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Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

cnn.com

131–140 of 605 posts

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#131
post #109
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

[flagged]

You probably (99.9% certainty) spend too much time online and not enough time outside. twitter != the real world, tv != the real world

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#132

Good. Americans are usually not aware of the extent of american cultural imperialism which is basically everywhere, not just in Europe but you can see it very strong here I'm not saying it's bad or good. But I wish we have less Hollywood, less Netflix, less american music, less american videogames, less imported american culture topics etc when actual local music, movies, books, games exist.

Shouldn't the onus be on local music/movies/books to compete on their own merits? If you go to Brazil, for example, there's zero worry about American music. Brazilian music holds its own, and then some. If you go to India, their domestic cinema is obviously thriving . Nobody's "pushing" American media on consumers around the world. Cultural imperialism is ultimately a false narrative -- consumers pick the things they…

Nobody competes on merit, so this comment makes no sense.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#134
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Who do you socialise with in Europe?! I’m a dual national and regularly spend time in 3 European cities and 8+ US cities. To be honest, it’s the US that’s devoid of culture and European culture is very much there and deep rooted.

US has a distinct culture, its just not a one to one mapping of what “culture” even is, to Europe, or most places.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#135

I think we (Americans and Europeans alike) wholly underestimate how Americanised European culture is becoming. This is an observation rather than a criticism as I don't know whether this is 'good' or 'bad' but it is noticeable phenomena manifest through language, and probably an unintended consequence of the dependency of Europe on US communication technology, leading to the import of US communication styles, politic…

If you can read French, I highly recommend “Civilisation : comment nous sommes devenus américains” by Régis Debray. One of the most lucid analyses of the cultural situation we’re in I’ve found.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#136
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

To be fair, American culture is not homogeneous either. There are multiple cultures throughout the country. Whatever version of thinking you're talking about is likely has both supporters and detractors here.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#137
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

I watched a Dr. Huberman podcast on dance and language. One of the key takeaways was that speaking and thinking are interrelated. When you are thinking, the same area of the vocal chords are activated but with a lower intensity compared to when you are speaking. This means that what you cannot speak, you cannot think. By prioritising Italian, they are scientifically enabling the population to think more like Italians…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity

(aka Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#138
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it was shocking here in Stockholm when there were BLM protests in 2020. It's like people are more involved in US politics than their national politics.

They awarded Obama a Nobel before he ever had a chance to do anything. There is a whole magic negro thing going on with Europeans intent on demonstrating that they aren't bigots. Right until the point they have brown immigrants entering their own country.

> They awarded Obama a Nobel before he ever had a chance to do anything.

That one was the celebrity-hungry Norwegian Nobel Committee's fault. They award the peace prize.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#139
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

Meta-point: Does the pendulum really ever settle in the middle with anything society?

populism will always seek to implement inexpensive grandstanding like this, because its cheap and requires zero-competence and in return for spending zero effort and money you get to virtue signal to electors that are nationalists.

I wouldn't class this as anywhere on the pendulum as its not an economic policy and social issues are a bit of a fudge into the classical left/right spectrum.

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