The Meaning of Culture

As a young man who recently moved to a new country, this is probably an ideal time to explore the question of culture. Before now, the only things I considered with any real depth was YouTube, what video games I was going play, and when I could go scuba diving. With two siblings, both bent on my demise, escape is a welcome thing in any form. My move from a very outspoken society, specifically Phoenix Arizona in the USA, to a society where crime can be punished by deportation has been an interesting one. Before it was OK to express ones opinion of leaders, past or present, in any setting. Now I have to watch my mouth, which is something that I have very little practice in, to the sorrow of my family. Now though, post move, it is time to get my act together and start working. The primary goal of the getting together of my act is to pass school. In the past this has been no problem, but now it seems that school got harder while I was busy playing Skyrim. The necessity of education is present in any culture.  But back to the actual reason for being here, the nature of culture.

The real problem of defining culture is that everyone has a different definition for it. My definition of culture is different from your definition. And your definition is different from that of my parents who are presently yelling at me to finish my homework. Since this is my blog, we will have to settle for my definition. To me, culture is the set of rules, beliefs, activities, products, languages, and experiences shared by a people who choose to partake in the culture. Some of you readers are likely starring at your computer wondering why this guy decided to throw in products as a piece of culture.  No, it is not because I have to have a certain number of components of culture to get an " A". When I say products, I mean the art, music, and food particular to a people. However, products meaning things like toys, video games, and fast food also are a piece of culture. And yes, that does mean the Big Mac is just as much a piece of American culture as the eagle and the star spangled banner. The strange thing about culture is it simultaneously affects us as we affect and change it. The acceptable practices of 40 years ago are no longer acceptable in the culture except as a relic of the past. Another interesting thing about culture is the malice harbored for other cultures within a culture. In America, speaking Arabic will likely get you reported to some sort of authority. Though the authority will likely treat you fairly, the fact that you get reported in the first place proves that culture is a vain thing. It proves that within a culture everyone believes that they are right and everyone else is wrong. So they then attempt to prove to others that their culture is wrong, *cough* *cough* religion *cough* *cough*. That is not to say religion is wrong, just a little pushy. Religion, being a big part of culture, is worth looking into. In essence, religion seems to be a way to keep people on the path of the righteous, or in other words, to keep their morale compasses clean, functional, and in line with everyone else. The other major piece of culture is language. Language is the gateway to higher thought. Also language is usually very specific to a culture. As the language changes the culture tends to change as well, they are so tightly interlocked due to the requirement of higher thought for the rules of a culture to be understood.

In the end, culture is really a set of rules to dictate behavior. It is interlocked with language because language is one of the only ways to communicate these rules.

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