h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

' . . . a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot.'


-- Robert A. Heinlein, 'Friday', chapter 23.


I don't always agree with the old lecher, to say the least, but it looks to me like he nailed this one.

i would not like to comment on this

a yogurt pot has more culture than me

Then you can just off!

which cultre do you mean?

individual countries? regions? of the vast US inspired Cocaola/MTV western civilized cultre?

I think I mean the vast US inspired Cocaola/MTV western civilized cultre.

After all, what other culture do you and I, for example, actually share?

the power of yeast

we share a common heritage and head of state, language, though your side of the north atlantic are more linguistic T-H-A-N, W-E, A-R-E!!!

is the death of cocacolaism a bad thing??

Well, yes. There is that culture of course. But that one continues to be warm, polite, and effervescent.

maybe globalisation has been its own downfall

when we were all different we were polite to each other, so we didn't cause embarassment to either side from the inevitable fux pass

now we all have this cocacloaization we don't feel the need to be as polite because we are all the same culture and we know all the rules so we don't have to pussy foot around each other in case of causing offence

look at when you travel these days

spain tourist areas all day breakfast/full english with chips and pints of boddingtons or mcdonalds, and of course traditional paella

maybe we would be better off with individual cultures

'when we were all different we were polite to each other'


This is exactly the point I try to make about why multiculturalism seems to work in Canada. You may know that we have a reputation for being absurdly polite (it's true, for the most part. I regularly receive an apology from my victim when I bump into them or step on their toes, and never a day goes by that either I almost fall over holding a door open for someone behind me or someone in front of me does the same for me). But what is less known is that from way back before the beginning, this place has been a patchwork of cultures, and, in the 1960s there was an apparent legislative and public relations campaign by the Federal Government to ensure that we would continue to be a patchwork (renamed a 'Cultural Mosaic' in contrast to the 'Melting Pot' to the south) into the future. The current state is that everyone is a member of a minority. Such a situation is, I suspect, conducive to politeness and a strong desire to get along with one's neighbours.


But then, although I've certainly visited, I've never made a home anywhere that wasn't Canada in the post-1950s.

that is a state to be cherished

us on the otherhand are all faceless US wannabes

the american dream failed somewhere along the line but everyone still wants it and now all it does is corupt those seeking it and those it is forced upon

I read an interesting thing today. Seems our (right wing, U.S.ophile) Prime Minister was trying to rescind the regulation we have here which requires news media to avoid outright lying. But our regulator said 'screw that! We don't want (Murdoch's) Fox News broadcasting here. It's bad enough that Canadians can look at that crap on the web!'

That was a relief, let me tell you!

Harper does worry me a little. But we hear so little about Canada over here that it's easy for you guys to slip off the radar.

The English haven't really had a culture that I've been aware of (being a young 'un). No real nationality, no sense of belonging or patriotism. Not that there aren't pockets (how else would we recruit for our armed forces!), but in general, we are a mess of individuals, not a nation.

There is still some of the politeness culture in prisons, but I think that is because of the environment we are in, with doors to be held open and comraderie a must to make it a decent place to work.