[NHB7]

Originally Posted by MMAfan007

Maybe I am in a bad mood, but I kind of hate it. The music is horrible now, the art is crap, our sports are filled steroid users, most of the people are stupid as fuck, the smart people are even worse for some reason, both political parties are garbage, TV sucks, the movies suck, the books suck and everything is crap. I am not comparing it to any other country, but our culture sucks.

What do you think? What do you hate or like?

No offense to you, but one thing I don't like about our culture is that so many people feel like you have to make a black and white decision about it. Is it great or is it crap? Its neither. Not every movie sucks, some suck, some aren't bad, some are great. Not every sports star is on steroids. Most people aren't stupid as fuck, most people are stupid as fuck about some things and smarter than the average person about other things.

Something I like about our culture is I wake up every day not having to fear I may starve to death and I have the freedom to say what I think about it.

Something I don't like about our culture is that while there are things I appreciate about individualism, we often miss the power of systems and their influence on us and thus we often miss the root of certain problems. Example, homelessness. And indvidualist culture says, "They are just lazy people" and blames the individual. I'm not saying there aren't lazy people that are homeless, but it is missing a bigger picture if we just site laziness as the cause of homelessness. One can see that as the economy changes the percent of those homeless either increases or decreases. Is that their laziness increasing and decreasing, or is there a bigger force at work?

One other thing I don't like about our culture is that all too often people of opposite polictical parties HATE each other, rather than realizing we all want good for the country, we just believe its done in different ways. I'm a liberal and I want the best future for every child in this nation, even the children of neo conservatives. And I know that my republican neighbor thinks I'm dumb as shit for my beliefs, but I also know that like me he wants the best future for every child in this nation and I can respect him for that. We need to start realizing we are all on the same team with different ideas and different ideas when considered lead to the best solutions. The best way to conquer a nation is to divide it, we need to stop dividing ourselves.

Anyway, I'm glad as heck I'm an American. I feel very fortunate.

[DaRuckus337]

Originally Posted by MMAfan007

Maybe I am in a bad mood, but I kind of hate it. The music is horrible now, the art is crap, our sports are filled steroid users, most of the people are stupid as fuck, the smart people are even worse for some reason, both political parties are garbage, TV sucks, the movies suck, the books suck and everything is crap. I am not comparing it to any other country, but our culture sucks.

What do you think? What do you hate or like?

Don't blame America for your teenage angst and your inability to see the beauty in the many amazing things around you. Maybe if you dropped the smug, pseudo-depressed act and actually invested yourself in something you wouldn't be so down on everything. The problem here is pretty clearly a personal one, not a global/cultural one. If you have nothing in your life that is rewarding or engrossing, the world can seem like a very drab and uninteresting place. It's up to you to find meaning in life, and usually, that meaning is defined by the things you do, the life you choose to lead, and the issues/pastimes you decide to become passionate about. Expecting the wonders of the world to come knocking on your door or expecting someone to hold your hand through this process of self-definition is pretty absurd, and brings us to the REAL problem with many Western cultures these days: the self-absorbed sense of entitlement a misguided and disconnected youth feels as a result of spending too much time on their asses watching tv and playing on the internet.

You strike me as a very 'goalless' person right now, and when you have nothing to work towards and no positive efforts to take pride in, it's pretty easy to get depressed and point your finger at everything around you. Culture, as it pertains to sports, music, art, tv, and film, really isn't there to provide deep meaning and life-altering epiphanies on a regular basis. It's cheap diversion and entertainment first and foremost, and for many of us, that's all we want from it. It's the things we do and the small aspects of culture we personally decide to dive into and invest ourselves in that ultimately defines our lives. So go find something to care about or some goal to accomplish, and maybe you'll just snap out of this funk you're in.

