Consumer Culture

[Christopher Carrion]

A friend of mine and I were recently waxing philosophical on the differences between American and British society, differences which, when I first discovered them, came as something of a shock to me owing to the fact that we share an (arguably) common language. One of the key differences both of us have noticed is American society's penchant for ideological extremism. British people by their nature tend to generally find extremism of any kind threatening and abhorrent, whether it be the religious tirades of Stephen Green and his ilk or the Nazi-like posturing of the B.N.P. American culutre by comparison seems to be pervaded and largely polarised by a number of vying ideological groups, each of which demonstrate the kind of immovable extremism that seems to have earned the nation its less than flattering global reputation in recent years.

 

In this regard I am not simply referring to intrinsically intense arenas such as politics or religion (although they are prime examples of the characteristic; the animosity between the Republicans and Democrats, between "conservatives" and "liberals" seems to have, in recent years, split the country squarely down the centre, and that's before we even dip our footsies into the broiling cauldron of religious division). Take a look at the sub-cultures in your local community; the segregation of blacks, gays, lesbians, hispanics, etc etc, and the various, highly stylised (and therefore "elite") sub-cultures that have grown up around each. My friend described this phenomena in consumerist terms, describing America as a "lifestyle marketplace" in which people effectively "purchase" a particular ideology by which they might define themselves culturally and/or psychologically, and due to their peculiar investment in the product defend it with the same rabid, gun-totin' enthusiasm with which the "American" stereotypically might defend their home or worldly goods. Herein lies the root of the peculiar proclivity towards extremism that seems to permeate and, for many that have the benefit of an external perspective on the phenomena, define the nation's internal machinery.

 

This goes a long way to explaining the peculiar animosity that exists the many and various religious perspectives in American culture. I can see why sites such as this are necessary; another startling difference between American and British society is the profusion of organised religion and its political significance. However, that doesn't stop it being largely symptomatic of the same polaric extremism and isolationist tendencies that, from an outside perspective, seem to have reduced American society to ideological ribbons.

 

Not that I have a better solution mind.

[rising_L]

I also think you should take into consideration the population of each society. America has approx 200million people living there, Britian 60 million.

 

There may be the same ratio of fundies etc to non-fundies in both societies. I think that if britain had 200+ million population we would have the same preoblems as the US?

 

Another factor is that our leaders (I'm from britain (well Ireland really)) do not claim to be doing Gods work at any point?!?!

[♦ ficino ♦]

 

 

Another factor is that our leaders (I'm from britain (well Ireland really)) do not claim to be doing Gods work at any point?!?!

 

hey, rising_L, are you from the Rep. of Ireland or the UK? Anyway, I thought Tony Blair, a Catholic convert, claimed some sort of guidance from God in prayer before deciding to invade Iraq.

 

One of the things about the US is, many of the extremists in England in the 1600s wound up emigrating here! There was a huge amount of religious and political polarization in England during those years - remember Cromwell, execution of Charles I, Roundheads vs. Cavaliers, weird "dissenting" Protestant sects, Charles Fox having his visions, etc. etc. I'm wondering whether the creation of the American colonies by these sorts of puristic groups, esp. in New England, helped siphon off a lot of the extremism from England and replant it here. The whole myth of America ties into people's utopian dreams. The Brit notion of "muddling through" is not what you're satisfied with when you are surrounded by a history of idealism.

[Ex-COG]

One of the things about the US is, many of the extremists in England in the 1600s wound up emigrating here! There was a huge amount of religious and political polarization in England during those years - remember Cromwell, execution of Charles I, Roundheads vs. Cavaliers, weird "dissenting" Protestant sects, Charles Fox having his visions, etc. etc. I'm wondering whether the creation of the American colonies by these sorts of puristic groups, esp. in New England, helped siphon off a lot of the extremism from England and replant it here. The whole myth of America ties into people's utopian dreams. The Brit notion of "muddling through" is not what you're satisfied with when you are surrounded by a history of idealism.

 

Maybe England got it out of their system back then, and now it's America's turn to learn to "muddle through"? Let's see, what new land can we send our fundies out to populate? Iraq? *cough* Nah, we've caused enough pain and damage to those poor people. I vote we send them to the moon instead.

[Amethyst]

My friend described this phenomena in consumerist terms, describing America as a "lifestyle marketplace" in which people effectively "purchase" a particular ideology by which they might define themselves culturally and/or psychologically, and due to their peculiar investment in the product defend it with the same rabid, gun-totin' enthusiasm with which the "American" stereotypically might defend their home or worldly goods. Herein lies the root of the peculiar proclivity towards extremism that seems to permeate and, for many that have the benefit of an external perspective on the phenomena, define the nation's internal machinery.

 

That does sum it up rather well. Religion is pretty much a business, but it's an unregulated one.

 

The only subculture I tend to fit into is the geek one these days...heh.

[Christopher Carrion]

My friend described this phenomena in consumerist terms, describing America as a "lifestyle marketplace" in which people effectively "purchase" a particular ideology by which they might define themselves culturally and/or psychologically, and due to their peculiar investment in the product defend it with the same rabid, gun-totin' enthusiasm with which the "American" stereotypically might defend their home or worldly goods. Herein lies the root of the peculiar proclivity towards extremism that seems to permeate and, for many that have the benefit of an external perspective on the phenomena, define the nation's internal machinery.

 

That does sum it up rather well. Religion is pretty much a business, but it's an unregulated one.

 

The only subculture I tend to fit into is the geek one these days...heh.

 

 

I just found it a rather interesting and acutely apt use of terminology. It does seem to me that history has a rather large part to play here; Britain has suffered an immense amount of trauma (mass cullings of supposed "witches", civil wars, coups, executions, etc) in the name of religion, which pretty much predominated every aspect of the society for nigh 2000 years. Although many are not specifically aware of the historical details, it does seem to me that there is a pervasive cultural distrust and extreme distaste for extreme religion here that those who exercise such characteristics don't seem to comprehend or appreciate.

 

As for Britain sharing a similar percentage of fundamentalists and/or extremists than the U.S, then if that were so, we would be facing the same political and socio-cultural problems owing to the population and territory differential you mentioned. The raw fact of the matter is the attitudes towards religion and ideological extremism in general are very different here than they are in the U.S. The only problem I can see is that the traditional British policy of "live and let live" may actually give the fundamentalists the necessary space and tolerance to put their political agendas into practice.

[♦ ficino ♦]

The only problem I can see is that the traditional British policy of "live and let live" may actually give the fundamentalists the necessary space and tolerance to put their political agendas into practice.

 

This is disquieting, yes. It sounds as though that problem is especially acute in The Netherlands.

[Christopher Carrion]

To be honest, I've only just noticed it recently, but there does seem to be a disquieting proliferation of American Style Evangelist groups here in Britain; my only hope is that people here are distrustful enough of religious extremism to stand against them if they start getting too big for their boots.