I for one would not be alarmed at cultural invasion at all. If you start with the premise that people know what is in their best interests, then these things will sort themselves out. Like Jyoti says, it is a relatively small portion of the population, And even these dudes probably wear American culture like clothes. After all there is nothing wrong with it, there is much to admire at the american phenomenon, American english is a lot more colorful, the marketing machine is always in high gear,the techno economy wows us with new products. besides if you are saturated with these images it is only a matter of time before some of it becomes part of you.
Even in the US, the media is sometimes more powerful than the state.
So long as the traditional societies don't lose sight of their core values, like taking care of your family, respect for elders etc. they will be fine. If they lose that then they will have to face up to the same problems that america has, unfunded liabilities in social security medicare, unemployment insurance etc at the societal level, scrambling for college tuition, mortgages, insurances of various kinds at the individual level. We have to realize that these liabilities exist for people everywhere, traditionally the family has met these needs, when TV and consumerism start isolating people then these liabilities have to monetized, huge organizations setup to oversee transfer payments, accounting, projections, taxes laws,obligations, election promises and what not.
This is why Americans seem rich from afar, but not quite as much up close.
Ramesh. |
