Does it feel like culture has died and there's only politics now?

Sometimes Yeah said:
It's hard to find any music, art, movies, or conversations not tainted with a lot of annoying politics. It almost feels to me like a normal conversation isn't possible anymore.

I just want the simple enjoyment of whatever is beautiful, interesting, uplifting, etc to be back without the cloud of politics hanging over everything.

Just wondering if anyone else feels the same.
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It sometimes depends on what you consider political. A political topic to one person could be another person's reality. Today I met an interesting person I could have talked to all day. They talked a lot about art and literature, and their connections to famous artists and writers. They also talked about moving out of Philly when the MOVE bombing happened. They are Black and lived in that neighborhood, so this was a pretty deep conversation and one some would call "political". It's just life to this person, though.

I have a friend who was part of the resistance to overthrow the Czechoslovakian government and was a refugee. They are personal friends with Václav Havel. The resistance passed information via art, music, and poetry. When my friend talks about this it is just their life.

Art, music, and literature are often political, both overtly and subtly. Even pictures that seem harmlessly "pretty" can support stereotypes or have agendas. The ideals of a country or government, beauty standards, expectations for society, inclusion or omission, ethics, and morals.
 
noisebloom said:
There's some "standard" out there that determines whether a country is considered "developed". If I recall correctly, the U.S. just barely met the mark, not having many of the structures in place that other developed countries have. This is just one example of something people here are angry about.

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Oh come on, you realize people living in the United States are better off than poor farmers in Guatemala who don't have access to indoor plumbing. You've got to have some understanding of the great wealth the United States has in comparison to the MAJORITY of the world. In most cities in India, the power is constantly going out. They don't have near the infrastructure we do; they can't handle providing electricity to all of the citizens they have.

The things that we're complaining about, most of the world doesn't have. Even if Somalia or Uruguay had universal healthcare (they don't) because of the wealth inequality of their country it's nothing compared to the United States. Nothing. Even the shittiest hospital in the United States is better than the average hospital in Pakistan.

We're talking about poverty. The majority of the world lives in extreme poverty. Take the average American salary and compare it to the average in South American countries. There's a real difference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage
United States is consistently ranked in the top 5 in all of these lists in comparison to the entire world.

You live in a country where, on average, you earn more than 95% of the rest of the world with only 4 counties ahead of you, depending on the list. Income inequality in America is a different story than income inequality in Ethiopia. Standard of living is totally different.
 
slant said:
Oh come on, you realize people living in the United States are better off than poor farmers in Guatemala who don't have access to indoor plumbing. You've got to have some understanding of the great wealth the United States has in comparison to the MAJORITY of the world. In most cities in India, the power is constantly going out. They don't have near the infrastructure we do; they can't handle providing electricity to all of the citizens they have.

The things that we're complaining about, most of the world doesn't have. Even if Somalia or Uruguay had universal healthcare (they don't) because of the wealth inequality of their country it's nothing compared to the United States. Nothing. Even the shittiest hospital in the United States is better than the average hospital in Pakistan.

We're talking about poverty. The majority of the world lives in extreme poverty. Take the average American salary and compare it to the average in South American countries. There's a real difference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage
United States is consistently ranked in the top 5 in all of these lists in comparison to the entire world.

You live in a country where, on average, you earn more than 95% of the rest of the world with only 4 counties ahead of you, depending on the list. Income inequality in America is a different story than income inequality in Ethiopia. Standard of living is totally different.
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Right, and I'm grateful for this, but it's hard to compare developed countries with undeveloped countries when it comes to infrastructure. I've had several people from other developed countries visit here and express their surprise at how little the government here takes care of its people.

I don't sit around every day complaining about America, but I do think about how we could be doing things better. My job requires me to continually think about how things could be done better, so for better or worse, that's become part of who I am.

It's also worth noting that my parents grew up in a third-world country and pretty often bring up how concerning it is that America lags behind the developed world, and they have the perspective of truly understanding poverty in a poor nation.
 
noisebloom said:
Right, and I'm grateful for this, but it's hard to compare developed countries with undeveloped countries when it comes to infrastructure. I've had several people from other developed countries visit here and express their surprise at how little the government here takes care of its people.

I don't sit around every day complaining about America, but I do think about how we could be doing things better. My job requires me to continually think about how things could be done better, so for better or worse, that's become part of who I am.

It's also worth noting that my parents grew up in a third-world country and pretty often bring up how concerning it is that America lags behind the developed world, and they have the perspective of truly understanding poverty in a poor nation.
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Huh. I don't really know what to say to this because sure there's issues and progress is great but I'm also not that focused on it. I try to focus on my personal goals and daily life. I definitely want to volunteer more in the community but it's hard during covid. I have used my money in ways to help out during covid to keep people fiscally supported. But that's pretty much the extent of it, I focus on what is more around me in my communities that I belong to as opposed to national politics.
 
It has been like this for a while but as everyone has seen and experiencing it has taken a turn for the worse, typically when such happens to this extent years of real suffering and societal instability to fallow. All in all it really has sucked the life out of so many things it is unreal and r.i.p there being any good movies and tv shows.
 
Wyote said:
Can you elaborate? o_O
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I think the other people in this thread have already said it basically. I think that when their arguments fail people are trying to inject their stupid beliefs into the world of fiction. Transforming movies/TV/games etc. Into preachy garbage. It only changes the minds of the dumbest and most impressionable people and just wrecks these things for the rest of us.

There's always been politics in art but it's not ever been this obnoxious and obvious before. This is just my opinion on the matter anyways.
 
Reason said:
I think the other people in this thread have already said it basically. I think that when their arguments fail people are trying to inject their stupid beliefs into the world of fiction. Transforming movies/TV/games etc. Into preachy garbage. It only changes the minds of the dumbest and most impressionable people and just wrecks these things for the rest of us.

There's always been politics in art but it's not ever been this obnoxious and obvious before. This is just my opinion on the matter anyways.
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Ah right, ok. Yea, it's illegal to be entertaining in 2020.
 
Reason said:
Ah ok.

Yes, fun is cancelled.
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You nailed it in your previous post.

There's a mindset, which I really cannot understand, which seems to think something like this:
(might be a bit straw man or exagerrated)
"My ideas are so true, self evident, logical, and good, that anyone who doesn't agree with them is either not understanding them, is ignorant of them, or is evil."

And that mindset seems to think if they very explicity insert their ideas and message into some entertainment, and people actually grasp it, they will automatically embrace it.

(again excuse how straw man, oversimplified or innacurate this caricature might be).

I see that mindset in people who will quote a scriptural verse, then wait to see if you utterly accept it, and if you don't, they conclude that you are one of the damned.

I also see that mindset in people who take a hot movie franchise, and make the an installment expressing their beliefs and ideals, expecting it to break through some barrier which has kept people from understanding certain ideals. And if people don't embrace them, the conclusion is that those people are "evil".

What fails to be grasped by both the religious enthusiast with a pamphlet of scripture quotes, or the movie producer with a very politicised script, is that people may all agree entirely on a list of 100 good propositions, but they will prioritise some things more than others.

As much as culture can die, when there is a heavy, distrustful religious zealotry in society; similarly, culture is destroyed when there is a heavy and distrustful political zealotry permeating what should be creative, imaginative, and extremely wide-horizoned.
 
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