Talking about culture

[Feathers268]

There is a lot of talk around here about learning and embracing Chinese culture. This is rightly so. I'm happy to learn about the place my wife is from. In turn, our own culture is quickly bagged. More often than not, I've read here that American culture is really the lack of any culture. That is absoloutly not true. We take the good from other cultures, adopt it, and make it our own.

We have value here in America. If not, why are we bringing loved ones here rather than moving to China? Why is it that American movies and TV is seen globally? So, let's hear it. What is American? Our loved ones deserve to know about where we come from and how we became who we are.

Also, keep in mind, unless I am mistaken, someone can come to the United States and in time become an American citizen. Could I go to China and become a Chinese citizen? Or would I always be a forienor?

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

I agree, but only in part. I think it would be very difficult to describe the American culture in this day and age. Far too many variables and differences of opinion.

Edited October 15, 2007 by ShaQuaNew (see edit history)

[jim_julian]

I agree, but only in part. I think it would be very difficult to describe the American culture in this day and age. Far too many variables and differences of opinion.

 

 

That's an excellent point and I would submit that it's becoming (is?) equally valid when looking at Chinese culture. One only has to look at the differences between rural China and urban China or the regional differences. Beijing vs Guangzhou is probably as different as Boston vs Atlanta.

 

While some generalization about Chinese and American cultures is useful we should not lose sight of the variations within the culture as well as the specific nature of the individuals interacting.

Edited October 15, 2007 by jim_julian (see edit history)

[griz326]

>>>Also, keep in mind, unless I am mistaken, someone can come to the United States and in time become an American citizen.

 

I'd be willing to bet some of my old country Irish family and old country Italian neighbors would disagree with you if they were still living. However, they would never have denied the great opportunities this country made possible for their American children.

 

>>>I've read here that American culture is really the lack of any culture. That is absoloutly not true. We take the good from other cultures, adopt it, and make it our own.

 

IMO people generally think of culture as being something unique, enduring and endearing about a place and its people. As a nation, America is too young to have developed something enduring AND endearing. Our nation embraces opportunity, innovation and rapidly evolving change; which is counter to what most people think of as culture.

[Dennis143]

American culture...

 

Music:

Blues

Rock ('n Roll)

Jazz

Country and Western

All of these derived and evolved from Negro spirituals.

 

Sports...

Baseball

Football

Skateboarding

Snowboarding

Basketball

and others

All of these began or evolved in the good ole USA

 

Fashion...

Movies...

and on and on and on...

 

Our culture is multi-faceted and rich. From the playing field to the art of the deal, American Culture has touched and influenced more people around the world than any country at any time anywhere. Right or wrong, good or bad, many countries try disparately to cling to their customs and traditions while continuing to be invaded by ours.

[shaffej7070]

American culture...

 

Music:

Blues

Rock ('n Roll)

Jazz

Country and Western

All of these derived and evolved from Negro spirituals.

 

Sports...

Baseball

Football

Skateboarding

Snowboarding

Basketball

and others

All of these began or evolved in the good ole USA

 

Fashion...

Movies...

and on and on and on...

 

Our culture is multi-faceted and rich. From the playing field to the art of the deal, American Culture has touched and influenced more people around the world than any country at any time anywhere. Right or wrong, good or bad, many countries try disparately to cling to their customs and traditions while continuing to be invaded by ours.

 

What about food?

 

Hot Dogs

Hamburgers

Pizza

Tacos

Chili

guvment cheese

Fortune Cookie

Chop Suey

General Tzo's Chicken

Freedom Fries

Freedom Toast

Deep-fried Oreos

Deep-fried White Castles

Deep-Fried Twinkies

...and much, much more

 

I also created a sandwich for a local restaurant that sells on the average of 4,000 dollars a month. It's called the "Cajun Dutchman." A triple decker on pumpernickel, with Gouda cheese, bacon, ham, roast beef and my special Cajun mayonnaise. Yum Yum!

[Feathers268]

I agree, but only in part. I think it would be very difficult to describe the American culture in this day and age. Far too many variables and differences of opinion.

 

 

That's an excellent point and I would submit that it's becoming (is?) equally valid when looking at Chinese culture. One only has to look at the differences between rural China and urban China or the regional differences. Beijing vs Guangzhou is probably as different as Boston vs Atlanta.

 

While some generalization about Chinese and American cultures is useful we should not lose sight of the variations within the culture as well as the specific nature of the individuals interacting.

This is the place to look at the general picture. The question is, what is American? During the cold war, the Soviets remarked about "Dallas" as a window into our culture. True image? No. But it does show some of our culture.

Perhaps the biggest atrubute, is the aparent lack of any culture which you can say is from our tollerance of all cultures. Now before any spouts off, yes, some do not take to this here, but that is true anywhere you go.

You can go to a Spring Festival event in Chinatown and another day, celebrate St.Patricks day or Cinco de Mayo.

[griz326]

American culture...

