If we really want to, we can live in a culture that is better than what we have now. We can create an actual culture with richness and depth, meaning and joy.
Right now, what we call “culture” in the United States is basically what is fed to us on TV programs and establishment movies, which in turn are influenced by the corporate world. Through them, we are taught to seek material goods, live fast and frenzied, expect to have a large circle of friends (none of whom, including ourselves, seem to hold down any jobs), and never, ever take time to slow down, think, ponder, relax, create, question, or step out of the little box we been given to live our lives in.
That’s not culture. That’s propaganda.
But what more, really, can we expect from the corporate culture, the world of the parasites that needs people who are smart enough to do the job, but not so smart that they ask questions; who have enough money to buy goods so that the corporations make money, but not so much that we make meaningful purchase decisions to literally enrich our lives; who are kept constantly busy – not really doing anything of importance or meaning to us – so that when we get home at night all we want to do is glue our eyes to the screen and obey the advertisements?
But culture, genuine culture, involves real people, not imaginary ones – ordinary, genuine people, not celebrities whose major accomplishment is that they’re famous because they’re promoted. In genuine culture, the food we eat isn’t from boxes and bags. The songs we sing aren’t churned from the music industry. The books we read aren’t printed versions of movies. The things that matter to us, the stuff we talk about, isn’t the next candidate for the next election in which our single most important act – the pinnacle of what we call democracy – is to cast one vote. Which . . . may or may not be counted.
If we’re bored it’s because our culture is boring, and if our culture is boring it’s because it’s not shaped by real, genuine people living good, honest lives, but by Big Business, Big Finance, and Big Politics, none of whom are interested in human beings, and human culture, at all.
Thank you for joining me at This Woman Writes. I incorporate the artwork of my husband, Steve Henderson, with thoughts on truth, goodness, life, light, and hope. Click on the image in the article to purchase prints or products featuring the artwork. Find all of Steve’s prints at SteveHendersonCollections.com.
Posts complementing this one are:
Don’t Let the Parasites Define Who You Are