What Happened to Muh Culture?
How does one define the culture of the 2010s in America? It’s not easy. Was there unique music or clothing or media that defined the decade. If you mention the 90’s, 70’s or 50’s there is immediately a nostalgic feeling accompanied by memories of clothing styles, music groups and historical events that we associate with that period of time. This is becoming more difficult to do. How do you describe a 2000s themed party? What do you dress like? These questions have been asked repeatedly in casual conversation as people find it perplexing to pin down American culture in recent decades. What happened to our rich culture?
Many will argue and say this is the generation of the internet and social media, THAT is our culture. But these innovations are not exclusive to the United States. This could be compared to the industrial revolution that spurred technological growth across the world, not specifically in one country. Some will say this is the post 9/11 era or the age following the Great Financial Crisis. Although once again, these are global issues. Can we truly include geopolitical events and economics in the definition of culture? Perhaps the societal response to these events can be categorized as cultural behaviors. But it feels so forced. True culture must come about naturally and be curated by the generations that inhabit the society at that particular time. Is our culture today just mass media fed bullshit that we are all succumb to? Is it because we are told directly what is hip, fashionable and “the next thing” via our pocket computers? Have we truly become a country of mindless zombies who follow the latest consumerist trend that’s shoveled down our throats? Is that REALLY our culture?
Personally, I don’t believe that this is the philosophy of most Americans. I don’t believe pop music is actually popular. I don’t believe Hollywood blockbusters are driving cinematic discussions. I don’t think for one second that talk shows and light night TV represents the notion of the American mind. Some people may be encapsulated in this force-fed culture. They may be blind to the propagandist nature. They may purchase every single item or service that the algorithms suggest to them. They might even be happy to do all of this, and even brag about how up to date and trendy they are (Bougee if you will). While these people do in fact exist, trust me I know them, do they really capture the essence of American culture? Individuals in other countries will probably say absolutely because America’s biggest export is in fact media. This “mainstream media” represents how the world sees us. But that isn’t us.
America is liberty and independence. America is about being different and refusing to conform. Our culture is defined by the diversity of people who inhabit this unique land. Our society and standard of living varies extraneously throughout the country. We have urban, suburban, and rural lifestyles that all provide different upbringings. We have religious fanatics and secular agnostics. Rednecks and hippies. rockers and ravers. Dog people and cat people. You can find every niche and subgroup that you could possibly imagine.
This is why it’s so difficult to pinpoint the culture of America. It is impossible to take a society of 300 million diverse people and determine a fixed attitude for an entire decade. Our culture is not dwindling, it is expanding. As more avenues of communication come about, we further distance ourselves from the generations with 5 TV channels. American culture is richer than ever, however, it is our edifying differences and disparities that make up the society we live in. Individuality IS our superior culture; it just makes for a poor party theme.