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It's the Despair Quotient! Carpal Tunnel
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It's the Despair Quotient! Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,177 Likes: 254 |
Ya know, I used to hear this stuff when I worked for Russian-American TV. The Russkies would grumble and snort "Amerikka not have any culture!"
It's a stuffy, elitist sort of argument that attempts to narrowly define what constitutes culture itself in the first place, and then when anything outside it's tiny sphere intrudes, the reaction is to narrow the circle further in an attempt to exclude more.
I see it used everywhere, from country clubs that dread "Jews and Negroes" to Taliban purists who insist that everyone else is "not a true Muslim" to auto race sanctioning bodies that rule out previously qualified engines that win too many races.
But if it's one thing America is the very best at, it's at being the Great Cultural Aggregator and Integrator. From the American cultural mixing bowl have come the very greatest hybrid cultural offspring and indeed, the very greatest dissemination of culture itself.
But the anti-miscegenation wing of the cultural purists are routinely horrified that anyone would dare to mix cultural inputs, to which I can only quote in response from Steve Martin:
"Funky Tut - he's mah favorite HONKY!"
That's a cultural grab and paste spanning what, six thousand years? Stick THAT in your Thomas Eakins.
"The Best of the Leon Russell Festivals" DVD deepfreezefilms.com
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old hand
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"{Glaucon and the rest] wanted to arrive at the truth, first, about the nature of justice and injustice, and secondly, about their relative advantages. I told them what I really thought: that the enquiry would be of a serious nature, and would require very good eyes. Seeing then, I said, that we are no great wits, I think that we had better adopt a method which I may illustrate thus: suppose that a short-sighted person had been asked by some one to read small letters from a distance; and it occurred to some one else that they might be found in another place, which was larger, and in which the letters were larger --if they were the same text, and he could read the larger letters first, and then proceed to the smaller -- this would have been a rare piece of good fortune!
Very true, said Adeimantus; but how does the illustration apply to our enquiry?
I will tell you, I replied; justice, which is the subject of our enquiry, is, as you know, sometimes spoken of as the virtue of an individual, and sometimes as the virtue of a State.
True, he replied.
And is not a State larger than an individual?
It is.
Then, in the larger, the quantity of justice is likely to be larger and more easily discernible. I propose therefore that we enquire into the nature of justice and injustice, first as they appear in the State, and secondly in the individual, proceeding from the greater to the smaller and comparing them." --- Book II, 368D Im gonna write a little letter, Gonna mail it to my local dj. Its a rockin rhythm record I want my jockey to play. Roll over beethoven, I gotta hear it again today.
You know, my temperatures risin And the jukebox blows a fuse. My hearts beatin rhythm And my soul keeps on singin the blues. Roll over beethoven and tell tschaikowsky the news.
I got the rockin pneumonia, I need a shot of rhythm and blues. I think Im rollin arthiritis Sittin down by the rhythm review. Roll over beethoven rockin in two by two.
Well, if you feel you like it Go get your lover, then reel and rock it. Roll it over and move on up just A trifle further and reel and rock it, Roll it over, Roll over beethoven rockin in two by two.
Well, early in the mornin Im a-givin you a warnin Dont you step on my blue suede shoes. Hey diddle diddle, I am playin my fiddle, Aint got nothin to lose. Roll over beethoven and tell tschaikowsky the news.
You know she wiggles like a glow worm, Dance like a spinnin top. She got a crazy partner, Oughta see em reel and rock. Long as she got a dime the music will never stop.
Roll over beethoven, Roll over beethoven, Roll over beethoven, Roll over beethoven, Roll over beethoven and dig these rhythm and blues.Chuck Berry -- 1956
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Of course, rock and roll was hugely influenced by British performers - some of whom were influenced, in turn, by American blues - but I think there would be a bit of an uproar in Great Britain if Americans were to take all credit for the art form.
You know who I'm talking about - bands like, oh, the Rolling Stones, and the Kinks, and those other guys (there were four of them, but really they had so little input that it's no wonder I can't think of the name...) ill give your assertion this much, julia, the brits did advance the form light years, but rock and roll is purely american. but
sure, you can talk to god, but if you don't listen then what's the use? so, onward through the fog!
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funny how rock n roll seems to have become such a universal sound too. but alas, it must be our low culture appealing to the common masses, unawares of our insidious plan to infiltrate their minds with our garbage in hopes of lowering the global common denominator. How percipient of you to realize this truth. . the truth is, i like doughnuts for breakfast but can't eat them because the sugar makes me irritable.
sure, you can talk to god, but if you don't listen then what's the use? so, onward through the fog!
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old hand
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Of course, rock and roll was hugely influenced by British performers - some of whom were influenced, in turn, by American blues - but I think there would be a bit of an uproar in Great Britain if Americans were to take all credit for the art form.
You know who I'm talking about - bands like, oh, the Rolling Stones, and the Kinks, and those other guys (there were four of them, but really they had so little input that it's no wonder I can't think of the name...) ill give your assertion this much, julia, the brits did advance the form light years, but rock and roll is purely american. but Paul McCartney once said that there would have been no Beatles if there hadn't first been Crickets, referring, of course, to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
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And is not a State larger than an individual?
It is.
sure, you can talk to god, but if you don't listen then what's the use? so, onward through the fog!
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'
It has been noted that subtlety in artistic expression seems to flourish in compact, homogeneous cultures.
As examples, one may point to Japan and traditional English culture.
The smallest hints may convey a world of meaning to those who share a common body of discourse.
In contrast, large heterogenous states, like the USA, lack subtlety, because people of widely different backgrounds literally do not understand what other people are saying.
In such conditions, subtlety and wit are almost impossible, and only the loudest, coarsest expression is likely to be understood.
In Japan and England, litotes, or understatement, flourishes, while Americans are notorious for hyperbole.
Consider the (highly superior) writing of Aldous Huxley, and compare it with the blatant, in-your-face style of Mark Twain or Gore Vidal.
In humor, I may express what I mean by citing these two examples:
A Texan, having bragged at length to an Englishman about the superiority of Texas in all things, concluded: "And do you know that all of little-bitty ole England would fit into just one corner of Texas?" The Englishman replied in a tone of sweet innocence: "Yes, and wouldn't it do wonders for the place!"
Versus:
An American, travelling with his son in England, met two Englishmen whilst riding in a first-class railway carriage. They began talking to each other, and the American enjoyed the conversation very much. Just before parting, the American said, "I've enjoyed this very much, but I still don't know your names." One of the travellers said, "Oh, I am the Earl of Widwater, and this is my friend, His Grace the Duke of Chalfont." The American replied, "Well, I am pleased to make your acquaintance, and may I introduce my son, Jesus Christ."
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
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Administrator Bionic Scribe
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In your second "joke", how is it that the cultured Englishmen are so devoid of proper etiquette as to not introduce themselves but deign to carry on a conversation with an uncouth American?
milk and Girl Scout cookies ;-)
Save your breath-You may need it to blow up your date.
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the truth is, i like doughnuts for breakfast but can't eat them because the sugar makes me irritable. Ah, that explains it! PS: By the way, thank you for exemplifying American hyperbole. .
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In your second "joke", how is it that the cultured Englishmen are so devoid of proper etiquette as not to introduce themselves but deign to carry on a conversation with an uncouth American? I was hoping no one would notice that --- but after all, it is an American joke, not an English one.
Last edited by numan; 08/24/09 04:27 PM.
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