In my opinion, popular culture isn’t truly culture as there is no diversity, no defining elements that make a society unique. It’s a means for Westernization more than anything, and a way in which those of status (in the typical use of the word status, not the sociological sense) can reinforce their dominant ideologies of what should be the goal of every person… wealth, power, and prestige (as Max Weber deducted back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). Everyone feels pressure that has been created by this ‘pop culture’ to be important in the world, while fitting into what is deemed popular. What I find intriguing is that here in North America and northern Europe (where pop culture is so prevalent), there is a major emphasis placed on personal attainment and status within the society, while areas of Asia, Africa and South America (where the North American phenomina of ‘pop culture’ isn’t so present) focus on group goals and the society as a whole, or connectedness if you will. I think that says a lot about the influence of something that shouldn’t be considered culture. I feel it sort of strips us of our true culture… the different elements we bring from our heritage and history, and how we go about our daily lives. Now, since this so called pop culture is literally everywhere, from print media, to TV, on the internet, books, news papers, journals, music, film, and even food (McDonalds… Starbucks) it’s kind of hard to escape it… blanketing our world with meaningless things that have been created to enforce a sort of uniform ‘culture’. I’d like to turn on a TV and see something that enriches my knowledge of the world… especially since we live in a society that claims diversity.

I rambled again…

Oh gosh, I would never need an apology for hearing your thoughts. Isn’t that the point? A dialogue? Before all this internet business got started, the ironically titled “social media” I bemoaned television’s destruction of the art of conversation. That is not to say, however, in the spirit of the article to which you are replying, that TV in itself does not engender much discussion – but one wonders about the homogeneity of that discussion when we are all referencing the same damn thing.

My interest is in the variety that culture should bring to our lives. This thing we call Pop Culture is in fact quite the opposite – a popularity contest fraught with status anxiety (a term coined by and the title of an excellent book by Alain de Boton) that is much smaller than we would ever care to admit.

This was much longer than I meant it to be, I apologize. I do realize it would have been much easier, and perhaps more appropriate to have merely said that I agree with you. Again, this novella was not intentional, I’m very sorry.