The Myth of American Culture
Living in Europe, I often hear negative comments about "American culture". Can't say that the criticisim is without foundation. Seems like European TV broadcasts Porky's I, II, III, etc., at least once a week and seeing the underwear of young men wearing ill-fitting jeans is almost unavoidable in most major European cities.
What inspires the criticisim of American cultural imperialism is easy to pinpoint -- U.S. commercial media's conquest of "foreign markets". American pop entertainment is pervasive. I've been to remote islands in the Philippines and still been unable to escape MTV.
The reality though, in my opinion, is that the concept of an American culture is a myth. The United States is acultural. "Acultural" doesn't appear on dictionary.com but you will find it in usage as meaning, "without culture".
The United States was created on the spot. It is a "legal' entity", a conceptual thing and not a nation that resulted from an historical and cultural tradition. It was designed as a neutral zone in which people could be free to exercise and practice their particular cultural heritage without undue interference from a government.
Apple pie, baseball, and hip hop are no more representative of "American culture" than are rice, soccer, and flamenco. Whatever number of Americans happen to enjoy a particular acitivity that some consider an American "tradition", such as baseball, you can rest assured that an even greater number of Americans prefer something completely different. There are more children playing soccer in the U.S. than Little League Baseball.
"American culture is superficial and materialistic." That's a sentence often repeated outside of the U.S. The truth is, commercial entertainment and advertising exported from the U.S. are superficial and materialistic, but still found appealing on foreign shores by their target market -- those looking for superficial and materialistic entertainment or products.
I try to convince my friends here that more children in the U.S. are tucked away in their rooms practicing the cello than spending their parents' money at malls trying to look like Britney Spears, but never underestimate the power of Porky's II. There's some truth to the phrase, you are what you export.