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Pastimes : A CENTURY OF LIONS/THE 20TH CENTURY TOP 100

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To: Neocon who wrote (1806)11/18/1999
From: jbe  Read Replies (1) of 3246
 
Culture is transmitted not just through "markets," but also -- and primarily -- through tradition, through "human agencies" like parents and -- above all -- teachers; through example, through imitation, even through a shared need for expression and communication, etc. There is an evolutionist (whose name I have forgotten) who makes a very interesting and cogent argument to the effect that the need to "create culture" is as compelling an innate drive in the human animal as is the need to procreate...To reduce the whole of culture to a shopping expedition is, as they say, reductionism...<g>

The only economic "law" that may apply to culture, and then, only for a while, is Gresham's Law -- revised to read that "bad culture drives out good." I say it can work only for a while because I too believe (although I can't prove it) that the Aesthetic Sense is so strong that it will eventually reassert itself against a tide of schlock. After all, how many Twinkies can one eat???

Joan
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