 

Music:

Blues

Rock ('n Roll)

Jazz

Country and Western

All of these derived and evolved from Negro spirituals.

 

Sports...

Baseball

Football

Skateboarding

Snowboarding

Basketball

and others

All of these began or evolved in the good ole USA

 

Fashion...

Movies...

and on and on and on...

 

Our culture is multi-faceted and rich. From the playing field to the art of the deal, American Culture has touched and influenced more people around the world than any country at any time anywhere. Right or wrong, good or bad, many countries try disparately to cling to their customs and traditions while continuing to be invaded by ours.

 

What about food?

 

Hot Dogs

Hamburgers

Pizza

Tacos

Chili

guvment cheese

Fortune Cookie

Chop Suey

General Tzo's Chicken

Freedom Fries

Freedom Toast

Deep-fried Oreos

Deep-fried White Castles

Deep-Fried Twinkies

...and much, much more

 

I also created a sandwich for a local restaurant that sells on the average of 4,000 dollars a month. It's called the "Cajun Dutchman." A triple decker on pumpernickel, with Gouda cheese, bacon, ham, roast beef and my special Cajun mayonnaise. Yum Yum!

 

 

 

...and just because someone in the US conceived the idea does not make it culture; wackos putting cheese on their head and painting their beer bellies does not necessarily constitute culture.

 

Do you really believe that deep-fried twinkies are a cultural asset?

 

It seems to me that you use the term culture quite loosely...especially when it comes to the enduring part. Let's look at the list again in a hundred years...then maybe we'll be talking cultural assets.

 

I would concede that baseball has become an American sport even though it was conceived in Britain in the mid-1700's. Football is not an American invention it has been around thousands of years - the first references to the game were around 500 BC; it is the spectical that is the American invention. Skateboarding & snowboarding are culture?

 

The music forms may become cultural assets, but the forms mentioned must be associated with a sub-group of Americans; not American culture at large. Time may change that.

 

Oh...one more thing...the asset part is important. Do you really want to consider "drive-by shootings" part of American culture?

[shaffej7070]

American culture...

 

Music:

Blues

Rock ('n Roll)

Jazz

Country and Western

All of these derived and evolved from Negro spirituals.

 

Sports...

Baseball

Football

Skateboarding

Snowboarding

Basketball

and others

All of these began or evolved in the good ole USA

 

Fashion...

Movies...

and on and on and on...

 

Our culture is multi-faceted and rich. From the playing field to the art of the deal, American Culture has touched and influenced more people around the world than any country at any time anywhere. Right or wrong, good or bad, many countries try disparately to cling to their customs and traditions while continuing to be invaded by ours.

 

What about food?

 

Hot Dogs

Hamburgers

Pizza

Tacos

Chili

guvment cheese

Fortune Cookie

Chop Suey

General Tzo's Chicken

Freedom Fries

Freedom Toast

Deep-fried Oreos

Deep-fried White Castles

Deep-Fried Twinkies

...and much, much more

 

I also created a sandwich for a local restaurant that sells on the average of 4,000 dollars a month. It's called the "Cajun Dutchman." A triple decker on pumpernickel, with Gouda cheese, bacon, ham, roast beef and my special Cajun mayonnaise. Yum Yum!

 

 

 

...and just because someone in the US conceived the idea does not make it culture; wackos putting cheese on their head and painting their beer bellies does not necessarily constitute culture.

 

Do you really believe that deep-fried twinkies are a cultural asset?

 

It seems to me that you use the term culture quite loosely...especially when it comes to the enduring part. Let's look at the list again in a hundred years...then maybe we'll be talking cultural assets.

 

I would concede that baseball has become an American sport even though it was conceived in Britain in the mid-1700's. Football is not an American invention it has been around thousands of years - the first references to the game were around 500 BC; it is the spectical that is the American invention. Skateboarding & snowboarding are culture?

 

The music forms may become cultural assets, but the forms mentioned must be associated with a sub-group of Americans; not American culture at large. Time may change that.

 

Oh...one more thing...the asset part is important. Do you really want to consider "drive-by shootings" part of American culture?

 

 

My post was tongue-in-cheek. It was designed to be a light-hearted post and not to be taken seriously. Geez, why can't people just lighten up!

[Don]

[quote

 

My post was tongue-in-cheek. It was designed to be a light-hearted post and not to be taken seriously. Geez, why can't people just lighten up!

 

 

 

No time to lighten up, got to clean my gun, i was just driving on the LA freeways.

[shaffej7070]

[quote

 

My post was tongue-in-cheek. It was designed to be a light-hearted post and not to be taken seriously. Geez, why can't people just lighten up!

 

 

 

No time to lighten up, got to clean my gun, i was just driving on the LA freeways.

 

 

That's more like it.

