´t say America has no culture. But one thing you can say for sure is that America hasn´t got that much and good history. It´s a new country, the history of it can´t compare with the history of Europe or the eastern lands. And for that fact I think America is playing a little bit too much "World-Police". This is no offense, just facts.

I wasn't aware that 2 World Wards and a Holocaust constituted history anyone would want, nor colonialism for that matter... the inquisition, the Napoleonic Wars, the 7 years war, the 30 years war, or the hundred years war...etc. Given the choice, most of the people who lived/died that history probably would have wanted to do without it. Canada is thankful for its bland history.

[RZZZA]

Yeah. Excerpt from wiki: "Today, Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the Midwest, and is recognized worldwide as an Alpha Global City."

Badmouth chitown again and I'll have to challenge you to a duel.

[Tiwaz]

First define what is culture.

Mass produced items do not necessarily equate culture, neither does economical or militay power.

In a way it is true, USA lacks something that defines it's citizens as whole. It is more collection of different subcultures then actual american culture. Meanwhile subcultures are not distinct to be actual cultures (yes, I know many americans feel that texan and californian are separate cultures but they are very alike in most matters as compared to say Germany and France that they).

It is my opinion that this is why americans put so much effort into public displays of nationalism. It is only (generalisation I know but not that far off) unifying detail for them and they feel need to bring it out.
It is natural phase of relatively young society which is still looking it's way. (society, not nation. finns as nation are younger than USA but our society has existed far longer as an example)

It is partially why USA has bit less problems with immigrants compared to many european nations. In USA they are not as much outsiders as there is no cultural point of reference. It remains to be seen if european nations have their cultural distinctiveness reduced to more american style version as immigration has increased or if something else takes place. That I will not speculate.

[Cluny the Scourge]

America is weird. Cheap fuel and car-engines so inefficient they drink it like soda-pop. Colossal tacky advertising on every surface imaginable. Gun-ranges and concealed-weapon classes. Churches on every other street-corner and Jesus on every other radio station. Breakfast at Denny's, lunch at Shakey's, dinner at the Sizzler's all-you-can-eat-buffet. And everything horribly, mind-curdlingly the same, everywhere, everywhere. That's American culture - it's right there, it doesn't 'not exist'. It's just weird.

Except maybe in Alaska. It's cold there, I hear. Or the desert.

And they make incredible chocolate-chip cookies. The simplest supermarket-brand cookie in America is ten times better than the fanciest 'genuine American-style cookie' they sell here in the UK.

[Bwaho]

I know many say it in jest, but it has been said non the less. That America has no culture. I find this incredibly funny. Everyone is pissed because they live in America, yet we are the ones with no culture?

Of course America has it's own culture. It started with european culture being brought over to the new world, but after years of seperate cultural development from europe you've got your own branch of culture.

In fashion and music America has been the torchbearer for quite some time now.

Americans also tend to be more religious, but in America as in Europe it's different depending on where you go. The american midwest is more religious than new york and italy is more religious than the netherlands.