Please correct me if I am wrong, I understand that, although the myths place Zeus and the other gods on Mount Olympus, it was not the mountain as we know it, but rather a different dimension — a divine realm inaccessible to humans. Is it fair to think of Olympus more as a symbolic and sacred plane, set apart from the earthly world, even if it was associated with a concrete geography?
Excellent discussion Anya and Sheehan, thank you. I have read the book and really enjoyed it and learned much. I have had the good fortune to have seen many of these present day cultures and have to say the book brings an informative and exciting edge to them. It is an excellent written work.
As an Anthropology Major at University i would consider the definition of culture as defined by Franz Boas Margareet Mead Branisl a w Malinowski and the entire British School of Social Anthrology ,
Culture can be removed from a society simply by eliminating Civil Society. If that happens what you are left with is Government and the Individual. This is the plan. Historically speaking, all tyrannical and totalitarian regimes have sought to eliminate Civil Society because it was and remains the only source of freedom and cultural flourishing, and its existence has represented the one thing that stands in the way of absolute power and control over the people. Government cannot create culture, it can only support or undermine a free culture. An individual, acting alone and in the absence of societal freedom and civil interaction, can neither create nor sustain culture. This tautology makes it easy to see why the globalists seek to eliminate culture by eliminating Civil society(embodied within sovereign, national states) anywhere and everywhere they find it. Said another way, if it’s a freedom thing, it’s in the crosshairs.
Interesting points - and certainly a lot to contemplate... I'm not certain I agree that governments can't create culture, though I think it would be important to stipulate first that not all culture is good or positive for people. For those who lived or experienced the Soviet Union, for instance, would recognize very Soviet culture - whether it was the type of food halls or the fusion cuisine or the style of art and propaganda... to this day it is very recognizable and there are even nostalgia restaurants in the former soviet union.
I would suggest that the Soviet culture was, to the extent that it was “Soviet” and not “Russian” or “Polish” or “Hungarian”, fake culture. It did not come organically from the people or from their free association. It was a construct designed to maintain order and control as dictated by those in power. As you point out some aspects of Soviet life appeared to be cultural in nature, but they were either allowed by the State or perhaps in a some cases forced by the State, they did not originate as genuine culture within the Soviet state apparatus. I suppose this gets to the definition of culture. My definition(not suggesting it is the only definition) is that culture is that which comes naturally out of the free association of a civil society and includes the unique habits, customs, art, cuisine, language and activities of a cohesive group or sovereign nation. This definition excludes government as a necessary condition other that for the protection of the freedom of individuals to form a culture. Government can enable or disable the flourishing of civil culture through its policies and actions. It may also go so far(as in tyrannical or totalitarian regimes)as to create fake(non-civil) culture to further its purposes, but I believe this is in fact quite rare. The real culture in China includes little to nothing created by the CCP, unless you call compliance with the dictates of the surveillance state Culture(I would not). It is axiomatic to me that governments can never create authentic, grass roots culture. A benevolent government should be looked on as being part of the culture(as in the historical eccentricities of the British Parliament, as an example).
This reasoning is a major reason why societies die when you are left with nothing but the State and the Individual, truly a very dangerous development.
I certainly agree with you on all your observations and as you accurately point out, it comes down to the definition of culture. I think from the conversation with the @The Cultural Tutor we started with the premise of much broader definition for culture. I think unfortunately it’s hard to untangle government and politics completely from culture (who built, after all, the Parthenon? Or many of the large works throughout history… church and state).
если отходить от штампов и эмоций то можно заметить что культура не появилась сама по себе а она скорее всего создавалась разными людьми и время ее появления не возможно зафиксировать ни на карте ни на временной шкале много предположений и кстати а что тут делают деньги не усугубляют ли они разрыв между людьми
Excellent conversation! I love it!
