Here is a thought I just had that I will toss into this pot, and we’ll see how it holds up.
The paintings we make today, and the books we write, the sky scrapers, airplanes, sculptures, Britney Spears Cds, all these tangibles will be, in a 1000 years the pottery shards, the crudley hewn idols and crumbling walls discovered by a future civilization. The “culture” will be that intangible element that produced the relics, not the items on their own. All our actions and productions, words, looks and constructions are shaped by the wavering constraints of protocol, by attitudes and understood limits. We live within this organism of “culture.” It shapes us, but it can also be shaped. It changes and evolves as new and radical elements are introduced. And I think what we are trying to get at with these discussions, and the grand purpose of our lives and of this website is that culture is not optional—we are living within this organizm—but we can affect its change, its next and newest manifestation, and that is a good thing.
Probably not helpful, a bit on the waxing poetic side, but my “fitty” cents worth o’ words.
Ryan
Dec 03 2002
08:43 pm
Here is a thought I just had that I will toss into this pot, and we’ll see how it holds up.
The paintings we make today, and the books we write, the sky scrapers, airplanes, sculptures, Britney Spears Cds, all these tangibles will be, in a 1000 years the pottery shards, the crudley hewn idols and crumbling walls discovered by a future civilization. The “culture” will be that intangible element that produced the relics, not the items on their own. All our actions and productions, words, looks and constructions are shaped by the wavering constraints of protocol, by attitudes and understood limits. We live within this organism of “culture.” It shapes us, but it can also be shaped. It changes and evolves as new and radical elements are introduced. And I think what we are trying to get at with these discussions, and the grand purpose of our lives and of this website is that culture is not optional—we are living within this organizm—but we can affect its change, its next and newest manifestation, and that is a good thing.
Probably not helpful, a bit on the waxing poetic side, but my “fitty” cents worth o’ words.
cheers