One of the victory conditions in the Civilization video game series is “cultural victory”. A funny quote that happens is when a rival warlord tells you, “my people are now wearing your blue jeans and listening to your pop music”.
I once asked on Twitter, “[gestures vaguely] suppose we were to remake, refresh, rejuvenate “culture” in a way that felt lively, joyful, exciting, meaningful. what does that look like, at least from where you’re standing? what would hit the spot for you?” I’m choosing to open this essay with this because I want it to be people-shaped. I don’t want to think and talk about abstractions, I want to be practical.
Here’s what the replies were like. I think we can sort them to be at multiple scales
- public norms
- People should be able to wear capes and cool hats out in public, the cooler the better
- singing, dancing & play as the norm, not the exception, in public places
- Pick up soccer with strangers while waiting for your flight at the airport
- spaces and places
- Safe space for nice talkative unambitious “idea guys” . A talk and chill zone
- more readily accessible physical spaces for people to explore niche hobbies together (how this would be done idk)
- a variety of ‘third places’ that gently but joyfully encourage repeat creative output. maybe libraries where you’re encouraged to write, neighborhood bars where patrons can periodically make not just consume the house cocktail, hmm something along those lines perhaps
- have widespread rest rituals that we actually take seriously and shut down work – not just for fancy folks
- art
- more art and performing arts
- De-atomize art! Shared culture of excitement + literacy around going to museums, theatres, movies together. Greater shared literacy around political theory
- People making or buying really weird art that they love, hanging it on their walls, showing it off on social media, and trading it with their friends
- More, different, non overlapping status games.
- Bottom-up eco-socialism, taking back our connection to nature, sustenance, local productions, taking survival back into our hands. Revitalize local relationships in the process
- Loving-kindness meditation at house parties
- Rapid technological progress
- Less claims about abstract nouns, more visceral, richly described examples of experiences
- shorter but better-enforced copyright laws. If artists’ and writers’ work can be appropriated at will, we will have less, worse art and literature.
- Every group knows many songs and sings them well when they’re having a good time and invents new ones from time to time
- Less cookie cutter ambition and more time spent figuring out what we really like
- Understated authenticity as aesthetic
- taking “old” questions seriously again – philosophical debates, questions about what the future holds, questions about the mind, the stuff everyone is interested in as kids or in college dorm rooms. go back to them as though nobody had ever called you a naive idiot
- real thought into the material infrastructure of leisure
- unlayering all the fakeness and pretense. stop pretending you understand when you don’t. stop pretending you care when you don’t. stop pretending you don’t want what you want.
- “honor your first intention” weekend art festival where people get together for the sole purpose of cranking out large volumes of first drafts. Finish absolutely nothing, focus on expanding the option space, and finding people whose tendencies go in similar broad directions
- Novels. Writing groups. Low barrier to entry — almost everyone now has the tools to write and disseminate. Probably more small-medium publishers. Conscious focus on reconnecting with Englishness, particularly our folklore. The novel is the English art form.
- whatever we come up with after a couple of weeks off for everyone from everything
- mdma
- eliminate bullshit jobs, get UBI going, let people do their thing
- make people feel safe, economically and socially
- the value of life & experiences over money & a showcase.
- I’d like to see us turn Culture War on its head. What do we love (vs hate)? What connects humanity (vs divides)? How can we build meaning (vs destroy)?
- somehow get people to care more deeply about doing things well, to better pursue the depths they’re called to. whatever emerges from that is good.
- Something that cultivates mutual appreciation and respect despite one’s differences with another
✱
Ask culture vs guess culture
internet culture
what is a cultural institution
cults. It’s kind of annoying that the word “cult” has, in a lot of contexts, come to pick up strong negative connotations. The opening paragraph of the Wikipedia page contains the conundrum:
“Cult is a term, considered pejorative by some, for a relatively small group which is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader, who excessively controls its members, requiring unwavering devotion to a set of beliefs and practices which are considered deviant (outside the norms of society).
This term is also used for a new religious movement or other social group which is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This sense of the term is weakly defined – having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia – and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.”
Consider the phrase “cult classic”, typically used to describe media that is very popular within a particular group but not so popular outside of it. In olden times
comments section culture https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1625112074501361666