What exactly is your problem with western culture - UK style?
- Thread starter Hollis
- Start date
xes
F.O.A.D
I remember it well, but it only ruled the roost, for boring cunts with no life. Who just sit there, dribbling into a packet of fucking doritos whilst they waste their life watching mindless TV shows.
citydreams
on the road again
"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty" - Aristotle
"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin." : Charles Darwin
"The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing." : John Berger
"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin." : Charles Darwin
"The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing." : John Berger
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
xes
F.O.A.D
word to that
I am, and I know it, but nobody's perfect eh?
I just hate the TV, it's shit (unless it's showing sport) INCLUDING SPURS
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
This thread 150 years ago:
'The vilest theatres are corrupting the morals of the land! The poor aren't cared for, the rich seek only to feather their own nests, and no one talks to anyone anymore!!'
There isn't a single complaint on here that hasn't been levelled against society generally by someone, usually a pious religious type who'd like to burn all non-bibles, in the last 500 years, probably 1,000. Complaints about the media; complaints about alienation of brother not caring for brother, complaints about apathy (not being fervent enough in your book burning?)...
'The vilest theatres are corrupting the morals of the land! The poor aren't cared for, the rich seek only to feather their own nests, and no one talks to anyone anymore!!'
There isn't a single complaint on here that hasn't been levelled against society generally by someone, usually a pious religious type who'd like to burn all non-bibles, in the last 500 years, probably 1,000. Complaints about the media; complaints about alienation of brother not caring for brother, complaints about apathy (not being fervent enough in your book burning?)...
ItWillNeverWork
Messy Crimbobs, fellow humans.
I'm quite happy with western culture personally as there's something for everyone. If you want to watch mindless TV (which after a day spent working I quite enjoy doing) then that is there for you. If on the other hand you fancy a more 'intellectual' persuit then nothing is stopping you. The complaints about poverty and the like are more an issue of economics and politics rather than culture. For all his annoying tendencies I don't think Noel Edmunds can be held responsible for unemployment etc.
Hollis
bloody furious
Folk have complained in the past?? No shit!
Hollis
bloody furious
I suppose certain historical periods present such problems or challenges that you don't get to spend so much time ruminating to youself about what its all about, or just end up watching daytime TV.
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
It's more that the complaints on this thread aren't really anything new...
London_Calling
Pleasant and unpatronising
'western culture' is too broad for me.
As regards this island, the commercialisation of culture maybe, or is it having that particular culture stage front and centre . . . or is it just getting fucking old.
As regards this island, the commercialisation of culture maybe, or is it having that particular culture stage front and centre . . . or is it just getting fucking old.
Ibn Khaldoun
the present is dead, long live the future . . .
It is diseased.
And it has always been founded on superiorism and inequality.
And it has always been founded on superiorism and inequality.
Purdie
there are no stars, only suns
What's the problem then? Inequality, boredom, lethargy, the fuzz, crap on TV, the BBC?
It was school catchment areas that had us emigrate tbh. All the rest was bearable.
Gmart
Well-Known Member
Said Socrates 3000 years ago...
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Huh? The extraordinary thing about those shows is the conspicuous lack of talent on show. Luckily anyone with anything about them doesn't give a shit what Simon Coward thinks about them, and would be worried, frankly, if he rated them. The reality tv talent shows produce a uniformly mediocre product. Poor saps who mistake not being tone deaf with talent are made to sing mediocre arrangements of mediocre songs mediocrely. And it's a huge deal when they're voted off for being slightly less than mediocre. Soft focus, tears, family members, cheesy music. It's faux-sincere shmaltz America-style. Yes, your only shot at fame is over. And why was it your only shot? Because you're mediocre, that's why. Because the closest to show-biz you are good enough to get is leading the sing-song with a karaoke machine that you drag around an ever-diminishing circle of pubs. And there's nothing wrong with doing that if it makes people happy, although people don't go to the pub to see you so much. Not when they can sit at home and watch you on tv with a fag in their hands.
Crap tv has always been around, and crap talent shows at that, and they've never once, in the decades they've been around, turned out a decent artist.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
You sound more than a bit superior.
