Is American culture shallow and superficial?

[No*s]

I'm relieved that the Founders didn't have the same aversion to politics as most of us do today. Maybe the founding of the country was the last time we had many first rate minds engaged in politics.

Yeah. At that time, though, they could have a real effect on it. Now, all our information is funneled through a very small group. Most politics require enormous amounts of money simply to participate, so it gets harder and harder for anyone but the elite to break in. The process is decreasing the pool from which we can draw.

Still more, the polarization of our politics makes it well-nigh impossible to have meaningful discussion, because everything computes to a binary 1 or 0.

I fear that that situation may have a more detrimental effect on the depth/shallowness of the culture than anything Hollywood has done. I believe it was Confuscius that observed that people tend to bend in the direction of their leader, as blades of grass do in the wind .

 

[Sunstone]

Still more, the polarization of our politics makes it well-nigh impossible to have meaningful discussion, because everything computes to a binary 1 or 0.

The notion that there are only white hats and black hats, and no gray hats, is indeed shallow and pernicious. Polarization does not benefit the average citizen, but instead becomes a means of supressing him.

 

[Sunstone]

I wouldn't argue with you on that. We were watching one of those news shows this morning and they were discussing the Schiavo case in terms of the political advantage/disadvantage of taking sides. Apparently memos are already circulating among the politicians on how they can best use this for their advantage. Shallow and disgusting.

The Schiavo case is another example of how issues in this country are becoming polarized. The two sides are demonizing each other. Real smart.

 

[Unedited]

I think there are many shallow and superficial Americans, but I wouldn't say American culture is. Not only are there many aspects of culture, but it's hard to pin down anything as being American. There are so many different people with different views and beliefs. I think that in itself gives American culture depth. Compared to countries where every person is brought to think the same thing, America looks anything but shallow.

 

[michel]

If shallow means lack of dept than yes due to the fact that the new people came over less than 500 years ago we have quite a bit less cultural history to our lives than other countries.

However, superficial is not pratical at this point in our history. We are currently in what is called a bear market combined with an economic downturn. This means trading is more conservative than the norm and our economy has less value than say 5 years ago.

With the average family earning less money and probably haveing more expenses than just a few years ago most people are making do on less. The first thing to go is luxaries in times like this. Departement stores sales are falling through the floor espcially in electronics and furniture. Auto sales are lower with more conservative cars (as opposed to flashy) being sold than normal. Recreations are being redefined by many in the way of hiking and camping instead of resort trips.

This economic crunch which is now about 5 years old ( it stared before 9/11 happened), is making many people who are not wealthy much more simple in their pleasure seeking ideas.

I think that the economy of any country is tied to their level of superficially and the length of the cultures existance is tied to how shallow it is. If my opinion holds merit than the USA, being one of the newer cultures today is going to be shallow by justified comparision and superficailty is becoming less and less practical over here as the economic slump matures.

Rob; I don't KNOW the american culture, but what you have said is pretty well a parallel to what is happening here. We do have the dubious credit of being a much 'older' Country, but that does have the drawback in that we have had longer than you in making grave mistakes!
Of course, we see some of the 'absudities' in your culture on Television here - women dying their pet's hair to blend in with theirs, special clothes and jewelry for dogs- but I guess that's harmless; shallow, I suppose so. I feel more sorry for the pet owners than the pets; I think that sort of absurd behavious is a sign of something 'missing' in the owner's lives.

 

[Yerda]

It's often said that American culture is shallow and superficial. Is this true? What do you think?

Who said that?

As much as I abhor American government (like every other one) I find Americans delightful.

America as far as I can see has a vast array of cultures. It would be ridiculous to lump them under one tradition and call it shallow.

 

[fallguy]

hmm. yea it's a generalization to call it either black or white. i can think of many examples to both sides, deep and shallow. one example is the outreach of all americans, regardless of race and political views, to come together in the wake of 9/11. but at the same time, i live in baltimore, and i can tell you, our public school system isn't the best. we have very little money to give to the public schools for materials, and we can barely pay out teachers. yet, we just got sammi sosa on our baseball team, and we pay all our player astronomical amounts of money to play a stupid game. if you took the salary of ONE player on the orioles, let's say $10,000,000 a year, and instead give that to the schools, we might actually have textbooks or maybe we could pay our teachers more, thus giving them more motivation to teach better. it's a twisted system, and it's no different for pro basketball or football.

 

[painted wolf]

ok, I finally couldn't help but point out, that SOME American Culture isn't shallow. Cheorkee, Lakota, Abnaki, Micmak and so on and so forth are all American Cultures and they aren't shallow.

American Culture is difficult to pin down, there are some things that are accross the bord but each area has its own particular Culture. Many individuals(perhaps the majority) are shallow and many of the 'insitutions' such as the Government and the Media are most certenly shallow. However I don't think that it can be an accross the bord statement.

wa:do

 

[almifkhar]

i think the vast majority of us are materialistic and superficial. we chase after the western dream to the point that we live beyond our means which puts us in the debt hole. the vast majority of us are also very self absourbed. its sad but it is true. most americans would rather put their elderly parents in a home because they don't want to be bothered with their needs. i think alot of us lives in the realm outside of reality. it is this bad image that the rest of the world sees. they think that we all are rich and immoral.