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Sir, I am no young kid. I am a person who knows a good city when I see one. I feel like I am experienced enough to recognize what is letting a culture down and what its strong points are.
If you thin that posting these observations is offensive to your fine sensibilities regarding these cultures, I would ask you to consider for a minute that every culture is capable of improvement and every culture is something different from the next.
Why do you insist on attacking me when I am simply contributing to this effort through this discussion board?
You are a fake account pretending to be a American (New yorker), I believe you are actually in NSW.
Your history is clear for everyone to see, stop playing the victim
I realise I'm a late entry here, but I'd say it's subtler than saying 'Australians are more like Britons'.
Our low culture is very similar to that of England, though it's less violent. That is, ill-educated and vice-prone people in Australia resemble, in language, bearing and behaviour, their counterparts in England. This is not a good thing.
Our high culture, which is sadly miniscule, resides mainly in the inner cities of our capitals. More than anywhere I've been, it resembles the high culture of the Pacific Northwest of the States.
The mass of our suburban culture isn't really like anything else in the world. It's altogether less conservative than South-Western suburban culture in the States, even though the consumption habits of the two are identical. It's more poorly educated than the suburban working class in England or the North-East of the US. Canada is a wild-card here.
On the whole, we have less cultured, less economically liberal (in the Hayekian sense), less educated, but surprisingly less credulous, populous than either Britain or North America.
Honestly, though, we're nitpicking. All Anglophonic countries are extraordinarily similar compared to other cultures -- even Western European ones.
I realise I'm a late entry here, but I'd say it's subtler than saying 'Australians are more like Britons'.
Our low culture is very similar to that of England, though it's less violent. That is, ill-educated and vice-prone people in Australia resemble, in language, bearing and behaviour, their counterparts in England. This is not a good thing.
Our high culture, which is sadly miniscule, resides mainly in the inner cities of our capitals. More than anywhere I've been, it resembles the high culture of the Pacific Northwest of the States.
The mass of our suburban culture isn't really like anything else in the world. It's altogether less conservative than South-Western suburban culture in the States, even though the consumption habits of the two are identical. It's more poorly educated than the suburban working class in England or the North-East of the US. Canada is a wild-card here.
On the whole, we have less cultured, less economically liberal (in the Hayekian sense), less educated, but surprisingly less credulous, populous than either Britain or North America.
Honestly, though, we're nitpicking. All Anglophonic countries are extraordinarily similar compared to other cultures -- even Western European ones.
Not sure I agree with the cultural desert tone of your reply. I doubt the average American, Canadian or Brit is really more likely to go the the opera, ballet of a classical concert than their Aus counterpart. Seriously.
As for "low culture", I find interacting with the typical UK back packer or recently arrived UK tradie extremely hard work. Not just understanding what they're saying, but getting my head around their view of the world and the way they see things. To me its a very different, very European, take on things. But this debate is all about perceptions I suppose.
Last edited by Richard1098; 07-30-2013 at 02:38 AM..
Not sure I agree with the cultural desert tone of your reply. I doubt the average American, Canadian or Brit is really more likely to go the the opera, ballet of a classical concert than their Aus counterpart. Seriously.
That's true, but those things, while important examples of cultural sophistication, are not really indicative. They're bloody expensive, for a start. I'm drawing from broader indicators:
The nature of television and radio: the ratio of thoughtful to vulgar productions, and the market penetration of each
The existence of publications like the NY/London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and Foreign Affairs, and their per-capita readership
Quote:
But this debate is all about perceptions I suppose.
Very true.
Last edited by compactspace; 07-30-2013 at 03:28 AM..
As for "low culture", I find interacting with the typical UK back packer or recently arrived UK tradie extremely hard work. Not just understanding what they're saying, but getting my head around their view of the world and the way they see things. To me its a very different, very European, take on things. But this debate is all about perceptions I suppose.
What's a very European(more specifically EU) take on things?. I can very safely say the French and the British are chalk and cheese culturally, and when you consider the largest European economy German...... its astonishing they agree on anything, Europe is not a country!
I think the British are being stereotyped a little in this thread, Australians should know better as they are often unfairly stereotyped around the world in a less than flattering light.
What's a very European(more specifically EU) take on things?.
I suppose the way to describe it describe it is listen to the types of comment that Europeans make about Australia, and just flip them round 180 degrees. Things like the "she'll be right" attitude, the "brash", "direct" "over-confident" way of dealing with other people, the supposedly strong "egalitarianism" and "irreverence" for authority here.
I certainly wouldn't say that all European countries are the same; but most of them have more than a few things in common in their history and evolution. They are all very old cultures, that missed out on the "new start" that the new world enjoyed for example.
That's true, but those things, while important examples of cultural sophistication, are not really indicative. They're bloody expensive, for a start. I'm drawing from broader indicators:
The nature of television and radio: the ratio of thoughtful to vulgar productions, and the market penetration of each
The existence of publications like the NY/London Review of Books, the New Yorker, and Foreign Affairs, and their per-capita readership
Ever watched Fox TV or read the old British tabloids?
On the whole, we have less cultured, less economically liberal (in the Hayekian sense), less educated, but surprisingly less credulous, populous than either Britain or North America.
By every metric we are more educated than Britain or the US. We actually rank equal first in the UN's education index (with NZ and the Scandos).
I'm not sure I'd agree we are less economically liberal than Europe or North America either. The Heritage Foundation (that bastion of free market libertarians) consider Australia to be the third most economically free country in the world after HK and Singapore.
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