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[quote]
does not make the democratic ideals any less European.
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</p>
<p>Yes...and no. American democracy, while incredibly tied to its roots, is also unique. The sort of Toquevillian/Putnamian social capital concepts were perhaps abstractly considered in Europe, but found root in America.</p>
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It is an attempt to hijack the intellectual products of European thinkers and claim it as their own.
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<p>What, like how the Chinese hijacked Buddhism? Or how the Muslim world hijacked whatever they came along that worked? Get over it. Culture gives and takes. </p>
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Also precisely because there has never been a socialist movement in America, the democratic nature of America is fundamentally flawed, because the entirely of the political spectrum is not found in American politics.
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<p>Yes...and no. There is no really strong libertarian movement in France, but I wouldn't call their democracy "flawed." Different does not mean "bad."</p>
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so it is hardly even a true liberal democracy, because the left wing has been silenced and politically oppressed in America ever since the McCarthy era.
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<p>I think you're confusing the concepts of "liberal" and "liberal democracy."</p>
<p>Watch it. The attitude is unnecessary and WILL get you in trouble.</p>
<p>That said, just because they were the "lost generation" doesn't mean that they weren't profoundly affected by their American heritage. I mean, Sarte was incredibly pessimistic about the Western existence, but it doesn't mean that he wasn't an exemplar for Western writing and thought.</p>
<p>When I said, "Democracy, civil rights, and freedoms flourished in America, yes, but America by far has spread these ideals the most," I am narrowly reducing my scope to who is the most influential society today. </p>
<p>Again, I put this limitation on the scope of my analysis in order to avoid an argument that CANNOT BE WON by either side, which would be arguing cultural derivations of America. Arguing cultural derivations can tell us where America's roots is from, but it is difficult use its arguments to analyze if America will remain #1.</p>
<p>At any rate, it's unlikely that the US, or any power, will remain hegemonic in the next half-century or so. At least that's the way the winds blow right now...</p>
<p>Then again, the Brits thought mercantilism would never end, so who knows?</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, how many people claiming "America has no culture" have ever engaged in any of the following behaviors or activities?</p>
<p>1.) Worn blue-jeans.
2.) Watched a Hollywood movie.
3.) Eaten or drunk fast-food, popcorn, "French" fries, potato chips, any kind of pizza but a margherita, or consumed Coca-Cola or any other soft-drink.</p>
<p>Hell, the fact that Hollywood has higher international grosses than any other country's movie industry should tell you something? How many European, Indian, Chinese, or Japanese movies find their way to American shores each year? How many American movies do you think find their way to these other countries?</p>
<p>"Crime and Punishment": 3,460,000
(Russian Title) "Преступление и наказание": 475,000</p>
<p>"Dream of the Red Chamber": 129,000
(Alternate Title) "Story of the Stone": 64,100
(Chinese Title) "红楼梦"：4,960,000</p>
<p>"Tao Te Ching": 1,770,000
(Alternate Title) "Dao De Jing": 163,000
(Alternate Title) "Daode Jing": 22,200
(Chinese Title) "道德经": 481,000</p>
<p>"Les Miserables": 5,430,000</p>
<p>"East of Eden": 1,530,000
"TS Eliot": 3,850,000
"Walden": 16,900,000
"A Farewell to Arms": 670,000
"Old Man and the Sea": 883,000
"For Whom the Bell Tolls": 1,370,000
"William Faulkner": 2,310,000</p>
<p>Result: Most of these titles are at least on the same order of magnitude, though "A Farewell to Arms" and "Old Man and the Sea" may not belong, as I suspected.</p>
<p>I dunno that I'd consider the importance of a work to be consummate with its hits on Google. But it's an interesting and objective way of looking at it.</p>
<p>Paris Hilton - 59 million of worldwide hits in September of 2005. That's American influence for ya. Come on, we have Flavor Flav's Flavor of Love, Jackass, it just doesn't get better than that. These are the signs of our times!</p>
<p>"French cinema/Korean pop/Japanese pop are all very influential as well."</p>
<p>Lol...so you're arguing that French cinema, Korean pop, and Japanese pop have wider international appeal than American cinema and music? Give me a break. I'm not even going to offer up a rebuttal.</p>
<p>""Results 1 - 10 of about 6,140,000 for the dream of red chamber. (0.12 seconds) "</p>
<p>"Results 1 - 10 of about 2,470,000 for Tao Te Ching. (0.27 seconds)"</p>
<p>You did something wrong.</p>
<p>Of course, one word titles like Walden will always get the most hits. It is basic search algorithms."</p>
<p>You forgot to put quotation marks around the complete title. Still, I'm in China right now, and that might account for some differences as well (not sure about that). I ran the search again without quotation marks and got your results.</p>
<p>subjecttochange does have balls. Naive balls, but balls nonetheless.</p>
<p>Also, I DO agree with his assertion that there currently are viable alternatives to mainstream American culture. But I think he is forgetting that these alternatives themselves owe a huge amount to American culture.</p>
<p>I don't buy the idea that "quality" is necessarily the same as "influence," either. Obviously, many people (myself NOT included) lavish praise on Genji as they do on the Sistine Chapel. I'm sure that while the Sistine Chapel probably hasn't "influenced" much work otherwise, it's certainly an important work.</p>
<p>I also question the value of the "Google measure." Some things are more likely to pull up tons of hits just based on included words. [edit] Unless you put quotes.[edit]</p>