i don't know where you grew up, but i confess to being curious.
but if you grew up in the kind of sterile suburban fast food commodified metal building strip mall America that is such the norm where I live --- well, this is what white people mean when they claim they have no culture, that all the cool stuff belongs to someone else, lol. Although I think American stuff is so widespread that we stop seeing it; stop noticing that of course it's a culture. I mean, how did business suits get to be the normal dress of men worldwide? I know the answer, I think, and it's not a very nice answer. But we have a culture. It's just kind of mass produced and a lot of it is yucky.
Of course rejecting McDonald's and gimcrack is no excuse for being disrespectful and just shoplifting from other cultures.... *ponders*
Yeah, the "without context" thing is totally key, but it seems like you are aware of the context of the things you've fallen in love with along the way?
As far as asking about other cultures -- surely there are opportunities when those cultures want to introduce themselves? For example I noticed this weekend there's an American Indian festival where I live; the public invited. Or when I went to Taos and bought earrings to take home with me, I had a conversation with the jeweler. Or there's a very big and active German American Society where I live that does events. Scottish Games, too. Tiny things, but maybe they are there? Beginnings?
Thanks for the thinky. I worry about all these things myself.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-06-18 11:59 am (UTC)but if you grew up in the kind of sterile suburban fast food commodified metal building strip mall America that is such the norm where I live --- well, this is what white people mean when they claim they have no culture, that all the cool stuff belongs to someone else, lol. Although I think American stuff is so widespread that we stop seeing it; stop noticing that of course it's a culture. I mean, how did business suits get to be the normal dress of men worldwide? I know the answer, I think, and it's not a very nice answer. But we have a culture. It's just kind of mass produced and a lot of it is yucky.
Of course rejecting McDonald's and gimcrack is no excuse for being disrespectful and just shoplifting from other cultures.... *ponders*
Yeah, the "without context" thing is totally key, but it seems like you are aware of the context of the things you've fallen in love with along the way?
As far as asking about other cultures -- surely there are opportunities when those cultures want to introduce themselves? For example I noticed this weekend there's an American Indian festival where I live; the public invited. Or when I went to Taos and bought earrings to take home with me, I had a conversation with the jeweler. Or there's a very big and active German American Society where I live that does events. Scottish Games, too. Tiny things, but maybe they are there? Beginnings?
Thanks for the thinky. I worry about all these things myself.