[esun41]

Being an American can mean so many things. It's a blend of all races and cultures from around this world of ours. My daughter, Lulu, considers herself Chinese-American even though she's only lived her less than two short years. My son, Jack, is very devoted to an English speaking Southern Baptist Church. Prior to coming here (USA) he had no religious faith to speak of. He listens to Christian music in his car and plays keyboards in the church band. My wife is a little different but is warming up to the idea of America. Her agenda in coming here has completely changed and that's a good thing in my eyes. Change will always happen and I feel that is what's so great about being American... we're always changing!

[Don]

Being an American can mean so many things. It's a blend of all races and cultures from around this world of ours. My daughter, Lulu, considers herself Chinese-American even though she's only lived her less than two short years. My son, Jack, is very devoted to an English speaking Southern Baptist Church. Prior to coming here (USA) he had no religious faith to speak of. He listens to Christian music in his car and plays keyboards in the church band. My wife is a little different but is warming up to the idea of America. Her agenda in coming here has completely changed and that's a good thing in my eyes. Change will always happen and I feel that is what's so great about being American... we're always changing!

 

 

 

In the US we take things from all over (just like our people) and mix them all together. Some items rise to the top and others sink away. Our country is built from a blend of many cultures, mostly from England, but some of each. Like Jewish people eating Chinese on Christmas day (what a combination). Some times we take bad and other times we take good, but it is still a blend. Now we do not have 6,000 years to create so many unique items, but with our 200 years we have a few unique items.

 

Americans are very different than many other cultures. we have often been made from people that did not want to live in their old place of residence. so many of our common cultures come from this desire to do things differently than the ones left behind or to live our life with out interference. Many americans do not really like each other. We tend to spend much more time alone or in small groups. Look at our cities, there are often poor and ran down. Most americans do not want to live in city. We live in suburbs or country. We do not like our neighbors to be too close. We like a little space Asians come here and do not see nice cities and think why do americans love live in such dirt or bad conditions. Many do not see how we really live. Plus, we tend to spend a lot of our time working or home with our families or running errands. We like our life programed and structured especially for kids. Even our time to kick back it when a game is on or some other event to watch. We do not really socialize in large groups. We spend a lot of time in general watching TV(not all of us, but a significant number).

 

In Asia cities have the good schools have the shops and resturants. In the US we find better outside the cities. Many things are different.

 

We take many things and blend them to create something new and sometimes it is better.

[Feathers268]

Do you really believe that deep-fried twinkies are a cultural asset?

Deep fried maybe not, but Twinkies, Yes.

Football might have roots dating back for centuries, but as it looks today, is stricktly American.

A common theme is bringing things from other cultures and making it our own. This is a fundimental part of what make us who we are. Also, the largest part in my opinion is the relenting desire for freedom.

Yes America is 230 years old, but the pieces that bring out who we are have been a part of European culture for centuries. So our culture does run just as deep as as any other on the planet.

And no drive-bys might not be part of our culture, but reporting about them without sweeping the ugly side under the rug is.

[Jeikun]

I agree with feathers here. The culture we brought with us from our countries of origen (mostly Europe) are PART of American culture. Out culture didn't begin when the Declaration of Independance was signed, just like my family didn't materialize out of the ground at that time.

 

As a matter of fact, my mothers side of the family came over in the 1680's so 200 years is a little lean of an estimate. Does a culture begin to form when a government is formed? When people become geographically seperated? Where does one end and another begin when it is a matter of inheritance?

 

Now I can understand if you were asking what is UNIQUELY American... that may be a short list indeed because most of what is considered traditional culture are things hundreds of years old, and we just haven't been around that long... but it doesn't mean we are culturally void. Our traditions and art literature music legal system, etc have roots going back thousands of years through Europe and back into ancient Rome, and also from other continents as well.

 

China is China and has been China for thousands of years, and remained pretty much under the control of the same peoples and their cultural traditions are a straight line.

 

Western Europeans began with their own primative cultures, had another forced on them by the Romans and incorperated it into a new whole, with some things being shared in common and many differing based on national and geographical boundaries... then many immigrated to and eventually founded this country. The culture they brought with them is ours because we are them.

 

I find it strange when it seems as if someone is spitting when they say "American Culture". Our country has produced many great writers, poets, artists, and composers. It's not all Britney Spears, Hot Dogs, and Survivor. When I watched a Christmas parade or 4th of july fireworks as a child, and through adulthood I consider this "American" did we invent fireworks? no. Did we invent Christmas? no. But it is OUR tradition and culture and bonds us together and has endured many generations, and if you ask me that equals a cultural tradition.

 

The examples are there if you look for them... the problem is most Americans don;t give a rip and are content to not pay attention in American Lit, opt out of Art and Music, and promptly begin the tradition of watching crap TV and eating bacon cheeseburgers. I dare say many people on this site even know more about Chinese culture than their own.

 

*edit* It's not my intention to snub the contributions of other cultures to the US - most notably those our ancestors brought over as slaves, but for simplicity sake I limited it to a single thread.

Edited October 17, 2007 by Jeikun (see edit history)