The Sadness of America

[Kevin Birmingham]

 Are you suggesting that a trip to WalMart and the associated shopping
> center can be a "cultural experience?"
>

This is a particularly lame argumentative swerve. So WalMart is now the
benchmark of American culture? Of all the countries I've been to, not a
single one has been lacking in plentiful shopping centers -- and this goes
for countries like Ecuador, Cambodia and quasi-communist Vietnam.

Yes, we can go ahead and eliminate the distinctions, but we run the risk of
> "there is no culture" or "all is culture." It's all equal.
>

Eliminating the artificial distinction between high and low culture doesn't
leave us with all or nothing. It means that we are to determine the value of
cultural products on a case-by-case basis instead of making foolish
generalizations.

I suppose it could be in "the way you view it," but that has some serious
> elitist implications, too.
>
> I stand partially corrected in that I did make a rather broad blanket
> statement about "authentic culture" but imo, a whole lot (not all - and
> that's what I implied) of American TV, movies, clothes and so on is tripe.
>

The pop culture of any country is hit or miss. The only substantial
distinction between American and European pop culture is that we probably
produce more of it -- both good and bad. And just so you know, Americans get
inundated with loads of Scandinavian pop music tripe year after year.

Bekah
>
>
> At 2:12 PM -0400 10/9/05, Kevin Birmingham 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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