Honestly? My pet conspiracy is that this is more than just Americans being cultureless slobs, but fully intentional.
Unless you live in NYC, LA, SF, and maybe Seattle and Chicago. All coincidentally little rich people only islands, you probably live in a culture desert. Nothing fun or engaging to actually do, just boring slop for the poors while the rich party it up in the big cities they claim are for the effete and decadent. While the actual small towns the working class are stuffed into look like shit and feel like shit.
I cant speak for anyone else, but honestly LA is boring as shit too. And most of us are just scraping by - I’m grateful for the culture but we ain’t all rich and decadent. Its entirely possible to migrate to the city (i came from Ohio) but don’t expect anything except higher bills and better food, imo.
True pretty much everywhere no, to greater or lesser extents? Bigger cities hoover up culture, both because money attracts it and then because artists and the like want to be around others like themselves, leaving smaller urban areas or rural areas to be relative cultural vacuums.
Honestly found it even more noticeable in developing countries like China. Smaller cities, even with millions of people in them, have little cultural beyond KTV and Mahjong and hotpot, because art and music and creatively-minded young people in general all end up moving to Beijing and Shanghai and some of the more lively provincial capitals.
I’d say western Europe does on the other hand avoid the trap, just because it’s been wealthier for longer so there’s been time and money to invest in culture in smaller spaces. China will follow this trend in the few decades I’d imagine, the US maybe not.
It’s not that there’s nothing to do, it’s that the stuff to do costs money. You don’t need physical alienation when social and cultural alienation work just as well.
This is not entirely true. I live near a college town and there’s always shit going on. It’s not like it’s Broadway or famous bands from the 70s coming through but we have stuff to do. Now, if you live in a <50,000 person town and it’s the biggest town in the region, you’re probably fucked.
Honestly? My pet conspiracy is that this is more than just Americans being cultureless slobs, but fully intentional.
Unless you live in NYC, LA, SF, and maybe Seattle and Chicago. All coincidentally little rich people only islands, you probably live in a culture desert. Nothing fun or engaging to actually do, just boring slop for the poors while the rich party it up in the big cities they claim are for the effete and decadent. While the actual small towns the working class are stuffed into look like shit and feel like shit.
I cant speak for anyone else, but honestly LA is boring as shit too. And most of us are just scraping by - I’m grateful for the culture but we ain’t all rich and decadent. Its entirely possible to migrate to the city (i came from Ohio) but don’t expect anything except higher bills and better food, imo.
True pretty much everywhere no, to greater or lesser extents? Bigger cities hoover up culture, both because money attracts it and then because artists and the like want to be around others like themselves, leaving smaller urban areas or rural areas to be relative cultural vacuums.
Honestly found it even more noticeable in developing countries like China. Smaller cities, even with millions of people in them, have little cultural beyond KTV and Mahjong and hotpot, because art and music and creatively-minded young people in general all end up moving to Beijing and Shanghai and some of the more lively provincial capitals.
I’d say western Europe does on the other hand avoid the trap, just because it’s been wealthier for longer so there’s been time and money to invest in culture in smaller spaces. China will follow this trend in the few decades I’d imagine, the US maybe not.
It’s not that there’s nothing to do, it’s that the stuff to do costs money. You don’t need physical alienation when social and cultural alienation work just as well.
That’s why 3rd spaces are so important.
This is not entirely true. I live near a college town and there’s always shit going on. It’s not like it’s Broadway or famous bands from the 70s coming through but we have stuff to do. Now, if you live in a <50,000 person town and it’s the biggest town in the region, you’re probably fucked.