A couple nights ago I went to a event held by the college here (Because my dad works there and he was going to meet there with the college environmental club, and thought I should come). It was a sort of a low profile party type thing in a large indoor track area. They had volleyball courts set up (with beach balls that didn't fly well at all), a small area where you could get fruit and chips type stuff, and some "DJ"s. As I walked around and observed this event, I realized that it seemed really sad in there, like everyone was depressed or something. I wasn't quite sure why I thought that because after a second look I decided it wasn't that the people were depressed, but something else seemed strange.
The event organizers tried to do some mildly interesting things, like they set up 16 twister mats in a 4x4 grid and then tried to have a "large twister event". But that never happened, people ignored it and didn't even pay attention even after a small handful of people got on the mats and started playing. In general there were some almost cool things there, but nobody really wanted to be the first one to step out to participate.
The "DJ"s played a bunch of really inane pop and stood around looking bored.
There were a bunch of posters warning of the dangers of drugs and alcohol overdose hanging over a raffle table. No one even went near it.
The environmental club sat around and chatted and occasionally tried to talk to people to spread their message but no one was willing to listen.
Anyway, I kept going around and looking at all this stuff and being mildly upset by it somehow, though I couldn't put my finger on why. Then as I was riding home through the snow I realized why it seemed so sad or awkward: Because I was comparing it to a college event I went to in Copenhagen that had a similar premise: To keep students around and give them something to do. This event "public service 2007" was not exactly the same because it had a music venue theme and was spread across the whole campus, but I still want to compare the two events.
At public service, everyone was drunk, everyone was talking to everyone else at the same time, and if they weren't going from place to place they were dancing to one of the varieties of loud electronic music that was playing. Also, I'm pretty darn sure everyone was having a great time. I know I was. I got really bad muscle cramps from dancing so intensely from so long. But at this college "luau" thing I went to recently, no one was even remotely interested in the event itself or its characteristics. They just sort of hung out and talked. I don't think they were really expecting anything interesting anyway, so they weren't disappointed. So why is a college event in this little podunk town so much less interesting, and why are the people so much less interested? Aside from the podunkyness of the town I decided it is a difference in culture.
What would happen if all these south dakotans were living in a big city like Copenhagen and they had a college event where some organizer thought it would be a good idea to set up a bunch of stages and have a bunch of semi popular bands play? Well, first off I don't think organizers would have the guts to do that because "it might not be popular with everyone, just the people who like the music" or "why don't we just have a cheesey luau party instead, it would be generally accepted by everyone and would be easier". But lets say they did and it happened. Would the people all be dancing? Would they be having a great time? It seems weird, but I don't think they would be. Seems like it would be the same as the luau event or similar, where no one is willing to be the first one to do something that might look a little bit silly.
And what would happen if it were turned around the other way, with the danes living here and going to our luau event? If they were at the event, and I think they wouldn't be because it is just silly, they wouldn't be able to handle it. They would either leave and go to some bars or if they were violent and caricatured, forcefully bring a bunch of alcohol into the indoor track area, drink it, and then evict the so called DJs and start mixing any techno they could find into a loud and artistic beat to which they would dance for quite some time.
So why are these Americans so relatively meek and unwilling to participate in something like public service? Why do the event organizers not try to do something intense? Why the silly scary looking anti drug posters that no one looks at, and raffle that no one enters? And why oh why do they not like electronic music? :P
After I thought about it for a while I realized that this is just an example and the contrast can be seen almost everywhere.
I would never have noticed these things before I went to Copenhagen, but now I wish my culture was more exiting and less conservative.
In conclusion, I say that everyone needs to listen to this song: http://yogware.bluegillstudios.com/fearless.mp3
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Why I am disenchanted with american culture
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14 comments:
I think that maybe it's a bit unfair to compare Public Service to the party at your father's college: Public Service is after all a national event with backing from the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (imagine a mini-BBC). But it certainly sounds like more fun anyway :)
... we miss you!
d.
Its true they are very different events, but from watching how people reacted to each one and extrapolating I still think there is a big difference in the culture.
And by the way, I poured this onto a page in about 20 minutes without thinking too hard about it or even reading it all, so if it seems a bit incoherent or exaggerated thats why ;)
What a sad little tale!
I don't know of either event but I guess the moral of the story would be it's better to live in a major city than a regional one.
It's very hard wherever you are to be guaranteed that social events live up to any standard let alone comparing one with another.
-also I don't quite understand what your piece of code does in Unity ( linked here from the forums)
m
Although I am comparing social events in this post, that isn't what it is about. Its about comparing how people in different cultures react differently to a given situation.
I'm not saying America is all bad and I don't like its culture at all, I'm just saying that where I live people aren't willing to participate in something silly and different, even though they probably would enjoy it.
What piece of code are you talking about?
FJ
I see, but you can't really take the notion of "culture" at face value (can you?) ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor
It doesn't explain "people" or their behaviors in any sort of serious manner.
m
I believe a lot of what people do is driven by the culture that they live in. Each individual is very very different, but especially in a crowd situation what is acceptable in the culture is what people will do.
For example, I bet there are a lot of psychos out there that would like to kill someone at times, but they don't because it isn't culturally acceptable. This is the same reason people will, for example, try to avoid burping very loudly in a supermarket.
FJ
That strikes me as a little too simplistic.
-On the one hand you are saying "Culture" is the root/cause of the Directory /"individual" and on the other bemoaning the way the same doesn't respond to alternative affects.
m
I think I don't understand your last two posts.
I'm saying that people are pressured to obey the norms of the culture they are in when in groups.
I don't quite understand your terminology or what you mean in your last two posts.
FJ
"I'm saying that people are pressured to obey the norms of the culture they are in when in groups. "
I agree. Just that "culture" is the product of what people do in groups rather than simply what they obey.
-The only significant difference between "Cultures" on the scale of Nations is really their Ethnicity
(more similarity than difference) and every culture is "Ethnocentric".
Somehow laying claim to a patch of Earth...
I'm saying Culture is a grab-bag of cause and effect- If you do burp loudly in a supermarket, surely the first agent of "obedience" would be the police?
I mean, the fear of "burping loudly" doesn't derive directly from a set of cultural norms, ( it would hardly matter if you did in one place, but in another maybe so) ... but from a cascade of consequences emanating from any action which might step beyond the "law".
They're inseparable, there's no culture which doesn't also have a direct means of enforcing it's rule and people in groups seem to find a rule whether it's a University tutorial or a gang of thugs.
Big can of worms really!
m
... ie. look at what "counter-culture, so to speak has become now in the US.
-Postmodernism; a whole lot of Academic "artists" who would be rock-stars and who like beefing themselves up on the quasi global stage doing a cultural rehash of "European" perspectives.
- Or a Televised war between 2 extremes which cancel each other out: The Cops and those who seek and persist with only the same violence as a counter etc. etc.
... Isn't being disenchanted with "Culture" generally the stuff of Philosophy, Art, Literature and Music?
m
I think you are thinking about this on a whole different level than me, because I don't understand the points you are making. But it sounds like you know what you are talking about!
The scope of this post is at its heart just realizing that the danes and 'mericans behave differently in crowds and at social events, and the difference is a bit shocking to me.
I also don't think its fair to compare the rest of America to some college in South Dakota. At least where I'm living, Florida, there are plenty of people who like electronic music (including me!). It is true that most dj's here are terrible :P
Thats true for sure, it was a bit too much to call it "american culture". But I guess I couldn't think of anything better to call it.
hmmm nice music: back in the days i heard VNV nation a lot…if you like electronic music check out this website.
http://de-bug.de/pod
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