:The Culture Code: an ingenious way to understand why people around the world live and buy as they do, by Clotaire Rapaille, with a new chapter on global branding
Tag Archives: chapter excerpt
Ponderables of the day
1. A reader responds to the article, “The blue-state trap,” with a strong personal opinion:
- Amity, Monday, January 23, 2012 at 8:0011 pm
Articles like this annoy me. The United States has been profoundly divided politically for nearly a quarter of a millennium. We have never not been violently at odds. I mean, red states and blue states used to go to war with each other. Elected representatives fought each other physically in the halls of Congress. [note: pre-U.S. neighbours fought and killed each other during the American Revolutionary War]
Spare us the weepy sad sorrow for the bygone days of halcyon bipartisanship. When were these days of golden unity? They never existed.
And as for the idea of a “missing center,” I can explain the apparent conundrum very easily. The urban centers of America are the center. Some go center-left, most swing center-right. The reason why you all can’t find the common ground that doesn’t consist of going further right is that from here, from where you all are, there is nowhere left to go but further and further right.
The Democratic Party is by any sane application of the terminology a center-right party. The Republican Party is far right — more or less fascist in practice, if not in principle.
The actual American left, such as it is, consists mostly of a small number of miscellaneous Occupy protesters, shivering in the cold.
Oh, and also, spare us the horseshit about homogeneity in liberal enclaves. There are few American cities with more fractured politics than San Francisco.
2. An ode to the Gulag Archipelago – Love, American-style.
3. Aurora forecast.
4. A nod to the new director of UAF’s Geophysical Institute, Robert “Bob” McCoy. Tell us more about the importance of thermokarst lakes, why dontcha?
5. A nod to Christian Schrader, a geologist from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, who helps find meteorites in the Antarctic.
Someone told me it’s 2012
Well, right on schedule, it’s 2012. You know what that means.
The Motion Picture Academy has finally decided to issue awards to fans for being the best twits (at least that’s what the MPA thinks twitterers are called who tweet excessively about motion pictures). Word on the street is that they’ll also issue a lifetime achievement award to the fan who follows or has followed one particular actor, director or other member of the motion picture industry fanatically but is not a stalker or paparazzo/paparazza.
They tell me you’re experiencing a general warming of our home planet.
I don’t know about that.
Here in the outer reaches of the solar system settlements, “warming” is a luxury we can barely afford. Thank goodness we gave up on underarm deodorant and other niceties associated with a society of surplus production capabilities and learned to enjoy the odor that a warm body emits.
In any case, a friend sent a few photos from my former neighbourhood of north Alabama to show it is a weird winter there, what with daffodils, crocuses and vinca blooming at the same time this year:
Hey, E-Buddy, what do you think?
Just what I thought! Crazy, huh?
Oh well, I’ve got a planet to manage 1000 years in the past. Hope you guys enjoy what we have planned for you next. It means the world to us here in 3011.
And kids, you keep practicing your interplanetary management skills. You’ll be adults before you know it and traveling to places you can hardly imagine habitable in 2012.
Word
So we “cancel” Greek debt with no hope the Greek government/private sectors will ever pay back what they owed?
Hmm…
What does that tell us about the rest of the EU/world?
Warren Buffett can play guitar, for beginners (or is that starters?).
Telling us we’re all just regular people in one way or another.
Okay…
I agree.
However [scratching head while two cats warm my knees and crawl space crickets sprout after a midwinter rain], it’s not us creditors I mull over.
Which reminds me. Ever wonder why you can buy cold beer and hot chocolate at an outdoor sports event but not hot fermented beverages? What about warm, spiced beer at the next football or hockey game, huh?
Anyway, debt is the word.
The question.
The answer.
Cyclical crises are perennial and require perennial solutions, don’t they?
Or do they?
Is Bloomberg still taking programming lessons?
Does the Panic of [1819/1837/1873/1893/1907] have any relevance today, despite nomenclature games that this one has to be different because we’re so much more modern in our economic understanding, etc.?
Change is change even when you end up with no pocket change to speak of.
Next, we’ll go from an anonymous Netizen Manifesto to a Netizen Bill of Rights to a group of people declaring themselves members of no country except the virtual/online one in which they elect their nongeographical solar system representatives.
