Lost in Space
Cultural generations are a cyclical phenomenon, with each new group of young people finding ways to differentiate themselves from their parents' generation. The phenomenon is literally as old as human civilization; one imagines primitive hunter-gatherers shaking their heads in disapproval of their kids taking up agriculture. Or maybe that "fire thing" that will never catch on.
edited 18th Sep '14 10:54:00 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
A nice butterfly
The prospect of globalization is interesting to me.
I wonder just how far it will expand and how much will be assimilated. As more and more generations go by and develop tools that to us will seem alien with just how acultural it will see it is carried on with aplomb by the flag carrirers of the next gen...
Only for them to be equally stumped by the next. Will we eventually achieve homogenization? I think only of a kind...
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
I don't think we will ever achieve complete blending. I actively hope that we don't.
Cultural values aren't completely cyclical. Trends can be, but if values and priorities were as cyclical as trends we would have slavery again. We still do of course with both indentured servitude, the sex trade, and literal slavery. But it's not an institution such as what we have known before and I highly doubt it ever will be again.
That's the evolution factor. We can agree (in general) that owning a black man is wrong. But we'll pay a Mexican $2 an hour to mow our lawn. (again, in general)
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur
The new thing now is, young people have much greater access to the past, and to other cultures, that they naturally gravitate toward a level of cosmopolitanism that previous generations couldnt even aspire to. They will take what is thrown at them and make it uniquely their own.
That's what globalization is doing. It's not really imposing Western memes on indigenous cultures; it's allowing youth around the world to cherry pick their favorite songs, fashions and ideas and blend them into what their parents gave them. To the disgust of those parents, to be sure, but then I'm not comfortable with my son wanting to wear dreadlocks at age eight, either.
In our ever evolving world, culture seems to be constantly redefining itself to the point that generational gaps can become generational gulfs.
I hope in this thread we can talk about social evolution, globalization, and other primarily cultural issues that may overlap with politics or religion, but doesn't have to. Fashion, music, and social norms and manners are fair game. One generations cultural appropriation becomes the next generations innovation occasionally. How do we tell the difference?
(Note to mods, this maybe better suited for another area of the forum, but due to potential problems, I started it here. Feel free to tell me it needs to go elsewhere. Thanks.)
For example, Urban Outfitters apologizes for it's Kent State Sweatshirt that looks bloodstained.
The Kent State Massacre was in 1970, 44 years ago. How long will it be before this isn't the initial thought when looking at clothing? Are some symbols or reminders never able to be forgotten or should be forgotten?
In the case of the sweatshirt, I highly doubt that most people under the age of 25, the age demographic Urban Outfitters caters too, would consider the Kent State Massacre when they look at it. I could be wrong. But the cultural dissonance aspect is something I am curious about discussing.
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur