What would modern discussion and understanding be without Wikipedia?

I weep for journals and books. They get so lonely. :(

But seriously, if you think I needed a source to read for my own knowledge then you are completely missing what's going on here. ;)

We pretty well covered what was relevant to the conversation at hand.

It's not my responsibility to respond to any inane and irrelevant question that she asks, she's welcome to be a stubborn and baiting ass all she wants, just don't expect an answer unless it's a tangent I feel like going off on.

If she refuses to see the answer, which we have phrased 14 different ways, it's not worth anybody's time.

No Wikipedia for my students; that would be grounds for resubmitting the assignment.

This has been a fun little time waster. Of course, now I have to do the work that I was supposed to be doing. :)

And this, I believe is what Chaos was trying to get at. (She will correct me if I am wrong.) So what, then, is the "true" definition, and are we really going to hell in a handbasket?

That's not true; my students labor under this misperception all the time. You do have to provide support unless you want your opinions to be read as random rantings. If that is your goal, then have at it.

Okay. Keep fighting the good fight.

Well, you've certainly spent the last few pages not answering my question. But you did well at trying to answer or convince me that you did answer. Good job.

/end transmission

Oh, so she wanted wealthy white college student in the Deep South? Fine, there's her culture. If that's the background you need to understand 6 pages of solid arguments, then there you go. If you're just being obtuse under the pretense of trying to facilitate critical thinking, then I'm done.

Right. What is "culture" is less opinion-based but what is American culture can be very opinion-based. If you talk to some people, American culture is includes bigotry and the culture declined as soon as certain race, gender, and sexual orientation groups began having a voice.

Long arse conclusion below :D

The point is, whenever I talk to people about forms of deviance, many will reference American culture and moral decay. If you ask them what "culture" means and specifically what "American culture" is, many stutter and struggle. They usually will say "founded on Christian values" or "Bible wielding" or "we work hard." It's usually an emotional response based on exposure rather than one based on an overall knowledge and understanding, which is perfectly fine as long as people are honest. And it's fine if people want to attach religion and hardwork as fundamental components of American cultures, although that will vary and isn't an exhaustive list.

But these same people don't stutter and struggle when it comes to expousing certain viewpoints on moral decay and race, gender, social class, and sexual orientation minority groups. Then if you ask them whether there are people of minority groups who are Bible wielding Christians who work hard, they often struggle to find another reason why "these people" are contributing to cultural decay. I always say have whatever viewpoints you have but don't feel threatened when someone asks questions. It's not personal, it's discourse. No one can steal your viewpoints from you but anyone can ask you to explain it. Whether you do so is your business but these are things to consider. It's a healthy exercise to make sure you aren't just pulling opinions out of your ass for everything. :)

OK, but then don't get mad when your ideas are defined as such.

Your cohort is right, you were under no obligation to even attempt to respond to Chaos's question, but you did because you believed that what you have to say is true and should be defended; now you just have to work on the method of that defense.

Why do I feel like I am in class?

Ok. And there's my definition.

And to save you the trouble I define family values as being raised with a strong set of moral convictions in a two parent household with parents of the opposite sex.

If you claim that the above = American culture, then we were done before we started.

Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, I present to you the classic case of the superiority complex. Especially the teacher. They're not going to accept any answer you or I give because they would be sacrificing their perceived intellectual superiority.

You people are ridiculous, you're cornering and putting them down because they don't believe in what you do.

You ever notice how none of these ridiculous cult sects are found anywhere in the South?

These things are the decline of American culture, many people claiming to be the messiah, but sexually molesting people. All these ridiculous child abuse, the amount of murders of people over the money in their wallet. When illegal immigrants are getting more from the government than the people actually paying for all this? Why should I bust my ass making all kinds of money just to give it to some poor bum on the side of the street because he can't make an honest living like every other working class american? I shouldn't have to pay for someones mistakes because some hoe can't keep her legs closed. When people come in our country, and then hold marches in our country begging to become legal, they really have no LEGAL right to do this because they aren't LEGAL citizens. How Puerto Rico gets to help elect MY president. How you can have NAACP but if I had anything exclusively for protection of white rights, then it would be racist. To require a company to employ a certain number of minority people even though they may not be the most qualified. This is the decline of the American culture.. What's next? It must end somewhere, or the United States is going to become a Wild West show where people are going to be able to whatever they please because we might offend someone.

This may get be banned, so be it, this is how I feel.

That's not my claim at all, but that seems to be what you want. If it makes you feel like a winner then fine. You have all the information, now digest it.

And I'm quoting this just for posterity. If that ain't an answer straight from the heart, nothing is.