Is America in decline? That’s the question you sometimes hear being repeated when something bad happens to America. Now that I’m here in the country and experiencing it first hand, I would say everything seems to be fine. People who want to spread the idea that America is in decline always try to support it based on military capabilities and economical facts. Some say America’s military is becoming less capable. They point out the Iraqi insurgency and Vietnam as examples. When they talk about the economy they talk about America’s massive debt and they also talk about the weakening American dollar. While all those points might seem viable I personally don’t buy them.
The only day I will believe America might actually be in decline is the day I see the influence of American pop culture fading away from the rest of the world. American pop culture is one of this country’s strongest assets I believe. After traveling to various places and meeting so many people from around the world, it’s simply undeniable. From Japan, to Saudi Arabia and to the deep jungles inside Africa, you’ll find the influence of American pop culture there especially among teenagers. Hip Hop and Rock cultures are currently the biggest and most popular in my opinion.
Don’t be surprised if you go to south Sudan and see a Dinka tribe member wearing a fake FUBU shirt and nodding his head to 2pac’s beats. Don’t be surprised if you go to Tokyo or Kuala Lumpur and you find girls with their hair dyed pink and dressed up like Avril or Gwen Stefani. Don’t be surprised if you go to Egypt and enter a jamming studio only to find a couple of Egyptian teenagers skillfully playing Metallica songs and head banging to them. Don’t be surprised if you go to Moscow and see a Russian band playing some BB King and Jimi Hendrix songs to a big and attentive crowd. Don’t be surprised if you go to Bahrain and see a DJ blasting and scratching away while a bunch of kids break dance so professionally.
American pop culture gives people in those countries a sense of freedom. Through it they look up to America and admire it. Being a teenager is mostly about revolting and “breaking away”. In the West kids can “break away” easily but in the Arab and Muslim world teenagers have to stay within the cultural norms and bounds. I’m not going to lie. The number one reason I love America is because of the amazing music and artists it has given us. From Elvis, to Jimi Hendrix, to Frank Sinatra, Iron Maiden, Ray Charles, Kool and the Gang, Michael Jackson, 2Pac, Notorious BIG, Dixie Chicks?!, Tina Turner, Shania Twain, John Mayer, Whitney Houston, Metallica, AC DC, Guns N Roses, Madonna, Tracy Chapman, Sade and so many more I can keep mentioning until the year 2015 dawns upon us.
American pop culture is undoubtly popular all over the whole world. I love it and people love it. It might be un-religious sometimes but it’s still popular and nobody can deny that. The day I see teenagers throughout the whole world turning their backs on it is the day I can actually start believing America might be in decline.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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Just as I was reading the line about Metallica… Master of Puppets (by Metallica) started playing on my iTunes.
dum dum dum….
Just a really random, irrelevant, bizarre bit of trivia to keep you smiling about my bimbotic-ness of late.
and ACDC are Australian, arn’t they?
and I don’t think Sade is American either. hehe
But I do agree that American pop culture is definately apparent all over the world… no doubt about that.
aimster you are right about ACDC and SADE..but without a doubt Sinatra is American and he is DA MAN ….lol
Indeed. Sinatra is def one of America’s most memorable icons of all time.
It doesn’t matter where are they from. The matter is,that US is the one that made the whole world know them and remember the name of each one of them.
Its amazing isn’t it… how when you go somewhere and meet and interact with the people, all of a sudden they don’t seem soooooo bad.
Well samflex I wasn’t implying anything… merely making a simple correction (’cos that’s what I do, is it not, Drima?? hehe)
(and a fine bit of publicity-that I suppose must be attributed to the US)
and I agree.. the US is such a HUGE consumer market that it’s difficult to not pick up on pop culture. Whatever hits it off in the US market is sure to catch on to the masses elsewhere considering the vast population in the US…
but although the US may have made them better known in other places, REMEMBERING the Artist themselves is based entirely on the performance of the Artist
Hey,Drima,this is Miss Dynamite from Shamarat.
That was some insightful theory.Never thought about it from that angle:))
Im an avid reader of your blogs and props on a commendable job.
Will join you soon hopefully:p
oops,made a mistake:
Im an avid reader of your posts,not blogs-my bad.
I believe you echo the thoughts of many. We need more straight talking and considered comment like this. good point!
Iron Maiden is not from The U.S.
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.
In politics it is called Soft power (culture, “pop music”,etc) and the economic and military is Hard power. Shania Twain is American? I thought she was form O Canada. Wiki time I guess. The thing that our dear friend forget to mention is that some music is transformed and assimilated to their culture, for example hip hop in france voices the discrimination that immigrants face in their new country and so on. I once saw a batman drawing wearing a Jalabeya (Long Arabic gown you see on tv~hilarious!)
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