Ask Your Question today
I think American culture is terrible. Fast food, stupid entertainment, TV culture, mindlessness, ads, buying useless things...
The thing I hate most is that they export their shitty stuff to other people. Now everyone is getting fat, lazy and dumb thanks to America.
First off, you're making a massive generalization of American culture. I'd go so far as to compare it to saying that all black people are thug gangsters because the majority of popular rappers are black.
The USA is a *MASSIVE* country and there are so many cultures within our country that vary region by region, it's absolutely insane. Hell, I live in California and the culture in hippie, vegan Encinitas is VASTLY different from the Liberal Republican culture of San Diego, which is the home of one of our largest military bases.
The generally liberal culture of California is vastly different from the conservative, tradition, home-cooked meals and a Bible passage before bed-time culture of Birmingham Alabama (when I lived there) which was slightly different than the more laid-back country culture of Asheville, North Carolina.
Our individual problems as a country do not define our culture. The "low-quality" media (I'm not even going to mention the world-famous high-quality media we have produced) isn't a problem exclusive to the US and each individual country needs to be held responsible for their own problems.
Some of the best music, film and television I've ever heard / seen has come from America, and so has some of the worst. You have to take the good with the bad, unfortunately.
As for other aspects of the culture, having not ever been to the US, I've only got a superficial idea based upon the media and the internet. It seems like any country to me - again, there are good aspects and not so good aspects.
I think you're being a bit unfair.
America has the third highest number of three Michelin star restaurants in the world (beaten only by Japan and France). Admittedly it also has the highest number of fast food restaurants (and the tactics of those restaurants are often appalling and evil), but it's not like there are no alternatives.
I could list never-ending examples of good entertainment to come out of America. Just because some TV and music and film appeals to the "lowest common denominator" (urgh, I hate using that phrase. It's so elitist and patronisng to call someone "low" just because they like a certain kind of entertainment.), doesn't mean it's all rubbish.
The US has the 19th highest IQ of any country, which might not sound that high but you do beat most other countries. I mean, look at poor old Equatorial Guinea; it's only got half the average IQ America has (although yeah, I know IQ is an imperfect measure based around culture-specific ideas of intelligence which do not necessarily transfer to non-Western cultures :P).
I'm afraid I can't say anything much about consumerism, only that it could be much worse and that it's evolved largely independently of the US in pretty much every wealthy country. It's a problem in America, but it isn't an American problem and the US isn't responsible for it in other countries. I'm British, and in the same way Americans need to be responsible for their own consumerism we need to take responsibility for ours.
Why don't you use your enlightenment to work toward solving these problems?
I honestly think that's a common misconception. If you can name one modern example the US having any meaningful control over the UK (discounting wars, but even then I'd dispute you) go ahead, but I think you'll find it difficult. All the economic co-operation we have is mutually beneficial - if we're going to keep having an oral sex analogy it's more like 69ing :P
We're not all like the people you have described, but you probably wouldn't know that, because you've probably never been here. There's good and bad in every culture, so maybe you need to open your eyes, or just look the other way, if it is so repulsive to you.
-A traveling American who is neither fat, nor lazy and doesn't eat fast food.
i know alot about america then my own country , GOD BLESS AMERICA FOR CREATING HARLEY DAVIDSONS N BUELLS....
If you produce as much stuff as the US does, it becomes easy to pick out a few pieces of trash in the mix. That's just how it works. The US is based on capitalist ideals so if you ignore and boycott the things you don't like, hopefully they'll go away.
Well if you don't like it, don't watch/eat/interact with Americans.
It isn't like your being force-fed on Americanism.
Greetings from a Non American.
An average American in my opinion has extreme self confidence and like himself more than everybody else. Most of the recent American movies are very low in quality in the sense I feel like I watched the same movie 1000 times. They also have good things.
I'm American and I'm just disgusted as you with everything you've mentioned. It's what has been pushed on us, what we've been fed. Not everybody is a blind sheep just following the herd.
So many Americans are naive, shallow, and superficial. I wish we could go to the old days when people actually CARED about things and were ready to innovate and be American. American ingenuity and American enterprise/creative thinking is what drove the greatness of our nation. That and the free market system. Oh, and I think we worry way to much about other countries. Let's stop being the policeman for the rest of the world- we have enough issues at home already!
I don't hate it but I don't like it either. I however hate the hype it gets, especially when people wear that stupid clothes with American flag on it and they're not even American or interested in their "culure".
America has also brought to you amazing filmmakers like: Joel & Ethan Cohen, PT Anderson, Orson Welles, David Fincher, Terrence Malick, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarentino, Woody Allen, David Lynch, Charlie Kaufman, etc.
As for TV entertainment: The Wire, American Horror Story, Star Trek, South Park, Twin Peaks, Diners Drive-ins and Dives(also showing you American cuisine isn't shit), Battlestar Galactica, Penn & Teller: Bullshit, No Reservations, Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Daily Show, The colbert Report, etc.
The American Culture has produced many great things in the field of screen entertainment.
"The American Culture has produced many great things in the field of screen entertainment." Definitely agree with that...
I don't think much of your television list contains programs that are particularly popular or successful outside of the US though. I mean 'Diners Drive-ins and Dives', 'Bill Nye the Science Guy', 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' mean virtually nothing to the average non-American.
Agree with you about The Wire, Star Trek, South Park and Twin Peaks though. Also Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Simpsons, E.R., Mad Men, Homeland, C.S.I., Game Of Thrones, Friends, Malcolm In The Middle, The X.Files, The Sopranos, 24, House and Scrubs have all done very well internationally.
Ha you know I was genuinely tempted to include Buffy, but I'm not sure how big it was here in Britain.
I really liked it, used to watch it in the evenings after school, but I don't remember talking about it to other kids or noticing a big following. I just thought I'd play it safe in case I was the only one in Britain watching the beautiful Sarah Michelle Gellar vanquish leather-jacket-wearing, graveyard dwelling vamps with a stake.