I'd like to know if American culture (the "negative" aspects like violent video games, fast food, the "general sense of materialism" etc.) exportation is a bad thing. Are those aspects even negative? I heard of Andrew Galombos(spelling?) saying something about the worst aspects of every culture are the ones that get sent to other ones.

I'm inclined to say no except for the materialism. However, there must exist some form of greed in every country so no. I think when there are cultural influences between countries it's a good thing.

I don't agree with the Andrew Galombos quote at all. We wouldn't have Italian or Mexican food if that were true and life in the US just wouldn't be the same without them. I can't imagine how boring this country would be if the Irish and Italians and Portugese or any of the rest had not been able to imigrate and grow roots here.

Actually, the "shipping" of cultures to other countries can provide insights into what the culture of the country a certain thing came from is like

For example: If China, Australia, Italy, France & Germany got "hold" of Eminem, an icon of America's music/rap culture, it would tell them that Americans enjoy rap music.

Or, if The NFL spent a season playing in a foreign country just for the heck of it, then that country would learn why Americans make a huge party along with a football championship game like the super bowl

In other words, they learn about what we like as a culture when they themselves are exposed to it. They get to know us better than they thought they did

American cultural exportation, along with any area's cultural exportation, is a good thing. Hopefully it will bring us closer one day to realizing that most of these 2000-year-old problems are easily solved before it's too late and everyone is busy launching nukes at each other.

American cultural exportation is currently a bad thing, because it is a big capitalist stick disguised as a carrot.

Danish culture is being rapidly eroded by American culture because no one in Denmark has the money to provide any credible resistence to it.

Today Danes curse in American. Which they did not do ten years ago. American music dominates the musical landscape and American films run on the biggest screens in all my local the cineam's (which are all closing down any way since a THX multiplex opened)
There is a Seven11 on every other street corner, and many Danes have taken to celebrating the fourth of July...

This might be no big deal to an American...

editted to add;



GA



We are exposed to this on a daily basis. Eminem is the most popular male musician in Europe today, and we get the NFL and NBA results alongside our own sports news.

What is so bad about capitalism?

But if people in other countries didn't buy American products, American businesses wouldn't be in their countries.
Just like in this country, in the 80's there was a stink raised about Japanese products flooding the marketplace.

Don't buy foreign culture, it won't gain hold in your country.

It has no 'checks or balances'. Without regulation, capitalism allows itself to dehumanise the world, and strip mine everything for profit.

This is how most people over here view Americans btw. Communism never really bothered European people that much, because they never felt it. But we all know what greed is capable of and we try and limit ourselves because we know that too much of a good thing is bad for you. Excess leads to destruction.

But when we look to American culture, we see a state of affairs that allows almost and all excesses. We see a nation which puts money before all things, we see corporations controlling everything, and we see governments bought and paid for.

Worst of all though. We see a people who have allowed themselves to become indifferent and self indulgent. A people who live in a storm of growth hormone injected fast food and advirtising campaigns, driving enourmous SUV's and openly sneering at other nations for being different.

Thats whats wrong with capitalism.

DTM



Its not a question of not buying American culture. Don't you see? The US companies are so rich and so big, they simply buy the Danish companies and shut them down. Or use them to market US goods.

And to add insult to injury, they don't even bother to pay taxes. Compaines like McDonalds and Coca Cola, Seven11 and Nike all use a strategy of returning all their profits to America, then filling out their tax papers to show a debit!

Proof? Links? Please.

C'mon Moif, you have got to be kidding!

Next time you meet up with an Estonian over the age of 30, ask if "communism never really bothered him?" Do the same with Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Rumanians, Russians, Ukrainians, all Europeans.

The export of the "negative" elements of American culture is, by definition, going to be negative. However, don't forget that along with that comes the export of the positive aspects of American culture. And last, don't forget, when nobody buys, the exporting stops.

If its any consolation, there's nationalists and snooties over here who think Ikea is a terrible thing.

Yeah Sorry Biker Dad. I was thinking about the EU nations and I forgot to specify.

But the positive side of setting up a Coke Cola plant or a McDonalds adds jobs to European or Asian countries where jobs are hard to find and thus it helps their economy while helping ours in return

The problem I see is that we tend to export many of the superficial and bad things (materialism, adolescent sexual obsession, glorification of violence) about our culture most aggressively, while many of the deeper or good things (freedom, equality, self-reliance) are scarcely exhibited abroad. What American institutions do others see the most? Mega-corps with no conscience, pumping money into marketing instead of product quality, evading taxes both at home and abroad. Close behind them would be the US military, which is run on a basis more socialist than capitalist and many of whose members are young testosterone-poisoned men with no respect for anyone not wearing the same uniform. Neither is exactly the best face we could present to the world. Inevitably, when others try to copy us, they end up copying exactly the wrong things. What they end up with is a caricature of American culture, doomed from the outset to abject failure.

