I think it's worth noting that "monoculture" is not entirely due to corporate stranglehold on assets, but is also a result of our increased capacity for long-distance communication. Cultures can no longer develop in relative isolation, from neighboring cultures or from remote ones. And that also has ups and downs, but it's an inevitability we have to deal other than by complaining (not trying to call anyone a whiner, just saying that we can't really be pro or con this development).

i think you guys are missing the bigger issue in all of this.
what looks like the beginings of my first mega thread.

I agree. Although some place in Louisiana just got the telephone last year. It'll be another hundred years before they have DSL.

But you would admit that there are a lot less "regional hits" in radio today because radio stations are by and large programmed at the corporate and not local level?

And I actually think that the technological advances that have brought more people into the overall culture is a good thing. I mean just look at the different locations of people on this board.

But do you have more in common with people from Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Finland and Paraguay than you do with people from the States?

Many houses in Beacon/Newburgh, NY, until only a few years ago, had to dial a switchboard operator to place an out-going call.

You have no idea how huge The Wrens are in Burkina Faso. It is truly a phenomenon to behold.

Right. And I think that regulation should protect the ability of localities to enter these markets, and right now it probably does not. But at the same time, often the creep of "monoculture" is as much a result of communities failing to band together as it is the fault of corporations trying to bowl them over.

Holy fuck, people. Speaking as an outside observer: TRUST ME, AMERICA HAS A CULTURE. You might not like it. You might be too close to see it. But the fucker is there, with a pawprint so big you can see it from space.

Are you some kind of fag?

well, actually the Telecom Act allowed companies to come into cities and buy up stations without limits as to how many they can own. The community can't really do much in that instance except for boycotting the stations and their advertisers.

THAT's what I'm talking 'bout!

good point, technology is the driving force behind all of this. i guess i just think we can still have all the benefits of national mass communication while still attempting to preserve local culture. not just because it's local, but because it provides for a diversity of opinions and works against the concentration of power. there's a lot the fcc could do--stricter ownership rules, more public interest programming, requiring cable stations to give up some time to local shows, et. i guess i just don't think the public interest is best served by concentrating ownership of the media in the hands of a few huge corporations.

i'm right there with you, esp. when it comes to media ownership. i'm encouraged, though, by the slow death of terrestrial radio.

what the f are you talking about? you dont know all of my politics and would probably be suprised at some of them - on some i am very liberal, some libertarian, some conservative. a candidate who had all of my views would never get elected but i dont give a fuck. i have my beliefs and I am not going to compromise them just to get someone elected. i am not a politician. you guys sure have a chip on your shoulder about this whole southern thing and it gets pretty old.

This talk is pretty funny, tho.

Watch VH1's "I love the 70s/80s/90s" you will notice 2 things:
1) Everyone has a cache of similar memories resulting from the culture at large.
2) Much of this stuff would be derided 'round these parts as "OPEN GARBAGE" and dudes like Rads, Billz and FSpoon would rattle off 109637867836 albums from any of the years they throw out that are better or more relevant that whatever the commentators are talking about.

This has pretty much always been true.
If anything, I think Bloor is on to something when he says that a lot of the technology lets people in isolated areas get access to the underground type entertainment.

And if regional culture is dead, explain Williamsburg/DFA or Montreal/Arcade Fire..

As do you, yet we don't usually shit in every thread about Northwesterners. Your sense of superiority is astonishing.

Just cos some dudes who like to drink Corn Liquor took you behind the shed when you went to Raleigh, don't take it all out on us, Ned BEatty.

i just use it as an example as it is the only place i have lived that is different from here/in the south. i actually liked living there ok except for the people.

...stole my thunder.

Go abroad, for more than a week. Live outside the US. Spend a few months wearing wierd clothing, working some wierd job, cooking strange brands of spaghetti.

Then one day, a couple of americans walk into the store you're in, and before they open their mouths, you know where they're from.

Forest, trees and all that.

C'mon, Loogs, there's no superiority in rparis' post. He's talking about regional similarities. And he's right. The cultural differences between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland are fairly negligible - whereas a journey across the continent, whether it be to Raleigh or Toronto, presents a pretty solid culture clash. It's in those cross-continent journeys that you discover the common cultural elements are mostly what's been promoted by mainstream media.

there was a bit of superiority in my 2nd post there, but that was intentional. i should have said baltimore i guess.

it is true what cap'n said - when i was in italy i could pretty easily pick out the americans. it was mainly the sweatshirts, the girth, and the sneakers.

There's a HUGE spread between people in this state who grew up 100 miles outside the capital in a town of 2,000 vs madisonians, much less WI vs GA. Any way you wanna slice it... voting history, gun ownership, accent, clothing, etc. Madison is not all that big (250k) but you find yourself in bizarre, awkward conversation sometimes when a friend brings a friend to dinner, and that new person is from the sticks. (Looking at menu) "Gross, what IS all this stuff?" and it's like fish tacos or something.

When you say things like "Except for the people"

and then hold up Guatemalan culture as something that should be conserved over dressing like an average american, you might as well be Cecil Rhodes.

Dude has a major problem with the area of the country we're from. And it gets old. Much older than our defense of it. I would think that after almost 2 years of exposure to 4-6 of the most moderate to liberal and politically astute Southerners in the country, he would stop painting us all with a broad brush.

And, if you read my posts in this thread, I think I'm pretty well versed in local v. mass culture.[/i]

I got real frustrated in germany when I lived there. Before I said a word, shop owners would say "good morning, can I help you?" in english. I'd answer in very good german, they'd come back in english. Back and forth. I kept wondering what gave me away, and figured out that about 75% of it was my baseball hat. I bought a local one (Borussia Dortmund), but still... they don't wear hats.