Please check out Culturist John's blog......
I think his information on culturism VERSUS multiculturalism (I'm starting to 'get' what he means by culturism and this will help you, too, if you were as slow on the uptake as I've been!!) is SO important on many levels that I wanted to link you to that.
We are the ONLY country (other than England, I'd have to throw in, although I'm not sure John would agree?) which doesn't promote our culture....anymore.
Please check that out and tell me why you don't think we do anymore, I'd really like to hear your thoughts. And it might help us figure out how we can change that. Because we HAVE TO, folks. John will show you why it's so important.
Thanks.....I think you'll enjoy the link.
Oh. And buy his book. It's a very good one.
z
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31 comments:
That was a great interview, wasn't it, Z?
Why don't we promote American culture anymore? Maybe because we don't know what American culture is.
Pinkster; I knew you'd like it..it is very good and I'm glad you took the time, honey.
I'm going to issue a challenge here:
WHAT IS OUR AMERICAN CULTURE?
Give me examples. I'd love to hear some, folks...maybe John will chime in? JOHN?????????!!
When I think of our American culture, I think of the original colonists. I guess some people will think of their ancestors.
Some more recent examples might be:
jazz music (Ducky, don't argue with me on that, please. It is an original American art form. I will hurt you if you say it isn't.)
American food? California cuisine?
I'm at a loss.
American artists (too many to name!)
I'm still working on that book. My kids tend to limit my reading time with, "Hey, Mommy...."
Z-loved the interview---will purchase the book---
The first step for us in the US is to get our TRUE history back-
Some suggestions ...
_Rewriting of America's History_ Millard
_The Light and the Glory _& _From Sea to Shining Sea_ Marshall and Manuel
_the McGuffey Readers_
_The New England Primer_
The above were helpful while I was homeschooling my off-spring...
American culture consists of, or used to, rugged individualists, hard working, productive, self reliant citizens. A Judeo Christian foundation is what we lived by, and we took great pride in America.
We valued freedom, and independence from government. We disdained worship of the state, and preferred worship of God.
We for the most part, minded our own business, but would help a neighbor in need.
We took care of our own, and our own problems and took pride in doing so. We believed in honor.
The American family has been the foundation that kept order and has been the nucleus of our country.
We believed in "We the People", and knew that success or failure rested on our own shoulders.
We celebrate our country on a uniquely American holiday, Thanksgiving. We celebrate our uniqueness on Independence Day.
We love America, or most of us do.
Yesterday the man the majority of Americans elected to be our next President, said this: "we must make a clean break with our past".
I say "why"?
And this is why all of the above I mentioned is written in past tense, or with a doubtful cast. There was an American culture. Today, I'm not so sure what that is.
Pris
Hey all,
Thanks to Z for the post and nice comments. I'm so very glad to get home and see it. As a perk to geeeZ readers, if you'd read culturism, email me for a complementary copy.
Pinky, yes, we no longer promote Western or American culture. Multiculturalism is our official dogma. It overtly states that we have no core culture to promote.
Z, since you raise the question . . . America is on the forefront of western culture. Western culture believes in free speech, the relative separation of church and state, individualism, women's rights and democracy. Calling these the centers of American culture is now counter-intuitive because globalism and "human rights" talk have made us think they are universal. They are not. They are western; check history and the globe.
Christian soldier, referencing McGuffey Readers means you recognize the next step. McGuffey readers were school books that everyone read in the 19th century. These books told moral tales that always involved responsibility for America. These readers taught students that the western vision is fragile and so we must maintain a culturist sensibility. That is, if we are to continue to enjoy the freedoms America offers, we must not abuse them.
Pris, I somewhat agree. Culturism must balance out individualism. Culturism teaches that rights come from a culture that believes in them and can afford them. So if the Supreme Court does not ask if individual rights are sustainable, if they allow them to be used to protect all anti-social behavior, then individualism can undermine our culture. If our decisions do not take the sustainability of the culture into account, we will lose rights and individualism.
