Quote:
Originally Posted by Sephiroth
The ESL thread got into debate about football being part of British culture. This post in that thread sums up where we got to.
For the purposes of this thread, it doesn't matter whether or not football is part of British culture (I certainly think it's part of our heritage). My main motive for starting this thread is to discuss the proposition that our culture will be submerged by others over time.
Some of this debate may turn on "culture" vs "heritage". Some of this debate may turn on diversity and whether or not that dilutes our culture.
In the linked thread, Chris wrote (my emphasis):
There we have it. "Culture" vs "heritage". Something that passes down the family is definitely in the "heritage" class, 'right under my nose' which I can't see!
My main contention is that our culture is under threat from other cultures, particularly any that are intransigent and antithetic to the Judeo-Christian element of our culture.
Incidentally, it may be interesting to boil British culture down to a common denominator. I've mentioned Judeo-Christian which could be argued taking atheism into account. In a liberal society, culture evolves with experience and possibly brainwashing (see woke-ism for details); I doubt that's the case with certain other cultures.
So what do you all think?
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It's impossible to discuss this meaningfully without a working definition of 'culture' we can agree on. As you have started off the thread by completely missing the point of my earlier post, we're not off to a good start.
Let's start by clearing that up:
Do you understand what a 'cultural artefact' is, and why a cultural artefact may or may not also be part of your heritage?
What is your working definition of 'culture'?
Full disclosure:
My first degree is in archaeology. Discussion of material culture and the interpretation of it, in pursuit of vanished cultures, a speciality.
My second degree (will be) in practical theology, unless I mess up the dissertation I'm meant to be writing this afternoon, which, coincidentally, is on the subject of how long-term exposure to visual storytelling (film and TV, with my specific examples drawn from Hollywood) affects the way spoken sermons are received by church congregations. My dissertation is being marked by a specialist in cultural theology, because that's the area I'm working in. The Hollywood summer blockbuster is both a builder of, and a mirror for, culture. As is Anfield on a Saturday afternoon.
Which is a very long-winded way of saying that I have spent a ridiculously large amount of my life contemplating what culture is, and how we relate to it, but also that I don't sadly have much time this evening to contribute here.