this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Something can have historical significance and also be rampantly commercialized at the same time. These are not mutually exclusive things.
Imagine yourself as a historian from a 1000 years from now. When you look back at the coca cola bottles, the Walmart signs, the oversized trucks all unearthed from the forgotten sands of time, you won't see it and say 'there is no culture or historical significance to be found here'. Instead, you will contemplate on what crises this century was going through that turned so many to overconsumption and yet still feel dead on the inside.
Your so called 'lack of culture' in holidays that are filled with superficial excuses from corporations to spend is history and culture in the making. This isn't an assessment on whether this is good or bad, this is history regardless of what you may think of it. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you realize that maybe Americans are not the homogeneous entity you thought it was. Maybe when you look beyond the glamorous decorations and lavish spending, you will see there are families struggling to feed their 5 five kids and yet still do their best to bring the holiday spirit to the table.
I'm not an American, so I don't have any stakes in this. I've lived in 5 countries, USA included, and I'm tired of people abroad complaining about the lack of culture in the US while gleefully importing American movies, music, franchises, movies, holidays, spending habits, slangs, etc. You can't have it both ways. Either the US doesn't have culture, or it does and it's being exported. Pick one.
That’s the most odd thing anyone said about culture and history of civilization. Events should be fun, it should let future generations learn, it should become better and should bring new ideas.
The American culture gives nothing fun, there’s no generation learning because they block it, it doesn’t become better because things like concerts cost $200 or a walk to the park cost federal money to enter. Zero ideas instead they are killing all ideas including their own like Rock and Roll.
When people say America has no culture, it absolutely does mean they don’t have culture.