A whole chapter of culturism describes western and American culture. It includes the holidays Prim mentions and Jazz! It includes western heritage and heroes as well as moral assumptions. People who now question if the West has a culture must be reminded of Socrates and Jesus, Rome and the Dark Ages, the Protestant reformation and the Enlightenment. Athens and Jerusalem, long western struggle, not barbarism and Mohammed, have led to rights.
Finally, for here, culturism has a chapter on U.S. History. It shows that America has always been a culturist nation. From the Puritans (arch culturists) to the abolitionists, to Prohibition, to the 1924 Immigration Act and the FCC (to name a few examples) we have been aware that our republic is fragile and we need virtuous cvic behavior to guide and sustain it. We have used law for self-governance and thus been a culturist nation.
There is more to be said, but it is late and I do not want to try your readers' patience Z. Let me just close by saying we must get rid of this new idea of multiculturalism and return to our tradition of culturism.
Thanks again Z, Culturist John
Thanks for the link. Will be visiting there again.
John rocks!
His explication of culturism is spot on.
I note that the multiculturists today despise the very idea. That disdain wasn't present decades ago which multiculturalism was inclusive and tolerant.
I like Pris's answer to WHAT IS OUR AMERICAN CULTURE?
You are most welcome, John.
Write more, any time. We need to hear all of this.
Mostly, folks...we need to GET THIS MESSAGE OUT THERE. STOP AMERICA FROM BECOMING A DIRTY DOORMAT.
my gosh....The Left has SHAMED us into TOLERANCE and ACCEPTANCE...We can show tolerance and acceptance without slamming or putting aside our OWN culture, can't we? Are they mutually exclusive? OF COURSE NOT!!! We always did show respect .....before Political Correctness raised its very ugly and dangerous leftist head.
The next thing we need to do is make sure those who come here to live start showing OUR CULTURE SOME RESPECT. How can we expect them NOT to when WE don't!? right?
John, THANKS FOR THE OFFER OF YOUR BOOK TO OUR BLOG READERS! What an amazingly nice thing to do.... What a public service!
We promote our culture like mad.
There are McDonald's all over the world.
Z,
I love what CJ has to say. I would take it a step further and say that multiculturism can exist as long as assimilation does also.
Coming from an immigrant family, I can say we held onto our culture while assimilating to the American culture.
Unlike the left, I know that an American culture is alive and well, but unacknowledged. Just some thoughts.
Pinky, me argue about jazz? I listened to more jazz than anyone on this thread (and less American pop)
Woman, I remember a time coming out of the Jazz Workshop when Dexter Gordon had nearly blown the roof of the place.
Two cats are standing at a table:
"What are you gong to do now? Ask for a lesson?
No, I think I'll burn my horn."
Dexter had it that night.
However I will say it is not the only improvisational music. Indian music for one is improvisational.
However our film makers pretty much suck compared to the Japanese or the French.
If we are talking about American arts culture - most Americans reject it.
Of course, me being Slavic I don't buy into the idea that rugged individualism is uniquely American or even that it is a very smart policy.
I can't believe that Culturist John can look at the state of our media and go on about free speech.
Not that anyone bothers listening but the national dialog is a pretty thin gruel.
Actually what Americans like to do is think they're free. As long as your comfortable it feels like freedom, right?
The Left has SHAMED us into TOLERANCE and ACCEPTANCE..
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Not me, I do not accept the right wing nor their anti-intellectualism. Don't accept a bit of it.
Once again we come to the nub of it. The Right seems to think they have moral authority to run the show. Uh-uh.
"Pris, I somewhat agree. Culturism must balance out individualism. Culturism teaches that rights come from a culture that believes in them and can afford them. So if the Supreme Court does not ask if individual rights are sustainable, if they allow them to be used to protect all anti-social behavior, then individualism can undermine our culture. If our decisions do not take the sustainability of the culture into account, we will lose rights and individualism."
