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The Forum > General Discussion > A Question On Culture.

A Question On Culture.

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We in Australia are a fortunate bunch.
We enjoy a high standard of living and all the relative freedoms inherent in living in an advanced western society.
But do we still possess a culture in the true sense of the word?
What does it mean to be Australian in the 21st century? Is our way of life and are our traditions in danger of morphing into a standardized global model of western cultural expression?
What can we hand down to our children in the name of Australian culture as a definitive template for this and future generations?
Posted by Poirot, Saturday, 12 December 2009 2:25:17 PM
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Cultural wasteland. Boring. Personality is a four letter word.

With globalisation and the internet you can offend so easily outside your borders so always watch p's and q's. Jokes that made fun of ourselves are now politically incorrect. Thinking is actually politically incorrect.

Drive around the towns they are all facsimile of the town before dominated by familiar building and business.

University just brainwashes students for corporate cultural compliance.

There will be a revolution. When I do not know. We just drink ourselves silly in the meantime.
Posted by TheMissus, Saturday, 12 December 2009 6:59:55 PM
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Poirot,
IMHO this question is a bit like asking 'what colour is star light an is it all the same?'

As any half baked amateur astronomer would point out no two stars are exactly the same. and as for the colour that largely depend on how, when, where and what you are looking for.
I liken culture to white light from a star, if viewed through a prism or spectroscope (closely) few if any culture is pure but a composite of many each contributing to a unique 'fingerprint' that differentiate even those from similar origins. That's basic evolution.

It thereby seem that focusing on 'maintaining' any culture ad infinitum can only be achieved in total isolation (Japan C17, some tribes in the wilds of PNG) and even then circumstances will cause it to morph from what it originally was.

Australian culture has never been pure anything. Contrary to some perceptions even the aboriginal Australia was a composite. Therefore, from an objective level, the question is largely moot.

As for will it remain Anglo-Saxon dominated, in the long run I doubt it. What ever it become it will retain it's fingerprint. Simple logic dictates that as different cultures are absorbed unavoidably change to the point that neither will remain as it was.

Is that bad ? As someone raised on the cusp of other cultures, I don't see it so. Evolution dictates we adapt (change) or perish. Personally I favour the adaption. I don't think that the Aussie cultures (attitudes therein) are all that hot anyway.
Posted by examinator, Saturday, 12 December 2009 7:11:42 PM
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Poirot,

Enjoy,

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au
Posted by Cornflower, Saturday, 12 December 2009 8:11:10 PM
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Cornflower,

That should have been 'enjoy it while you can'. See:

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/closure/


All,

That's where you will be taken if you click the very first link on the page to which Cornflower provided a link. Come to think of it, how come they mis-spell cultcha? Then again ....

So there you have it, Poirot. An open and shut case.
Posted by Forrest Gumpp, Saturday, 12 December 2009 8:53:04 PM
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Goodness gracious FG you are right and it was all in the innocuous small print.

Has Keating’s Creative Nation become a cultural banana republic? Has our house been sublet so extensively that it is no longer recognisable as our own?

Keating, “To speak of Australian culture is to recognise our common heritage. It is to say that we share ideas, values, sentiments and traditions, and that we see in all the various manifestations of these what it means to be Australian … [Culture] is the name we go by, the house in which we live. Culture is that which gives us a sense of ourselves.”

I don't really mind the guvvy portal being aborted because I was a little tired of hearing about that cricketer, the war mistake that cost thousands of lives and that stupid thief in the Milo tin headgear.
Posted by Cornflower, Saturday, 12 December 2009 9:37:54 PM
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