America is essentially a business culture in nearly all aspects of life. As such, social interaction is confined within closed cliques, usually established early on in life in one's high school and college years. Otherwise, communication with strangers is usually for business related purposes only (e.g. customer service, business transactions, sales, etc.)
Therefore, if you don't have an established clique of friends, or you are new to the area, you are basically F***ed socially for who knows how long (unless of course you are super attractive, involved in the entertainment industry or allied with the rich and successful).
The social nature of such countries is very conservative (despite the media image of America being a wild, free, open, extroverted culture). People live in structured routines, whether it's social or professional, and life is more of a business than a passion. Everything is highly compartmentalized into a proper time and place.
But passion is what opens people up truly to connecting with others, including strangers. Business does not, and instead treats communication as purely for business related purposes. American culture is the latter of course.
In addition, such socially closed workaholic countries are segregated, driven by fear and paranoia by their media and social consensus. People are conditioned to fear every stranger as a potential psycho or killer, despite the reality of how safe their environment really is, and fed daily news stories that reinforce that myth. It's a form of social mind control to keep the population weak, subservient and working and consuming.
And of course, since most people are natural followers, rather than freethinkers or leaders, they will conform to that, for they assume that authority and consensus = truth, rather than the actual truth itself.
In fact, the corporate elite have a vested interest in limiting your social relationships, family life, and creativity or passions, for if you have too many friends, good social relationships and/or spend too much time cultivating your passions and creative pursuits, then you will have less time for industrious work and productivity, which America sees as the purpose of your life. You see, your life is a business resource to America, a commodity, measured in terms of productivity, not passion. Thus communication and relationships between strangers are generally confined to business related purposes.
America's goal is for you to remain a "happy slave", productive and efficient. To do that, it must maintain the illusion of freedom in your mind. But it definitely does NOT want to encourage you to pursue things like passion, creativity or deep human bonds and relationships. No way. Such things are counterproductive to its goal of keeping you a "happy slave" whose life is "all business". That's why America teaches a system where such things are highly compartmentalized, limited or suppressed. To America, the economy is number one, NOT your soul!
So what can you do about that? Well you can expose it and bring awareness to it, like I'm doing here. And you can tell yourself everyday "I am a human being! Not a business resource!" But the most important thing is for you to place yourself among groups, movements or cultures that are conducive to life of freedom, passion and rich human connections and relationships. There are alternative, counter culture and hippie-type movements in the US for instance, that support a life free of "the system" where you can meet like minded others.
Or you can go to overseas cultures where passion and camaraderie are still regarded as the focus of life, rather than cold hearted business and closed cliquishness. (I will provide some examples below) There are many cultures abroad that are far more open, relaxed and inclusive, where people are not segregated by "ice barriers" or paranoia. I've experienced many of them and can vouch that they are a world of difference. But the US media doesn't want you to know about them of course, so you will not hear about this on mainstream channels. For many, this has been a happy fulfilling and permanent solution to the misery, stress and loneliness of America.
But you'd better hurry though, cause America is in a rush to try to turn the "cultures of passion" out there into cold business-like cultures like itself! So you'd better pray that it fails in its attempt to "globalize" the world into a carbon copy of itself.
Here are examples of cultures where passion, creativity, expression and human camaraderie are the focus of life and enjoyed to the fullest, where people are more socially open and less cliquish:
- Latin America, Mexico, Russia, Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Holland, Mexico, Southeast Asia, The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.
Now here are examples of cultures where people are less socially open and more cliquish, where business is the aim of life and workaholic lifestyles are idolized, where passion, creativity and social lives are suppressed or restrained:
- America, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Finland, Norway, etc.
Of course, other cultures lie somewhere between both these categories.
But keep in mind that people fit in differently in each culture, and have different experiences that will vary. There is no "one culture fits all".
The important thing is that you choose a culture or atmosphere where your INNER matches your OUTER environment. In other words, if you are shy, conservative, socially closed or cliquish, as well as a workaholic, you would vibe best in cultures that reflect such qualities (e.g. Japan, Taiwan). But if you are open, passionate, sociable, relaxed and carefree, you'd fit best in cultures dominated by such traits (e.g. Latin America, parts of Europe). Otherwise, a mismatch between your inner self and outer environment is not a good thing. It will weaken you in the long run and not allow your natural self to come out or bring out the best in you.
Sincerely,
Winston
Sincerely,
Winston
See Also:
More cultural comparisons at:
As a former world traveler I have to agree 100% with this article. The US is way too conservative and we are easily one of the most socially regulated countries in the world; you need permission to do this, a license to do that, you have any number of social taboos that are openly accepted and even legal in most other countries, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the premise that we are all commidities of production. When was the last time you watched the news and heard the American people referred to as anything but worker, taxpayer, or some other commodity of production? I suppose it is why I have always admired indigenous cultures and societies, because they tend to have low productivity and place more emphasis on things such as family, community and personal relationships; values we have traded in exchange for seductive materialism that requires the intentured servitude mentioned in this article.
I'll never forget my first trip to Ecuador when I told my mother how much I admired the culture for their emphasis on traditional values such as family, community, etc......I was told that "Well, of course; those people have nothing else!"....I thought and still think it was an ignorant thing to say, but if it is true, then what does that say about people in general - that the more materialistic we become the less "human" we become, increasingy void of empathy, passion, solidarity, etc? I realize now of course that I was just an oblivious Gringo; their people are just as greedy and worldy as our own; perhaps even more so, but there is still a romanticism present that is void in American culture and society. We've sold our souls.
This is a great post about the American way of life. You are a consumer, not a human being with thoughts, feelings and emotions (that's how corporate America feels about it's workers).
ReplyDeleteIn surveys about which countries have the happiest people, America usually is ranked near the bottom. That speaks volumes about how Americans really feel about their life.
It's true about how you need to make your friends early in life in the US. Trying to make friends once your out of school is very difficult.
The American culture is lonely and the best thing to do is save your money and travel to foreign countries and find another country to call "home."