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Undertoad · 08-25-2007, 02:13 PM

*blush*

But anyway back to the original question, I think we as a society are in trouble, because we are increasingly judging people by smaller and smaller criteria until we can only associate with people just like us.

I work with people from different cultures every day, and they are fine warm people with excellent senses of humor. Nigerian, Indian, Japanese. The different cultures amaze me. What also amazes me is what we don't have in common. And how important it is, or isn't.

As people talk with my co-worker Sudatta, they say things that I realize she doesn't quite "get". Someone said "I hate that elevator music" and I saw the comment go without acknowledgment. And I thought about it: the term "elevator music" is going out of use, since they actually rarely play music in elevators nowadays.

So not only has Sudatta not heard the term, but she has never experienced music in an elevator. But it's worse than that. When you stop to think about it, the entire idea, that there would be a form of music strictly for elevators, is totally bizarre!

So I tried to explain it: ok, they used to broadcast simpler versions of popular songs on elevators... simpler versions... which some people preferred, but which more, uh, cultured people, disliked, because they were simpler versions... and then this became a form of ridicule...

Wow. To us, the term "elevator music" conveys so much, culturally, that it's brutally difficult to convey it in mere words. Where we struggle to say "what is reggae", "what is elevator music" is even worse, because there are deep cultural notions involved.

But what if you're in the culture? Even then, each decade likes different things and sees art and entertainment from their point of view. A 20-something will see Springsteen as this over-the-hill folksy political guy, while a 40-something will seem him as the savior of an original form of rock, a hero to their sensibilities.

Does that mean that I, an American, can't be friends with the Nigerian / Indian / Japanese / etc or with 20-somethings or 60-somethings or 80-somethings. No, I find for me it doesn't prevent being friends, because the things that I rank in importance aren't so cultural, I don't need too much validation, and I don't have a very big pool.

08-25-2007, 02:13 PM	#10
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	blush But anyway back to the original question, I think we as a society are in trouble, because we are increasingly judging people by smaller and smaller criteria until we can only associate with people just like us. I work with people from different cultures every day, and they are fine warm people with excellent senses of humor. Nigerian, Indian, Japanese. The different cultures amaze me. What also amazes me is what we don't have in common. And how important it is, or isn't. As people talk with my co-worker Sudatta, they say things that I realize she doesn't quite "get". Someone said "I hate that elevator music" and I saw the comment go without acknowledgment. And I thought about it: the term "elevator music" is going out of use, since they actually rarely play music in elevators nowadays. So not only has Sudatta not heard the term, but she has never experienced music in an elevator. But it's worse than that. When you stop to think about it, the entire idea, that there would be a form of music strictly for elevators, is totally bizarre! So I tried to explain it: ok, they used to broadcast simpler versions of popular songs on elevators... simpler versions... which some people preferred, but which more, uh, cultured people, disliked, because they were simpler versions... and then this became a form of ridicule... Wow. To us, the term "elevator music" conveys so much, culturally, that it's brutally difficult to convey it in mere words. Where we struggle to say "what is reggae", "what is elevator music" is even worse, because there are deep cultural notions involved. But what if you're in the culture? Even then, each decade likes different things and sees art and entertainment from their point of view. A 20-something will see Springsteen as this over-the-hill folksy political guy, while a 40-something will seem him as the savior of an original form of rock, a hero to their sensibilities. Does that mean that I, an American, can't be friends with the Nigerian / Indian / Japanese / etc or with 20-somethings or 60-somethings or 80-somethings. No, I find for me it doesn't prevent being friends, because the things that I rank in importance aren't so cultural, I don't need too much validation, and I don't have a very big pool.