on 7/11/02 10:31 AM, Patrice L. Roussel at proussel@ichips.intel.com wrote:
When is this stupid cliche of America having no culture will stop? There is almost not a trend these days that does not originate there. And what can the old world do when most of its youth espouses uncritically anything coming out of the States?
It's a tough question when your chief cultural exports are movies in the Stallone style, food in the McDonald's style, and music in the Spears style. This is really a land of infinite variety. The variation on how to cook spare ribs alone are a subculture (no joke). But -- and I think this is the mark of a country who found its legs via industrialization and not art -- we tend to export stuff that either shows a profit or technological/military superiority. By the end of the 20th century, we were bringing as much to the world table of culture as anyone. The only cultural card we couldn't trump was the Beatles. But the cards we tended to show were not the ones that refelected the best of our culture. Just the best selling. That said, it's ignorant to dismiss a culture that can produce Stevie Wonder, William Faulkner, the Coen Brothers, the original Saturday Night Live, and Raymond Carver -- in sixty years. But I don't think the Europeans are ready to give it up just yet. skip h np: naftule brandwein -- king of the klezmer clarinet (rounder)