Cultural Dysfunction

Madame M:

You’ve hit many nails on the head.  If gentle readers have grown weary of my entreaties to “pay close attention to Madame’s platinum writing,” I’m afraid I will give them no relief here!

The Finns do have a healthy center, but they perceive their culture under stress from, certainly, the Europeanization that comes from what opens up and comes in from without, but also from globalization generally, which is causing them to compete at a pace they do not like, and do not find sustainable.  And yes, they consider Americans front and center in that globalization, for we set what they perceive to be an unsustainable pace, and certainly one that does not well accommodate the multi-week renewals into nature.  They are sometimes coping with shorter infusions, but it has raised the stress level.  Still, the compromises they have made are still FAR closer to nature connection than anything that the vast majority of Americans live.  You have hit the pulsing heart of so much that lies behind what ails us.

It should show how disconnected we are as a society in that the Finns are so open and friendly, and yet are considered by their fellow Scandinavians as often the hardest Scandinavians to really get to know.  A side note: The exacting reader will notice we have been using the slang version of Scandinavian, which should instead really be Nordic, as technically “Scandinavia” refers to Norway, Denmark, Sweden only.  Madame and I have our preferences, though, so we’ll continue to use “Scandinavian.” :)

Finland is actually a big country in terms of geography, but relatively low-density as to population.  It benefits from that, as well as its relative cultural homogeneity, lack of regionalism, etc. as you say.  And culture is a very multi-faceted and complex area.  But I will quick circuit my answer to your question to say that we have often done such a poor job of evaluating social and relationship things from other cultures that we have essentially not really tried.  And as you’ve pointed out, we have not even truly done the first thing, which is to learn of other cultures. And to be brutally candid, we don’t know ourselves either, for we have a mythical and often illusionary/delusionary view of our own culture.  For instance, we often think of it as some middle class predominating (of, by, and for) culture, which, while it was that for a time, is rapidly no longer.

So the short answer is: While nothing ever translates or transplants precisely (or precisely well), especially into large countries and cultures, we have not begun the learning or vetting, let alone a test case of actually trying something substantial (as opposed to pop culture transient things).

Turning, reluctantly, to Scandalmania: I have MUCH to say, if Madame wishes, on the particulars, background, clarification, implications (and sometimes lack of), etc. of the various “scandals.”  But there are some big-view things to be said first—

Who is steering the narrative, setting the lexicon, controlling the agenda?  What relevance is Benghazi, IRS review/approval/disapproval/delay of tax-exempt status for groups (not individuals, as in Nixon’s day), Justice Dept acquisition of media records for an active terrorist investigation, gun regulation, Boston Marathon bomber, etc. to your everyday life?  To your economic and environmental foundation?  It’s not that those other things are unimportant (or might be important), or that this administration should be given a pass on any of them, but are they the most important things right now?  Where is our focus?  Or, more accurately, who wants us to be unfocused?

When was the last time we as a nation—as Congress, as President, as a people—addressed matters of real and deep relevance to our everyday lives?  The things that trouble us deep down, both as individuals and society?  Or are we so disconnected, disunited, and unfocused ourselves we can’t even discern relevance anymore and are unwitting pawns to those with better strategies?

While the House conducts (a total of 15% of its time spent on this), for the 38^th time, a meaningless (the Senate will not even bring it up) vote on The Affordable Care Law, nearly nothing of substance is advanced.  The Senate cannot even reform itself, and caters to the truly bizarre among its ranks, meaning even less is accomplished in that supposedly more deliberative body.  The SCOTUS continues to favor Monsanto and other big corporations at the expense of everything else.  The Executive continues to do so many conflicting and contradictory things, and shifts its technocratic center so often, it obscures much of whatever it is trying to accomplish, and like most recent presidencies, is consumed with its self-importance. 

Meanwhile, the work—nay, the urgent, driving, desperate NEED—of the country and the world go begging, while the servants of the (barely) shadow plutocracy divert us with sideshows.  Frank Baum should feel ripped off.