I really need help with this! There's something that bothers me, that weights on my mind like a rock or... Back to Puff Daddy. Yo!

Oh btw Icon, I have been in the States. Were you ever in Flanders? If not come over for a beer ;-)

While the influence of American culture may be criticised, the fact is that people in various climes and regions choose to accept it and make it a part of their lives. So perhaps the criticism may be just as appropriately be leveled at they who so willingly adopt both the good and the base elements in American culture.

From time to time, the world has adopted a common language, a linga franca, to allow for better communication between peoples. During the Pax Romana and in the medieval period, it was Latin that served that function. French has been the language of diplomacy during much of the modern era. As the British Empire expanded to North America, to India, to Australia and NewZealand and parts of Africa creating a commonwealth upon which the sun never set, it carried with it political values and the English language. The scientific,technical, economic, and political advances made by these English speaking peoples, particularly in the US and in Great Britain further intensified an international reliance on English for communication to the point where every civilised person generally knows English as a second language. In addition to the hegemony of the English speaking people in the world of affairs, the language itself seems to allow the addition of new words and descriptions more easily than some others.

I really need help with this! There's something that bothers me, that weights on my mind like a rock or an undigested hamburger. It is something I hardly dare to articulate, let alone communicate, because it seems so irrational, so emotional and old-fashioned, so pathetic and mediaeval. It has to do with cultural pride and with the notion of cultural imperialism. It has to do with language and with cultural identity and cultural repression, particularly in relation to small countries. It has to do with me, being what and who I am, a dutch-speaking Fleming, and not a Dutchman, nor a Greek, nor an American. My town is in Flanders Europe and I repeat that I am NOT an inhabitant of the States, that I am NOT a fellow American, and that I do not even wish to be American, though this may feel for many Americans like a punch on the nose or a refusal to be human. No, I happen to live in a small and very old town in a European region whose language and culture have been oppressed for centuries, and this often in a very crude and unpleasant way.

But when I try to communicate that to an international audience, when I try to get rid of that trauma, there is hardly a response, there's no rejection or commentary, there's not even yes or no. Everybody seeming to blush and looking to the ground as if I was doing some insane and shameful act, as if I was exhibiting certain parts of myself or continuously shouting "Heil Hitler!". I once told a wise American on this Forum about the continuous and century-old struggle of my language and culture, and he answered: "Do you want some cheese with that w(h)ine?". Once it were the Romans, then it were the Spanish, then it were the French, and now -call me crazy or paranoid- I feel it to be the Americans!

For some reason some postings in this Forum feel strange and unfamiliar to me, their relevance being limited to the States, their preoccupations and intentions being hardly my business. And yet this is an International Forum, there must be tenths of nationalities around. Is it because I'm a non-American that I see the World's Culture as an immensely rich and colourful quilt, of which each culture is only a small patch? Why do I feel that the Americans rarely seem to realize that there is so much beyond their own cultural horizon, let alone appreciating it and exploring it for what it's worth? It may seem like blasphemy but I don't want the States and what's happening there to become my primary concern. My main concern is what's happening in my small country and what's happening in the world. In fact I'm often afraid of American culture, for me it sometimes feels like a steamroller or like an army marching in. Hamburger joints, American music, American movies, American clothing, American technology... America is everywhere. Can I declare here that I resent that influx of American culture in my country? That I want to protect my own "small" culture or what's still left of it? Ok, I stop the bull and cut the crap. Back to Puff Daddy. Yo!

Hello again,
I am actually quite passionate about the globalisation of America & can fully understand the sentiment of the original post (despite the previous Simpsons reference), I am English born & bred & like many Englishmen proud to be so & while concerned about our slow advance into Americanisation choose to follow a perspective implanted by my father, he used to refer to America as & pardon the language "a bastard nation", not as I feel as a derogatory term but as a pure description. What he was implying was that America as a nation is young & without a core historical identity, from this I view America as the "worlds child" & like any child its elders keep a watchful eye on it & often with distaste as human nature seems to vocalise the negative more than the positive, this is I feel why America draws so much attention to itself. I accept that this view is deeply flawed as in reality so many ancient cultures have been thrown into the mix that a cultural richness can only result given the time but I do find this a comfortable vantage point.
On the flip side I am extremely passionate about keeping all cultures around the globe alive, I think it is so important for us all to be aware of all the cultures of the world & to learn from them all in the advancement of our own, it saddens me very much to see cultures die such as Amazonian tribes & the invasion of Tibet for example, I feel that so much knowledge & perspective is lost in the world in this way, this may be a selfish opinion on my part as after all many tribesmen are turning to western ways out of choice & ease of living with the technological advancement that this provides, but I still like to know that these cultures are there, imagine how awful it will be to one day turn on the national geographic channel to find that all the countries of the world look & act in the same way.
On a heftier note I am more concerned about the globalisation of china but that I shall keep the finer points of that to myself as its more economics & power than culture that worries me there.
I often wonder though .....Do starbucks do tea? I have never been able to bring myself to go in & find out.
TTFN folks
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