Yes John, I agree. Of course Judeo-Christian beliefs tended to diminish the abuse of individual rights, and enhance respect for societal order and of voluntary compliance with the laws of the land.
The Ten Commandments, and The Golden Rule come to mind.
Sadly, today, these values are under assault IMO.
Keep up the good work!
AOW, thank you.
Pris
Here I go again. Ducky, thanks for setting me straight. I am such an anti-intellectualist. All because I listen to Donnie and Marie, Up With People, and Pat Boone. And horror of horrors, I watch Leave It to Beaver.
I've tried to be as cool as you, but it didn't take. I'm just a 60s guy. I can't change.
BTW, your fake intellectualism is getting boring.
Boy, Ducky...as a jazz singer, I've met some greats, but I'll let you have the BIG JAZZ EXPERT here...cool.
Does being Slavic innoculate someone to the great country that's given you a home and a lifestyle better than most others? WHY?
I'm first and second generation and I embrace American culture while I celebrate so many others right here in my own home...having a German husband on top of my own heritage.
I'm in too good a mood to write too much more. Suffice it to say that you don't really speak for MOST AMERICANS who you say REJECT our culture.. WHO?
McDonald's is not the American culture. I was horrified when it was so popular in Paris and when a Starbucks took over our local cafe there....sickening. You haven't lived the good life until you've lived in Paris, not visited, and smoked and drank wine in your local cafe joking with the waiters and eating the great food.....smokey bars and restaurants. BLISS. Paris, But no more.
Ducky,
Slavic peoples are nominally in the West. That said, it looks like Russia may veto the rights you seem to prize so lightly and take for granted.
Z,
"Dirty doormat!" LOL!!!
Law and Order,
You are right. I exaggerate for effect. But the relevant chapter in culturism is "Culturism and multiculturalsim" not "Culturism versus multiculturalism." We will always have diversity. The question, domestically, is whether we will emphasize our differences or similarity.
Internationally, however, we must realize just how unique we are and how broad diversity is. If we do not stand up for ourselves the resulting world will not be cute or hospitable for us. Western culture is not the global default.
PS www.culturism.us has my contact if you'd like to do research and perhaps take me up on my offer.
Ducky, I knew you were a jazz fan, but I would have sworn you'd attibute it to some other culture. I've heard that attempt so many times before. I had such fun in my History of Jazz class.
Sing it, Z!
But rugged individualism did come to mind earlier. Manifest Destiny (and I don't buy into wiping out entire races of people). I think that type of thinking is American. Other nations admire us for our idealism.
I should clarify what I meant...I think that other cultures admire our rugged individualism and pioneer spirit.
John, I wrote "culturism VERSUS multiculturalism" because it helped me understand culturism and thought it might help others.
I think it still applies.
There's OUR CULTURE and culturism (the promotion, protection of it, etc...) BUT there is multiculturalism which can be enriching (it was, for America, for years) but isn't anymore because it's not played out as it was before. We never put others BEFORE our culture and that's what's happening now.
To me, it's still VERSUS..against.
Z,
I am sympathetic to what you say. In some policy areas it should be 'versus.' In my attempt to find common ground in America I am probably too conciliatory at times. And I am always trying to be strategic.
In using "and," the red herring I am trying to diffuse is the idea that culturism seeks to stomp all diversity whatsoever and create total conformity. That is why I'm quick to point out that we will always have some diversity in our nation. It is a matter of what we shall emphasize - our unity or division.
But I am not sure that mine is a great strategy at a time like ours. Anyhow, the comparison chapter "culturism AND multiculturalism" shows multiculturalism too be pretty dangerous, eh? Dangerous enough to where your stance is justified.
I should clarify what I meant...I think that other cultures admire our rugged individualism and pioneer spirit.
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Pinky, why do you think other cultures didn't have the same spirit?
There's a great essay by Frank Norris (out of print) concerning the great sagas of the world and how each area around the globe had their own and when we settled the West, ours was the dime novel.