If we want to make exportation of American culture a good thing instead of a great evil, we need to work harder at exporting the good parts of our culture. We need to show more Americans building roads, raising families, living normal lives, not selling something or blowing something up. I'm not quite sure how to do that, except that more one-on-one interaction between regular Americans and regular non-Americans might help a lot. My experience traveling abroad is that foreigners are delighted to meet and talk to Americans as just regular folks, over a meal or a beer or while walking in a park. Nothing contributes to acceptance and cooperation more than feeling like you know someone as an equal.

Materialism is not anything that is unique to American culture.

We import more culture than we export in my opinion. You can't fill the glass up without it spilling over.

Many? A bit inflammatory, don't you think?

Let's be civil when we debate this topic please:

Culture exportation is good to a certain degree. I see no problem with it as long as our culture does not overtake another country's culture. This is a highly unlikely scenario anyway. But it does provide a valuable insight into the varied aspects of another country's culture. We should value this link to other countries and continue to export our culture, so long as the receiving country maintains their sense of cultural identity.

Kinda like a capitalism type situation infiltrating into a communist cultural like China?

The most brilliant way to take out communism without firing a shot: Build a McDonalds


Cuba, when Castro croaks and the cuban-americans who take out his successor, will probably refuse Western culture because they would prefer to preserve their culture.

TLW



Its not the culture thats the problem. Its the American greed that comes with it. There cannot be any doubt that Americans are greedy, and this aspect of American culture follows hand in hand with McDonalds and Coka Cola &tc...

I know its not a pleasant thing to say, and I'm not happy to be saying it. But if I am to be honest, then greed is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Americans, and I cannot think of a nation or culture which is greedier than America.

Danish television, like most other European nations, is filled with American programmes. Films and documentries, and talk shows and the picture is laid out clear for all to see. Whether its the Oprah Winfrey show, or a day time soap or the latest action movie from Hollywood; the underlying message is always the same.

Love is good. Wealth is better.

Now, there are greedy Danes as well. A lot of them, but the difference is; Danish culture, like most European cultures is centred around more common values, which is why socialism (in one form or another) has been around in Europe for hundreds of years.

But that hardly matters since European culture is not being exported to the USA to the detriment of US culture.
As matters stand today, then Europeans are gradually becoming Americans. The only difference is in our interpretation of American culture... but that interpretation cannot replace the unique culture's which are being lost.

The steady mutation of English into American is a good example of what I mean. People might not care that English is being simplified, but they cannot deny that it is taking place. Already the OED has an American on its editorial staff, introducing American words into the Oxford English Dictionary.

How do I know this? Because I saw it on 60 minutes...

NOTE.
I am as guilty as any one else of adopting American ways.

Americans who fear or shun the idea of the emergence of a one-world government (UN, European Union), but who do not have a problem with McDonalds becoming the food currency of the world (as in Baghdad) or having an American retail chain (You Know Who) expand to several countries around the world, elbowing out the "Mom and Pop stores" abroad (as well as domestically), are contradicting themselves.

These American corporations are bringing about homogeneity to societies around the world faster than the Euro ever could. It's a one-worldism that sneaks in through the back door and has overtaken you before you realize your kartoffelbrei has been replaced with a Big Mac.

Europeans recognize this. We 'ordinary Americans' tend to dismiss the encroachment of American food and culture as aggressive capitalism, clever salesmanship, nothing more.

But the corporations, I believe, are the governments of the future. If this trend is continued, its dominance in the lives of world citizens will be more complete than any totalitarian dream Stalin or Chairman Mao ever cherished.

Some worry about "666" being applied to our wrists or foreheads. Who would apply it? Businesses stamp your hand, affix a plastic bracelet to your wrist, or assign you a number to keep track of who you are and/or where you should be, whether it's at a hospital, for a beer tent, in a restaurant or in a line at the unemployment office.

I think corporatism carried to its extreme is the 'Beast' we need to dread.
Like Pogo said, "We have seen the enemy, and it is US!"

(edited)

Would you please explain how a culture could successfully export 'greed'?

I freely admit that American media (especially daytime television) looks up at the Turkish squatter, but I don't see the connection with greed. Would you please give me a direct instance...like a specific example of how 'wealth' in the American media is always favored over 'love'? I don't see it...I stopped watching television long ago, but the last time I did there didn't seem to be a portrayal of corporate execs as the 'good guys'.

Mrs P



By always focusing on power, money and sex.




Just one example? that doesn't actually prove anything, but since you asked...

The Cosby show.
Was a long running, popular show about a family. But, the actors never wore the same clothes twice. How many families do you know, even wealthy ones, that never wear garments more than once? The lesson quickly became obvious...

The central theme of the Cosby show (like nearly every family sit com ever made) is the interplay between the family members. But in the Cosby family, there were no arguements, at least not real arguements. No drug abuse, no violence or anything of any substance which dealt with the social issues of the day.

In essence, the show, like most others of its ilk, was an escapist fantasy which used wealth and comfort as a focus for family values.

Had the Cosby family been poor, then they would mostly likely still have been able to provide comedy for the audience.
Of course, I am not saying that they should have been poor, only that like most of the other American serials exported to this corner of the world, the Cosby show was a study in affluence... not love.