The US isn’t a nation in the ethnic or cultural sense. It’s a federation of 50 semiautonomous states. There are also over 500 federally recognized native American nations in the US. The US isn’t one nation of people with one, single homogeneous culture.
Any time this debate comes up, nobody making a point for any side ever gives their definition of the word “culture.” I imagine it is one of those words where if you put three people in a room and asked them to define it, you would get five definitions of the word.
2nd video I’ve seen on here today about European girls asking questions on USA culture. Along with the question what do you think?
Feels a bit like a bait. Could be wrong.
The U.S.A has “a” culture the same way Europe has “a” culture or Southeast Asia has “a” culture.
Counterpoint: We made “truck nuts” our whole identity for a while.
No, “we” did not collectively do that. I, for one, never knew anyone who had that, and I was in a fraternity in Texas in the late 90s.
Confession: I didn’t watch the video. (willing to do so if there’s a great point, lurking)
The U.S.A has “a” culture the same way Europe has “a” culture or Southeast Asia has “a” culture.
That’s… a really BAD conflation right there, going all the way back to complete ignorance upon the founding of the USA (which is not flattering), but to compare it to Europe and S.E. Asia… WTF??
I think the implication they are making is that the US is a huge geographic region containing many different cultures… like Europe and SE Asia
yes, that was exactly my point.
Hmm… I daresay you’ve got a point, mssr.
Now what?
Yes, the US does not have its own culture.
It has 50 cultures. The different states are wildly different, though there are regional similarities.
They do. Unfortunately it’s the mouthy monolith that are the most seen and heard and therefore associated with American Culture. They overshadow so much good stuff.
At least
Blues
American culture is consumerism. Anything else has survived importation.
I guess I consider culture something that people live not consume. Jazz is just another consumer product. I’m thinking things like traditions everyone participates in together. Listening to Miles Davis on your Spotify playlist alone in your car doesn’t count as culture to me, but going to weekly trivia would.
You just call fucking Jazz a consumer product? ffs
Yeah, how many jazz musicians do you know? Compare that to Appalachian Bluegrass traditions where lots of people played and had regular dances. For sure there are places where jazz is an active part of the culture, like New Orleans, but for everyone else, it’s mostly consumed in isolation or background noise at brunch.
Bob Cranshaw, one of the most amazing bass players to ever exist. I really don’t like your interpretation of musical genres and their reasoning for existing. Admittedly I dont listen to Jazz that much but it is foundational to modern music the way I interpret music history. Music may be made to make money, yeah, but this is something that has been with us longer than civilization, written language, maybe even fire.
Yes. I’m not saying jazz isn’t amazing music or that music isn’t important for the soul, but when something shifts from active production in society to passive incidental consumption (brunch) or active solo consumption (passionate jazz fans), I don’t consider it culture anymore.
Before the phonograph, everyone played music in their homes, and people were performing publicly all over the place. It’s not just a criticism of America to say that the acceleration of the loss with the advent of MP3s, streaming, and DAWS is absolutely killing what makes music culture that brings people together and not just a product for consumption.