Besides, I'd disagree. Girls Aloud, Will Young, Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Alexandra Burke. They're all decent artists in their own space. And Flawless and Diversity were both incredibly talented acts in this year's Britain's got Talent.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Maybe. I think that all culture is not of equal value, then yes, I probably do sound superior. Good. I also distinguish between artists and singers. Many of those on your list are singers, not artists. I haven't heard of the other ones. For a singer to qualify as an artist, they need to bring new depth to an interpretation from within themselves. Billie Holliday was an artist. Will Young is not. Or if he is, then so am I as I can also hold a tune and put some emotion into my singing.
I use the word artist more sparingly. An artist does something new, shows a new angle to the world, provides an example that can be reinterpreted by others. I don't see any in your list that does that, although I admit that it is a subjective judgement.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
Culture might not be of equal value, but that doesn't mean that the lower end of scale has NO value.
Besides, cultural value is subjective. What means a lot to you, doesn't necessarily mean a lot to a Leona Lewis fans, but their enjoyment of Leona Lewis' 'music' might equal your enjoyment of the things you see as superior.
What makes you right and then wrong?
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
I don't mind Leona Lewis, but I suspect even she'd admit her songs don't stand comparison with, for example, Beethoven's Choral Symphony.
SpookyFrank
Don't swallow the cap
The fucking baby boomer arseholes who fail to realise that an entire generation has been sold down the river to pay for their decades of illusory prosperity. It was the baby boomers who voted for Thatcher and her 'fuck everybody' agenda over and over again, them running the banks that were lending bucketloads of imaginary money and them borrowing all the imaginary money from the banks to buy shit they don't need. Baby boomers presided over the drowning of every corner of society in paperwork and consultancy and spurious bullshit, them who allowed public services and common property to be auctioned off and exploited for profit. And now all the chickens have come home to roost and it's finally occurred to someone that a country full of lazy arsed office drone fuckwitts producing nothing but more fat deposits on their already fat arses is not a good recipe for prosperity, nor is unthinking consumerism a recipe for environmental sustinability and spiritual richness; now that everything's gone to shit the two bob cunts responsible for the whole thing are suddenly retiring in droves and demanding that a suddenly impoverished younger generation works for a pittance for the next twenty years so they can carry on with the profligate lifestyle they've enjoyed for so long and which is bound to make them happy any day now. And still these people have the fucking gall to slag off everybody under 25 at every opportunity, completely unable to comprehend why the people they've left with a shit sandwich of epic proportions and a feeble excuse for a society where everything is throwaway and nasty in which to eat it aren't doffing their fucking hats when they pass them in the street.
So yeah older generation, you can have respect when you fucking earn it. Line up on the clifftops and jump the fuck off, that'd be a good start
When they could be watching Spurs play or listening to acid techno in a disused office block?
my personal heaven
What's the problem then? Inequality, boredom, lethargy, the fuzz, crap on TV, the BBC?
Inhospitality. That's the main problem. People don't talk to their neighbours, they are apathetic and alienated.
It's a shame really as in many ways I love Britain
Having lived in China and France, two countries often praised as being much more 'civilised' and 'cultured' than us, I've come to quite like it here, BUT the lack of hospitality, the unfriendliess to neighbours is one thing I find really sad.
Purdie
there are no stars, only suns
Check out the natives of Belgium and soon enough you will realize how sociable and hospitable the Brits really are
Yeah I'm mostly thinking in comparison with China. Which is perhaps unfair.And I do agree - other northern european countries probably aren't any better. Parisians for instance -
But there's a petty minded lack of neighbourliness. for instance, when I came to newcastle, we got on quite well with the woman from the flat upstairs. She gave us some crisps and chocolates as a treat for our son once and in return, my wife told her she'd make some Chinese dumplings for her. This is the sort of thing that happens as a matter of routine in China, and one thing I do love about the place.
So, about two weeks later, my wife, perhaps foolishly (I should have remembered what unneighbourly types we are and stopped her), made some dumplings (delicious too). I called the flat upstairs and the woman's husband answered. I said we'd made some dumplings as we'd promised and we'd bring them up.
He gave me a really rude reply like oh sorry mate, I think I'll give it a miss
Then about ten minutes later the woman rang down and explained that they were 'going on holiday' two days later and 'didn't want to get sick' on the plane.
She was just trying to be a bit more polite about it, but they never really went on holiday.
I hate that shit.
They could have taken them off us and fed them to their dog or something if they really were that suspicious of furrin food.
I thought it was unspeakably rude. The sad thing is that it probably would be quite a common reaction in the UK
I often think it's unsurprising that immigrants find it hard to integrate when this is our general culture.
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