Losing the Culture

 I don’t remember it firsthand but there was surely a time in this great country of ours when we had culture. There was surely a time when men of all social strata took their wives to the theatre (live theatre, not the movies) or to the opera. I’m sure there was a time when museums were relevant. I’m willing to bet that books were discussed. I bet ideas were shared and dissected. I’m sure there were spirited debates around water coolers and on construction sites. I’m sure there was a time in this country when people could tell you who the first president was or who the speaker of the house was. I don’t remember such marvels, but I have no doubt they were real.

It’s impossible to believe that we always sat in waiting rooms or in restaurants staring at devices, at street fights and clever cats, at the same stale jokes being repeated over and over again. There was a time when we engaged one another in conversation. This cannot be the stuff of imagination. This was real. I’ve heard about it. I’ve seen photographic evidence. I’ve read of times before social media made us less social.

The problem with the lack of culture in our country is that its departure left a vacuum and that vacuum was filled with garbage. We discussed world events, now we discuss protests without ever really understanding the heart of the matter. In fairness, it seems most of the protestors don’t know what they’re taking their stand against. We watch one news network instead of another. We choose our news sources not because they are reliable in their reporting but rather because they are reliable in their ideological rigidity. We don’t want to hear the truth, we want to have our biases confirmed. 

The result is that we become part of a tribe. We are told that our side is good and the other side is evil. We are constantly bombarded with promises that the end of whatever we hold dear is imminent. We are scared and we are helpless and as a result we are angry. We are angry at the politicians we didn’t vote for and we are angry at the people who put them in power. When our guy wins, it’ll be the other side’s turn to complain about us and so on and so forth and you get the picture.

We have lost our culture because we have given up control. We aren’t involved in the decisions that affect our lives. We vote in our delegates and they pretend to have our interests in mind but they don’t answer to us; they answer to the donors, the big money, the lobbyists. We give them the job, but they answer to someone else and that someone doesn’t give a damn about us.

We can restore our culture. We can live in a world where there is no conflict, where neighbors don’t hate each other over their political differences. It’s when we are aware of the damage the government can do to us that we become embittered and intolerant. If the government were reduced to its intended size, i.e. big enough to serve our needs but small enough to be controlled and even contained by the citizenry, we will know peace and prosperity.

The problem of big government and the disappearance of culture is not a uniquely American problem. This has happened all over the world. Rather than working across borders to make the world smaller, we build walls around our country and around our homes and our minds and make the world bigger and more frightening and this is what the elites want. Worse, it’s what they have convinced us is in our best interest. As a result, we fight our neighbors and we worship far off personalities that don’t care for us and profit from the division they sow.