Well said, Bryan! I'll admit, however, there are a few points I would dispute. Specifically: Yes, I agree that we have an overbearing pop culture; however, I think the examples you provide are not opinions held by a majority (not even remotely) of Americans. Are there a significant number of Americans (particularly teens) that fall for this? Sure. Perhaps the first example of cheating is used by many to justify their actions (either before or after the fact), but I doubt that people deep down really believe that cheating is "normal." I'm pretty sure that most Americans understand that fast food is not healthy for you (although perhaps this is not true among the less educated); however, they keep going to such places for the convenience and low (relatively) cost. Smoking pot is something that I don't think is even on the radar, except perhaps among teens and 20-somethings (at least with respect to pop culture), and even that impact isn't as high as many people think (maybe 15 to 25%). I think perhaps the biggest impact pop culture has on Americans is in the promotion of materialism (e.g. nicer car, latest fashions, etc.). Agreed. Having said that, though, I think it's important to point out that Czech kids face peer pressure the same as in the U.S. The difference seems to me to be that the pressures are not always towards the same types of behavior, not often derived from pop culture, and perhaps not as strong as in the U.S. (of course, this is the view of an observer who didn't spend his teen years in the Czech Republic). Common stereotype, not true of most Americans, at least not the ones I know (and definitely not me!).
Thanks for the response Sova. Maybe I was a bit too quick to put all Americans into the pop culture box. I attend college right now so my view of society is greatly influenced by the young and impressionable people surrounding me. Oh, and I didn't mean to imply that people deep down accept cheating. I think they can be inticed to it from the pop culture around them though. My fiancee just saw one of her friends cheat simply because she was bored. It's strange to see the rationale. She says to us "why get married so young? How can you really trust men anyway? Why settle down when you can shake you butt at a club!" lol, she is a hoot! We concluded that she just fell for what pop culture tells young people to do... try drugs, learn to dance, have a lot of sex, and one day get a job and hope you didn't get a disease. You are right that American pop culture pushes materialism more than anything, and I think that ties into the drugs, sex, and rock n roll idea. It sells. Hmm... with all that said, maybe a huge difference between how Czech kids and American kids are raised is "social noise." I just made that word up by the way, but it means how much extra input the developing kids have to deal with. Czech kids have a more centralized view from their community and family, while American kids have a lot more media trying to get into their lives to essentially sell them things through pop culture. American parents have to work pretty hard at filtering this "noise" out, whereas Czech parents might not have to work as hard. At least I imagine so? My fiancee watched TV growing up, but never to the extent I did. I could put in 4 hours a day easy. (all history channel, CNN, and the discovery channel so I hope I'm smarter for it, lol.) In regards to pot smoking... I do not personally smoke, although I have tried it, but I know countless others who do smoke. They may not be regular users, but on occassion they wouldn't mind. My stepmother and father live in California and have medical marijuana perscriptions. They smoke often, as does most everyone they know and that I met in California. Pot smoking is an under the carpet thing that an enormous number of people do often, seldomly, have tried, or want to, but American politics is in denial. Here in Nevada, we just voted on a pot smoking recreational bill and it got 40% of the votes!!! That is a large acceptance for simply voting for recreational use. That wasn't even for medical, which probably would have gained a sympathy vote that might be higher. I'm not sure how different this is from the Czech Republic, but I know that pot is a significant part of our culture and mainstream.
I love the "social noise" phrase. Very apt! Oh, you're from California! Now I understand the pot culture! (J/K). I understand your 40% number, but somehow doubt that 40% of the population (even in Cali) are regular users. Maybe that many have tried it, however--who knows? I still wouldn't call it mainstream--an undercurrent, perhaps. As for grad school, where are you looking? I'm in Rochester.
Seeing as how the topic has come up, I recently read these on MSNBC: One cannabis joint as bad as five cigarettes Pot may hike risk of psychosis, research finds
I'm trying for NYU. They have the best international law program around. I'm gonna be a lawyer ... or should I emote :evil: lol hmmmmm :roll:
I am American, but of Czech heritage and some of this relates true to my family. So, I thought that I would add a tid bit. This is true of my family. My grandmother makes a ton of food along with all my aunts & female cousins. My aunts and grandmother both make everyones lunches in the family and delivers them to everyone at lunch. Even my little brother (who is in highschool) gets his lunch delivered to him by my grandmother! Very very true of my family too! When me and my husband got married we had the wedding with his family. There was maybe 30 people total. The day after we flew to the Rio Grande Valley, Tx to see my family and there was close to or over 100 people there. There was grandparents, aunts & uncles, all my cousins (22 of them), in-laws from one of my uncles (not blood related) & their parents, second and third cousins...the list goes on and on. All of my family (besides me) live within 2 hrs of each other. This is true for my family as well. Growing up when the school bus would run it would stop at my father's house as well as my grandparents because it didn't know which house we would be at. I think I am actually much much closer to my grandmother than my own mother. This reminds me of my grandfather and my father. If they were pissy about something you just left them alone unless you really wanted and earful of something! My husband says that I am the same way, and that I brood overthings. I dunno about that, I like to think I don't brood over things, lol. I don't talk about things that bother me in public, not only is it embarrasing, but I'm sure the guy behind me in line at a store doens't want to hear about it! Not sure if this is any help or not, due to the fact that I am American. But thought I'd show that some of this relates to American familys with Czech heritage as well. Edit: I forgot to add my family is Catholic, so this may or may not have something to do with the way we operate. *shrugs*
I'm glad you appreciated my post CZDansky! Sova: Oh, I read the pot smoking articles. Just got back to this topic. Both were informative. I thought they followed slippery slopes though as a cigar is worth 10 cigarettes but we aren't regulating cigar sales for some reason. Also, for the psychoses from smoking pot, I would just leave it at what the scientist studying the issue wrote: "There could be something else about marijuana users, 'like their tendency to use other drugs or certain personality traits, that could be causing the psychoses,' Zammit said."
Bryan: Yes, statistical analysis is a pain, and often conclusions are uncertain, especially when trying to establish cause-effect relationships in complex systems like the human body/mind (especially women's minds ). I'm glad I deal with simpler systems in my work.