So, yes, let’s cancel Greek debt but at the same time declare Greece is no longer a real country in the old sense.
A tourist attraction, perhaps.
Other than that, its people are free to join the new Netizenry, subject to crowdsourced laws and regulations, few as they are (governed mainly by gravity and other natural laws).
The cats say it’s time for bed and sleep.
I agree.
G’night.
Two video data points
Just a position – Juxtaposition
[One more break before the story recommences]
A nod to the family of Flo Trotter, a dear friend who corresponded with me years ago, sharing her strong belief in the Christian Bible by writing letters to me containing Bible verses upon which she expanded her lifeview — Flo, you will be missed greatly.
Sitting with three cigars in front of me and a 1pint-6oz bottle of brown ale by Legend Brewing Co. of Richmond, VA, I nod, also, to the ball coach of a little university in the state of Pennsylvania, who died of lung cancer — may your children and grandchildren outlive the highs and lows of your reputation.
A little while ago, I finished listening to a live performance by the organist Gail Archer, as part of Covenant Presbyterian Church’s Covenant Concerts, in concert with the Greater Huntsville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The program included pieces by Buxtehude, Bach, Schumann, Hensel, Tower and Liszt.
I took notes during the concert but left them in another room of the house where my wife sleeps.
Summary: Archer provided the right articulation and emotional input to make every piece of music a joy in itself. I thank her for promoting the art of organ playing — I’ve waited 25 years to hear an organ concert in the Covenant Presbyterian church sanctuary and it was well worth the wait.
I listen to her An American Idyll CD while composing this journalistic blog entry.
Meanwhile, bulky guys with uniforms bounce off each other during an NFL playoff game of little to no interest to me (Ravens and Patriots). I’ll wait until this evening’s game to sit and eat chips, drink beer and veg out during the Giants-49ers game.
Is public education ever going to keep up with the changing economy?
Or do children, like always, find a way to make a living despite an incomplete/inappropriate childhood education?
What is Russia doing to prevent meaningful military intervention in Syria’s internal strife/killing spree between two equally brutal forces? Better yet, why, Russia, why? Putin, I think better of you than this. You, too, Medvedev.
Well, commercialised football viewing calls my name. Talk with you tomorrow, when the hesitant leader of the Committee picks up the pace of making sure the scheduled event taking place 13,984 days from now goes off without a hitch.
Like the label says, “FRESH BEER – KEEP COOL”!
Sketching some detail into the background image
[Feel free to skip this entry — setting up future entries with some questions]
Two kids, bundled up in the cool north Alabama winter weather, ride by on an ATV. A father and daughter ride by on their bicycles.
Do you attempt to control the number of people who want to love you or love the people around you?
Do you accept that whoever wants to like you and/or your presence, your mannerisms, your actions, your work, your friends, your ideas, your passions, your dislikes, can and will like all that without your permission?
So, then, what is poverty?
If no one told you you were poor, would you know it? If you didn’t have all the stuff that nonpoverty purports to provide — telephone, television, motorbikes, automobiles, paved roads, public transit, sanitised water, pasteurised milk, meat byproducts, mass-produced clothing, literacy, manufactured medicine, Internet 24/7 — would you feel any less yourself?
Are you naturally predisposed to move around? Are you athletically inclined? Or would you rather sit and minimise your physical movements, passively involved in the world around you?
What are you primary activities? How do they compare to your subculture and the population at large?
Do you stand more than sit?
Do you sleep more than sit?
Do you spend more time eating while sitting or standing?
Is your physical activity integrated with your primary activities or do you set aside time to “exercise” because your primary activities are mainly sedentary?
Should radio/TV/Internet call-in shows no longer accept calls from drivers using their mobile phones?
What is a hobby? When does the line blur between hobby and occupation?
On a personal note, why have I, who grew up attending and actively participating in weekly religious rituals, found group-based religious ceremonies fairly uninteresting in my adulthood, no matter how familiarly old-fashioned or modern they have been? [Answer: because none of them allow me to silently meditate upon the solemnity of reason for the process; rather, I am forced to stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, sing with and listen to others, interrupting my train of meditative thought.]
Poverty of possessions is not a sin or a crime. A short life expectancy is not, either.
