The Sadness of America

[John Doe]

I agree with the retort by Kevin; this kind of talk
about America as "inauthentic" reeks of that ridiculus
book by Baudrillard where he goes around "seeing"
America from his little hotel window, making
pronouncements, in keeping with his moronic and trendy
Critical Theory, that America has no real identity (
whatever the fuck that means! ), and that "Disneyland
is MORE real than real life in America" ( again,
whatever the fuck that means )...I mean, like the rest
of the world DOESN'T have it's Emblems, Icons,
Spectacles, etc. that distill aspects of the "culture"
at any given time...What the fuck is the Eiffel Tower
if not a colossal Prop? Baudrillard should have gone
out and grabbed a bystander by the lapels and
sincerely inquired about what she or he ACTAULLY felt
about McDonalds, Disneyland, The Six Million Dollar
Man, etc. as comapared to oh say WWII, euthanasia,
cancer, etc....

--- Kevin Birmingham <donnydrastic at gmail.com> wrote:

> >
> >
> > The US doesn't have any kind of authentic culture
> to preserve or
> > export (unless you count TV and rock and roll and
> movies and plastic
> > things and blue jeans). Culture is Disneyland and
> travel is about
> > gift shops. Only San Francisco, Boston and New
> York have their own
> > urban ambiance. There are some historical sites
> and the rest is
> > commercialized hype.
> 
> 
> I really can't believe that anyone who enjoys
> Pynchon -- a writer constantly
> trying to break down the bogus distinction between
> "high" and "low" culture
> -- would actually say this. So music, film, TV and
> clothing don't count as
> "authentic culture"? Tell us, then, what does? Is
> culture something that
> takes place inside stone buildings? Something
> sanctioned by the French
> academy? You'd find that there are several places in
> the US with "urban
> ambiance" if, perhaps, you stopped looking around
> for "historical sites."
> 



	
		
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