I will try to do this in a way that simply opens it for discussion
Both my politics and my preferences have gone further left of center, the older I've gotten. I'm listening to Garrison Keillor, watching independent movies, hanging out in the local coffee shop, and listening to Americana music. Folks, this is the "Cultural Elitification of Dan Hylton."
Mixdorf, in a comment to my "Sideways" post, said he was surprised that I went to see a movie about wine-tasting. I submit to you, friends, that the only surprise is that I don't like wine these days.
So, what's the deal?
Has my experience of this world turned me off from that which is considered "mainstream?" Am I simply finding myself more comfortable amongst the crowd that has those preferences? Or are all my new leanings & interests more or less unrelated, but coincidental and just a function of who I am, & what I've been exposed to at this point in time?
Feel free to use percentages in your response.
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6 comments:
It is great to know were you stand as a man. "A confused man is one who wanders the streets looking in all nooks and shadows for his state of mind (cl)". For myself, I am truely an independent man who is close to 50%. I go one way on one issue and another direction for something that may be in the same boat. There is a lot that the mainstream offers that makes me want to run away to an unspoiled wilderness. On the other hand, there is a lot that I embrace and share with the good common man.
Let me say this about Dan Hylton. He is a man who is true to himself and will not stand idle while something that he knows is wrong is taking place. If he can, Dan will try to make it better. You have you state of mind and it is a great one! You sir are a great man and friend!
For the most part none of us are 'the common man'. As I think Dan described relative to specific catgories that Best Buy puts potential customers in, we don't fit in many, if any of those categories.
If you were to draw a circle around you as a person and the so-called 'common man', you would find that your circles overlapped a little. The 'common man' for his many flaws, likes Seinfeld, and god knows how he likes the NFL. He also likes SUV's and ridiculously large houses. The common man, while not a complete turd, is very shortsighted, and ignorant as to the effect he has on the world, and his place in history.
To clarify, I didn't think it was surprising that you went to a movie about wine tasting, just that you went to a movie at the theater that wasn't something more mainstream. I would guess that you can count on one hand (maybe two) the number of movies you've seen at the theater in the last 4 years and 3 of them would be LOTR. And I would guess that none of the rest would be considered 'independent'. I haven't either. I prefer to watch those sorts of movies at home, where a huge screen and ridiculous sound system is not as important.
Back in the day, when my father's extended family used to get together for family reunions every summer, I began to notice things that were jarringly different about my family compared to the rest of my cousins etc. They were (and this is generalizing) primarily concerned with some very basic things, all the trappings of the common man. Cars, houses, babies, etc. That was what they were solely interested in. My brothers and sisters and I were odd amongst that group. We were more educated and more interested in less immediate things. This didn't make us better or worse, it just made things awkward. We've all experienced this. It has to do with education and life experience.
It's become very negative to be a cultural elite. The implication is that we feel we're better than those who are the common man. It's a political wedge issue. But if it weren't for us cultural elites, this country might not exist (as was well put but with more profanity in www.fuckthesouth.com. Thomas Jefferson would be unelectable today. He edited his own bible for chrissake. I would guess that if you looked back through history at the great revolutions, at the front of almost all of them would be some overeducated man or women that sees that things can and should be better. They rouse the common man, who often do the heavy lifting, but without that initial spark, we'd probably be living in mud huts in Mesopotamia right now.
So don't be dick about it, but be proud of it. You're part of a long history of greatness.
Perhaps an essay on the dickhead side of cultural elitism is in order - look for it on my blog - coming soon.
Good post Mixdorf. I am confused as to who is being a dick. I missed the boat on what you were saying. I feel like an idiot right now becuase I don't get it. What are we to be proud of? Our cultural evolution over the common man? Your idiot friend D(long u)sky-Doo.
You're not being a dick, but there are no shortage of people who are cultural elitists. These people are dicks. They look down on everyone, and often add nothing but their opinions to the world. You, and all of us, are too grounded to get to that point.
It seems to me that the common man is still locked in a very primitive way of thinking. They strive only to meet the most basic of needs, but just do it in elaborate and wasteful ways. They don't look beyond the ideas of food and shelter, they just fill those needs in increasingly ridiculous ways. There is no attempt at self-actualization, little thought given to anything beyond the primitive reptilian needs.
There are certainly plenty of people in this world, possibly a majority, for whom the daily struggle to survive is very real. These are not the people I'm talking about. It's the people living in Woodbury or wherever USA that have EVERYTHING any reasonable person could want, but only strive to have more of that, rather than expanding their minds into more diverse pursuits.
It isn't the cultutal elites that make shows like The Simple Life and the other crap 'reality' shows popular. It's the common man, and it's lots of the people that shove moral values in your face.
I agree 100%. If your goal in life is to gather as much crap in the world as you can, and you don't look to better anything, then your a shithead. Nothing wrong with having stuff if you are out there making the world a better place. Stuff does not fill the void in your life, but helping others, self improvement, and goodwill does.
Well said, the both of you. The older I've gotten, the more my own needs have been met, and the more I have been able to develop (what to me is) a reasoned world view. That, in turn, shapes decisions I make in terms of lifestyle, consumption, recreation, everything. The reality is that I simply no longer share a whole heck of a lot, culturally, with the "common man." I guess I can still be a sports rube, and get into a few other things like that. But there's also a whole lot of crap out there that I avoid, as a result of me just not wanting to associate myself with a process with which I do not agree. (e.g. Wal-Mart, TV evening news, living in the suburbs, etc.)
Wonderful, awesome discussion, guys! My greatest hopes for The Oliopolis is that it fosters discussion that can help us understand each other better, get things out in the open for discussion, and help sharpen our minds.
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