Culture

It's sort of interesting to read about our culture because for a long time, I sort of wondered if we even had one. I'm so far removed from any of my 'ethnic roots' (i.e. German and English) that I don't identify with either of them and my family doesn't have any German or English traditions to speak of. There are so many groups of people that have such strong, blatant cultures that it's easy to see what ties them together as a people. America, however, is an enormous assortment of different people from all over the world, so it's difficult to tack down what our culture is, collectively speaking. But I digress...

Culture, I think, is everything a society does. What they produce, what they consume, what they wear, how they speak, who they worship, what they believe, etc. Much of the time I think we regard culture as fine art, classic literature and generally immortal things that are staples within that society. But it goes much further than that.

In America, our culture seems to be defined by consumption and fueled by the media which spoon feeds us information on what's happening, what we ought to be buying and how we ought to behave. We want things now, we want it fast and we want as much of it as humanly possible. It's the American dream, isn't it? People come from every square inch of the world to be a part of it. And when all this is shrink-wrapped and presented to the world, it shows them our values, as pitiful as they are: We want stuff, lots of it, and if you've got stuff we want, we'll find a way to get it. Our consumer culture has sort of pushed more important things like family values, health and respecting our own environment onto the back burner. We're very individualist here in the U.S. and there are ups and downs to that. Regardless, individuality (which can turn into selfishness sometimes) is one of the main attributes of our culture as well.

All said and done, I can't help but admire cultures around the world that don't exist simply for individual gain. Money and possessions are what drives us here in America, but as my Grand-dad once said regarding worldly possessions: "You can't take it with you."

How goes it?

Hi, I'm Carrie and welcome to my blog. I'm a Writing Specialization major and a Studio Art minor. I'm conflicted about politics, so we'll see how this whole thing pans out.

Please try and enjoy your stay... o_0

~Carrie