Being organic beings (as opposed to all those inorganic beings out there [wink, wink]), we are subject to the frailty that flesh and blood makes us.
The thousands-of-years-old question: does civilisation make us less or more of what we once were?
A two-story house under construction one street over gives the occupants of the second story a clear view of me sitting in front of the window in my study.
I don’t like being watched. No particular reason why or, rather, a multitude of reasons why. First, I like to change my personality frequently and don’t like people watching me during the transition. Second, I change my chameleon personality to adjust to people around me and when unknown people are watching, I’m unsure what specific traits I should best display.
As a person who likes to record his personalities and observations via the process of writing, I am often wearing the cloak of a personality I’m trying to understand before describing it with words. Letting strangers watch the intermediate stages of personality development is not something with which I’m comfortable.
In this day and age, I value my privacy during the moments of character development.
Should I?
Is privacy a right best enjoyed in poverty or wealth?
If people want to like or love me even when I’m wrapped up in a new character coming to life, should I stop them or let them see what they want, despite the incomplete message they may receive (and I’m all about projecting a message, or the semistereotype that most of us, as characters in our own drama/comedy, display on a daily basis)?
I am behind in my thanks, including to: Stain/Miranda at Beauregard’s (now back in business); Jordan at Publix; Mr. Donut; China Cook; Joe, Harold and Jenn at KCDC; Taylor at Krystal; Tuesday Morning; Michael’s; multiple Internet service providers and Web content developers; Richard J. Quintana of Missing Link Records (thanks for selling me a box of Deutsche Grammophon records for $10); Fred Bread.
Flashback
Up Next
The next satirical video stars a new friend of mine, who began with the simple name of “Color Blanks” but will, before your eyes, transform into a
Solar System Sensation!!!
Color Blanks blockhead from above
- Color Blanks blockhead
A new friend has asked me to watch a live performance by an artist named Louis CK, whom I’ve never seen, live or filmed. I downloaded the video and will view in the next few days.
Davos Koolaruckus
Can you name the top five — yes, 5 — competitive advantages, relative or absolute, that the industries and people in the geographic region called Greece have in the global economy?
Seriously.
I’d rather watch Brian/Carley Lee and Joe dancing a Pentozalli “Five Disorienting Steps” than judge that any news of Greek debt restructuring gives us the real picture of hope and prosperity for Athenians and their ilk any time soon.
Meanwhile, the ruckus in Davos…but do you really care what pompous circumstances mean to those who want to give meaning to their lives?
Observing the kids on the dance floor, such as Raymond Linton and Jenn Nye in a waltz, I ponder the future of clashing subcultures, from those who propose and adhere to strict, austere religious practice to those for whom life has no bounds other than gravitational pull and energy consumption.
Can you lift up your subculture without putting down others? Can we not all sail on a ship rising in a high tide together?
When a deputy sheriff like Steve Adkison and his beautiful partner Suzy can put the saucy in salsa in front of appreciative onlookers, we know everything is going to be all right.
Of course, with weapons of mass and minidestruction at the ready, from wooden clubs to radioactive bombs, we’re going to keep killing some of us in our seven-billion-and-growing population from now until the end of time (or perhaps until the end of the leap second).
Gotta go before I get too winded…or windy.
I’ll leave you with these gems:
Don’t get annoyed if you neighbour plays his music at two o’clock in the morning. Call him at four and tell him how much you enjoyed it.
“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes — and six months later you have to start all over again.” — Joan Rivers
“Let’s be frank, the Italians’ technological contribution to humankind stopped with the pizza oven.” — Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There, 1991
“The sport of skiing consists of wearing three thousand dollars’ worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and get drunk.” — P.J. O’Rourke, Modern Manners, 1984
“If savings are below investment, foreigners are financing some of the domestic investment. The difference between savings and investment is equal to the trade (or more precisely, the current account) surplus. If savings fall short of investment, the difference is a trade deficit and is equal to the net foreign capital inflows that are used to make up the difference between investment and saving. In common-sense terms, if we sell more to other countries than we buy from them, we send back the difference as savings, and that partially finances their investment or their consumption.” — Michael Spence, The Next Convergence, 2011
You decide which one is more humorous….or needs some hummus and pita chips.
treetrunkdings 