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Originally Posted by Little32
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?
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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
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.
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