Point taken. For anyone who has been abroad, it is painfully clear that sometimes we export the worst products of American culture, i.e. Reality TV, gangsta rap, etc. So, I would like to join the cause of culture preservation.
But two questions give me pause about it all. First, what exactly do we want to perserve? I mean, which aspects of our culture are worth saving? For instance, America has, to some degree, been identified as a nation of social progress. I am happy, however, for that tradition of social progress to extend through women's rights and civil rights but stop short of abortion and homosexual marriage.
Secondly, and more importantly, what is it that we want our culture to do for us? How should culture function within a society? Is culture a mirror- reflecting a perception of how things are, a crystal ball- picturing how things could be, or maybe something else??? Things are the lingering questions that haunt me.
For society in general, culture is entertainment or agenda; something quite ignoble and cheap. Can there be common ground? If so, what should be our common ground values?
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Point taken. For anyone who has been abroad, it is painfully clear that sometimes we export the worst products of American culture, i.e. Reality TV, gangsta rap, etc. So, I would like to join the cause of culture preservation.
But two questions give me pause about it all. First, what exactly do we want to perserve? I mean, which aspects of our culture are worth saving? For instance, America has, to some degree, been identified as a nation of social progress. I am happy, however, for that tradition of social progress to extend through women's rights and civil rights but stop short of abortion and homosexual marriage.
Secondly, and more importantly, what is it that we want our culture to do for us? How should culture function within a society? Is culture a mirror- reflecting a perception of how things are, a crystal ball- picturing how things could be, or maybe something else??? Things are the lingering questions that haunt me.
For society in general, culture is entertainment or agenda; something quite ignoble and cheap. Can there be common ground? If so, what should be our common ground values?
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