Now, you can either take this as an insult or as a pep-talk. The choice is yours. But if I were you, I would take this as a wake-up call to stop deferring to the world and people around you when it comes to finding meaning in your own life. I would take this as a reminder that you usually get what you give, and if you aren't giving life much effort, then you probably aren't going to get much out of life in return. You might be surprised how quickly the appearance of things change when you start assigning goals and making efforts to achieve them.

[Depth]

American culture is great if you dig a little deeper and search out things of interest, instead of having the media force feed you everything.

Movies: there is a lot of shit, but some good flicks come out also, most recently There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Ironman, the Dark Knight, Wall-E and a ton of indie films that I have not been keeping up with.

Music: depends what you like, the mainstream stuff is shit, but there is good underground ****l, rock, hip-hop, etc, out there. Getting XM or Sirius is a great way to discover new music in your favorite genre.

Books/comics/graphic novel: many great books/comics/ graphic novels have been written and drawn in recent years: The Road, Y the Last Man, The Pride of Baghdad, a few good Marvel comics, etc., etc

Tech and science: We have many companies like Apple, eBay, Google, Facebook, MySpace, Paypal, Microsoft, Cisco that have transformed our lives and our culture, along with the worlds, and continue to do so.

Art: We are in the modern era, almost all art has been shit for decades with a few exceptions.

[mofoj0e]

Originally Posted by DaRuckus337

Don't blame America for your teenage angst and your inability to see the beauty in the many amazing things around you. Maybe if you dropped the smug, pseudo-depressed act and actually invested yourself in something you wouldn't be so down on everything. The problem here is pretty clearly a personal one, not a global/cultural one. If you have nothing in your life that is rewarding or engrossing, the world can seem like a very drab and uninteresting place. It's up to you to find meaning in life, and usually, that meaning is defined by the things you do, the life you choose to lead, and the issues/pastimes you decide to become passionate about. Expecting the wonders of the world to come knocking on your door or expecting someone to hold your hand through this process of self-definition is pretty absurd, and brings us to the REAL problem with many Western cultures these days: the self-absorbed sense of entitlement a misguided and disconnected youth feels as a result of spending too much time on their asses watching tv and playing on the internet.

You strike me as a very 'goalless' person right now, and when you have nothing to work towards and no positive efforts to take pride in, it's pretty easy to get depressed and point your finger at everything around you. Culture, as it pertains to sports, music, art, tv, and film, really isn't there to provide deep meaning and life-altering epiphanies on a regular basis. It's cheap diversion and entertainment first and foremost, and for many of us, that's all we want from it. It's the things we do and the small aspects of culture we personally decide to dive into and invest ourselves in that ultimately defines our lives. So go find something to care about or some goal to accomplish, and maybe you'll just snap out of this funk you're in.

Now, you can either take this as an insult or as a pep-talk. The choice is yours. But if I were you, I would take this as a wake-up call to stop deferring to the world and people around you when it comes to finding meaning in your own life. I would take this as a reminder that you usually get what you give, and if you aren't giving life much effort, then you probably aren't going to get much out of life in return. You might be surprised how quickly the appearance of things change when you start assigning goals and making efforts to achieve them.

Good post and so true.

[BriMMAPiKA]

Rampage calm down buddy we know you didn't lose

[viruswitshoes]

i don't agree with the movies part.

2007 was an amazing year for quality movies and 2008 has been ok.

[Iceberg Slim]

Money makes the world go around and if you can make shit that appeals to the masses, and make it easy to get, you will make a ton of money.

The problem is...Mass produced for the Masses = Garbage

But, as several posters have pointed out, there is still good shit out there. you just have to dig a little deeper to find it.

[Iceberg Slim]

Originally Posted by NHB7

Something I like about our culture is I wake up every day not having to fear I may starve to death and I have the freedom to say what I think about it.

That has nothing to do with our culture, neither did anything else in your post really. It was very patriotic though.

[White_Roach]

America has probably the most diverse culture in the world, so it's hard to really define it in one way.

[plasterdog]

I only read the first page of this thread so I'm sure someone has already said this, but if not,

have you considered moving ?