Please correct me if I am wrong, I understand that, although the myths place Zeus and the other gods on Mount Olympus, it was not the mountain as we know it, but rather a different dimension — a divine realm inaccessible to humans. Is it fair to think of Olympus more as a symbolic and sacred plane, set apart from the earthly world, even if it was associated with a concrete geography?
вряд ли культуру можно понять сразу она для этого на мой взгляд слишком сложна для понимания
I just started watching. Don't have time to see it or comment. I really like that you are shaking things up. I will catch the rest later tonight.
Excellent discussion Anya and Sheehan, thank you. I have read the book and really enjoyed it and learned much. I have had the good fortune to have seen many of these present day cultures and have to say the book brings an informative and exciting edge to them. It is an excellent written work.
Glad you enjoyed it!
As an Anthropology Major at University i would consider the definition of culture as defined by Franz Boas Margareet Mead Branisl a w Malinowski and the entire British School of Social Anthrology ,
What is the definition? I would love to read it.
Culture can be removed from a society simply by eliminating Civil Society. If that happens what you are left with is Government and the Individual. This is the plan. Historically speaking, all tyrannical and totalitarian regimes have sought to eliminate Civil Society because it was and remains the only source of freedom and cultural flourishing, and its existence has represented the one thing that stands in the way of absolute power and control over the people. Government cannot create culture, it can only support or undermine a free culture. An individual, acting alone and in the absence of societal freedom and civil interaction, can neither create nor sustain culture. This tautology makes it easy to see why the globalists seek to eliminate culture by eliminating Civil society(embodied within sovereign, national states) anywhere and everywhere they find it. Said another way, if it’s a freedom thing, it’s in the crosshairs.
Interesting points - and certainly a lot to contemplate... I'm not certain I agree that governments can't create culture, though I think it would be important to stipulate first that not all culture is good or positive for people. For those who lived or experienced the Soviet Union, for instance, would recognize very Soviet culture - whether it was the type of food halls or the fusion cuisine or the style of art and propaganda... to this day it is very recognizable and there are even nostalgia restaurants in the former soviet union.
I would suggest that the Soviet culture was, to the extent that it was “Soviet” and not “Russian” or “Polish” or “Hungarian”, fake culture. It did not come organically from the people or from their free association. It was a construct designed to maintain order and control as dictated by those in power. As you point out some aspects of Soviet life appeared to be cultural in nature, but they were either allowed by the State or perhaps in a some cases forced by the State, they did not originate as genuine culture within the Soviet state apparatus. I suppose this gets to the definition of culture. My definition(not suggesting it is the only definition) is that culture is that which comes naturally out of the free association of a civil society and includes the unique habits, customs, art, cuisine, language and activities of a cohesive group or sovereign nation. This definition excludes government as a necessary condition other that for the protection of the freedom of individuals to form a culture. Government can enable or disable the flourishing of civil culture through its policies and actions. It may also go so far(as in tyrannical or totalitarian regimes)as to create fake(non-civil) culture to further its purposes, but I believe this is in fact quite rare. The real culture in China includes little to nothing created by the CCP, unless you call compliance with the dictates of the surveillance state Culture(I would not). It is axiomatic to me that governments can never create authentic, grass roots culture. A benevolent government should be looked on as being part of the culture(as in the historical eccentricities of the British Parliament, as an example).
This reasoning is a major reason why societies die when you are left with nothing but the State and the Individual, truly a very dangerous development.
I certainly agree with you on all your observations and as you accurately point out, it comes down to the definition of culture. I think from the conversation with the @The Cultural Tutor we started with the premise of much broader definition for culture. I think unfortunately it’s hard to untangle government and politics completely from culture (who built, after all, the Parthenon? Or many of the large works throughout history… church and state).
если отходить от штампов и эмоций то можно заметить что культура не появилась сама по себе а она скорее всего создавалась разными людьми и время ее появления не возможно зафиксировать ни на карте ни на временной шкале много предположений и кстати а что тут делают деньги не усугубляют ли они разрыв между людьми