I don't believe we lack the spirit but our feeling of exceptionalism is curious.
Don't think the Arabs living in the Sahara had a certain rugged character?
Slavic peoples are nominally in the West. That said, it looks like Russia may veto the rights you seem to prize so lightly and take for granted.
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Culturist, since so many Israelis come from Slavic countries I wonder how you spin this latest piece of bigotry.
Question: Is Obama "western"?
Here I go again. Ducky, thanks for setting me straight. I am such an anti-intellectualist. All because I listen to Donnie and Marie, Up With People, and Pat Boone. And horror of horrors, I watch Leave It to Beaver
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Gee Law and Order Guy why so hostile. Your entertainment of choice is readily available.
My point is that it is so paramount that it drives out stuff on the periphery. The result is a very static culture with little variety.
Although I am curious why so many are actively hostile to art that is out of the ordinary. My suspicion is that they first find it threatening and get very defensive. They feel that something's being forced on them when many artists are only trying to achieve an critical mass of audience which allows a variety of expression to exist in what is a very hostile commercial market.
It can work. I know a guy who formed a group to score silent films. He had very little work for a time but now it is actually a competitive business and there has been a lot of progress restoring and archiving our early film history.
He did great score for Buster Keaton's "Sherlock Jr." probably the film that did the most to introduce the special effect into film. It's a comic masterpiece and it's out there for everyone to enjoy now.
American culture is still here and alive and well.
In some places it is very high profile.
And there are those of us who do promote it.
It is not being taught in some instances, as mentioned so that other things can indeed fill in that void, the multicultural bs that is being shoved at us.
We can thank tv for it, Hollywood and our own selves.
There is nothing stopping any of us from taking the bull by the horns and turning off the tv , getting up, going out , doing things with family.
Family is a huge aspect of keeping the so called traditional culture.
Any way, in my opinion, it is much easier to conquer a people when they have no identity, no idea of who they are , there fore, that is why patriotism is ridiculed and so on.
I also think a lot of this has come from the idiots of the 1960's, whom I think have a lot to answer for.
They were handed a great country and they have tried to destroy it for the rest of us.
But many things that are pure American , like Jazz music, the Blues, country and western music, they are out there loud and proud.
WVDOTTR
*sigh*
Ducky, I think other cultures do have a similar spirit, and that's what has led to innovation, progress, and success. However, if we weren't so admired, why would so many millions of immigrants flock to our borders legally and illegally to be a part of this great system? We are the land of opportunity. We give ANYONE a chance who is willing to work hard.
Americans have a spirit of exceptionalism because we are exceptional. We have our brave men and women in uniform to thank for that.
Ducky, I know that this nation is not perfect, but there is nowhere I would rather be. NOWHERE.
Here's something I don't understand about the Left: why the need to always undermine pride in America? Why the need to be just another nation...just a piece of the global puzzle? Can you give me a honest answer to that, because I really want to know.
(and you know as well as I do that it's not our fault that terrorists hate...that it's not because we're imperialst pigs...c'mon Ducky, have intellectual integrity.)
Ducky, I think other cultures do have a similar spirit, and that's what has led to innovation, progress, and success. However, if we weren't so admired, why would so many millions of immigrants flock to our borders
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Because we have the money. However, Pinky, declaring that wealth is the measure of a great culture doesn't say much for culture.
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Here's something I don't understand about the Left: why the need to always undermine pride in America? Why the need to be just another nation...just a piece of the global puzzle? Can you give me a honest answer to that, because I really want to know.
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So what's the rest of the world? Several billion "extra" people who God damned to live outside America while the temple is being rebuilt?
You're smarter than that, Pinky.
Yes, we are just a piece of a big, very big, puzzle.
So what's the rest of the world? Several billion "extra" people who God damned to live outside America while the temple is being rebuilt?
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No, God didn't damn them, Ducky.
He knew America would have a leaky/liberal border policy.
*teehee*
lighten up, doofus.
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