Jara being conservative and cranky
Oct. 26th, 2004 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
woodfaceI wonder where belgian - and in a way our Western European - culture is heading. WWII and the 60's have beaten the dominant position the catholic church used to hold in our society. Religion has taken the backseat so much so that I do not even question that place, it comes natural, seems natural. While Europe politically strives (and fails?) to become one identity, the same movement is making people more conscious of their nationality. However, Belgium is the most unpatriotic country I can come up with. The culture is taken for granted, seems to be unvalued and looked down upon. At the same time there is an influx of American culture that it is sickening. Television and music are 80% dominated by anglosaxon/american media, 18% by reality television that shows the decline of intelligence to be inversely proportional to the former statistic.
Now that halloween is approaching, Jara is once again shaking her head and bemoaning the decline of culture and the americanisation of Europe. We should NOT follow a (commercialised) american tradition that has its routes in OUR culture. It is not because movies and television show halloween as being fun, that we have to copy it. Neither do we have a need to have a Santa Claus. We have our own traditions and we should stick to it. Saint Nicholas will bring the children toys on december 6, with Christmas the family will exchange presents (Santa will not come down the chimney in his cheap wannabe custom), at twelfth night our children can dress up and go singing door to door to get candy or some money. We have a rich culture, an old culture. Why do we have to push it aside (because every year fewer kids do come around to sing anymore, Santa appears in our shops when Saint Nicholas is still around,...)? I hate to think that 15-20 years I'll be one of the few people refusing to open the door on halloween.
Now that halloween is approaching, Jara is once again shaking her head and bemoaning the decline of culture and the americanisation of Europe. We should NOT follow a (commercialised) american tradition that has its routes in OUR culture. It is not because movies and television show halloween as being fun, that we have to copy it. Neither do we have a need to have a Santa Claus. We have our own traditions and we should stick to it. Saint Nicholas will bring the children toys on december 6, with Christmas the family will exchange presents (Santa will not come down the chimney in his cheap wannabe custom), at twelfth night our children can dress up and go singing door to door to get candy or some money. We have a rich culture, an old culture. Why do we have to push it aside (because every year fewer kids do come around to sing anymore, Santa appears in our shops when Saint Nicholas is still around,...)? I hate to think that 15-20 years I'll be one of the few people refusing to open the door on halloween.
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Date: 2004-10-26 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 06:21 pm (UTC)I have forbidden my mom to open the door for kids or give them anything but she didn't listen last year. *mutters*
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:18 pm (UTC)I LOVED visiting Belgium! So pretty and the money exchange blew my culture shocked mind. Also, Hercule Perot comes from Belgium. ::loves:: Chocolate and cream and fun things to see, omfg!
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:20 pm (UTC)And when? Might have been pre-Euro ;o)
Dude, I'm catching up with soapgate. Jack has been a complete ass and I feel like kicking him HARD.
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:22 pm (UTC)It was pre-Euro, I was a little 14 year old tyke - thus the culture shock was insane. But lovely.
HE IS! I hate him so much but to his credit, he keeps stuff going and it's starting to get fun to hate him. ^_^
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:24 pm (UTC)Damn, I miss the belgian franks. In euro's everything seems so cheap and I buy way too much DVD's.
Dunno, I don't like hating Jack. *frowns*
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:27 pm (UTC)MMm. mmovies. ::needs season three but not till late november, liz!!::
Yeah, I went through a stage of hating soapgate for making me really hate jack (like REALLY REALLY HATE HIM) - especially because he abuses my character like WHOA - and I couldn't handle it.
So I had to step aside, watch a lot of season four, and then realize, it's okay. it's just an rpg. have fun.
(but like, yeah, it was interrupting my sam/jack love and that's, like, UNSEEMLY)
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:29 pm (UTC)The thing is, I hate parody. So I need to be in the right frame of mind to be able to read it. *thwaps Jack for good measure*
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 07:18 pm (UTC)Wow, I'm up to speed again. Jack is having major issues indeed.
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Date: 2004-10-26 07:19 pm (UTC)Poor rpg!ass!Jack...
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Date: 2004-10-26 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:11 pm (UTC)::eats chocolate herself then::
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Date: 2004-10-26 08:12 pm (UTC)*supplies belgian chocolates*
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Date: 2004-10-26 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 06:31 pm (UTC)Okay, that was glib, but in all seriousness, you go, girl! You *should* be proud of your country and everything it has to offer. I has to be really frustrating to watch your national identity being eroded by the influx of American crap - most of which *is* crap. Dude, I don't even like it.
Yay for Belgian Fries!!
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 08:22 pm (UTC)Varies from year to year. *g*
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Date: 2004-10-26 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 06:34 pm (UTC)It just seems that in the last 10 years a lot is being americanised. It's weird and I don't think it's an improvement. Also ironic as we like to critise the american government but take in other elements of the culture.
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Date: 2004-10-26 06:49 pm (UTC)HA!
It just seems that in the last 10 years a lot is being americanised.
Yep. I think it's happening all over the world.
It's weird and I don't think it's an improvement.
I don't doubt it.
Also ironic as we like to critise the american government but take in other elements of the culture.
Yeah. Do you know if anyone's done a study about it? I really can't get into the mind of someone from another country, so I'm not sure exactly what about American stuff is so appealing.
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Date: 2004-10-26 07:17 pm (UTC)Probably *frowns* Would have to look into it. I think it's a simple matter of being exposed to it through the media. Most films are set in America and as more people seek entertainment as a way of escapism, the culture probably has a certain appeal too.
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Date: 2004-10-26 07:29 pm (UTC)feeling evil here...
Saaaanta Clause is comin' to town!
Saaaanta Clause is comin' to town!
*runs*
Re: feeling evil here...
Date: 2004-10-26 07:17 pm (UTC)Re: feeling evil here...
Date: 2004-10-26 07:23 pm (UTC)*CHOMP*
Mmm... Have you been eating chocolate? You are what you eat, you know.
Seriously, you're right to stand up for the integrity of your culture.
Re: feeling evil here...
Date: 2004-10-26 07:26 pm (UTC)And I think so too ;o)
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Date: 2004-10-27 02:00 pm (UTC)You bemoan this fact about your country, but I find the excessive patriotism amongst some of the factions in my country to be frightening.
At the same time there is an influx of American culture that it is sickening. Television and music are 80% dominated by anglosaxon/american media, 18% by reality television that shows the decline of intelligence to be inversely proportional to the former statistic.
At least we didn't invent reality telivision. :) But yeah, I'm continually... amazed/appalled by the way in which cultural colonialism is storming the globe. Criminy.
...a (commercialised) american tradition...
I'm all for cultural integrity, don't get me wrong, but I actually tend to think that, in America, Halloween is the least commercial and most genuine holiday we have. It sells a lot of candy, sure, but there is a spirit of giving in the holiday here that we just don't see in even Christmas. I have a friend who moved here from Bosnia, and she was absolutely stunned on her first Halloween, amazed that there's one night of the year where parents allow their kids to run around in the dark and don't utterly freak out over safety and actually trust their neighbors and give generously to each other... Our neighborhood just comes alive on Halloween that it doesn't at any other time of the year, and participation does seem centered around the joy of dressing up and the gifting/receiving of what are meaningless bits of foil-wrapped chocolate.
So, while I can understand not wanting it to infiltrate your culture, I can't see it as a bad commercial holiday... and as for how it's rooted in other cultures... well, yeah! Our country is only 200 years old. Everything we do is rooted in other cultures. I'm not even sure we *have* our own culture in any meaningful way. We just chop up other cultures and process them. Like cheeze whiz.
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Date: 2004-10-27 02:22 pm (UTC)Oh, too much patriotism certainly isn't good but some might not hurt us (belgians).
At least we didn't invent reality telivision.
Wasn't it the Netherlands who came up with Big Brother? Either way, I feel like shows like that show the worst side of humanity (er besides war etc).
About Halloween, perhaps it is less commercial in the US. The only reason I can come up with that they are trying to launch it here, however is commerce. It is used as a theme for parties, showing of movies, selling of costumes and decorations. I do get that it is great in the US to have that whole neighbourhood being alive thing, but fact remains that it's american and we should not go introduce it here just because it looks cool on television or because stores see a way of selling more things.
While the US had needs to come up with a cultural identity and used other traditions for it, Belgium has no such need. We have plenty of traditions but seem to be willing to forget those and just walk after a culture that had to borrow everything. And that doesn't come out the way I intend it to be, I'm just slightly frustrated over it.
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Date: 2004-10-27 03:53 pm (UTC)For the record, I'm in favor of a traditon that gives kids candy or money for singing. We have Christmas caroling, but that's a random thing; there isn't one night where lots of people go out singing. Very cool.
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Date: 2004-10-27 03:54 pm (UTC)