Cultural Imperialism

Most people don't believe I'm a gamer, probably because I don't look like one. Most people believe I only listen to easy pop and country music, but I do like the other genres too. It's funny sometimes how people can form perceptions or descriptions of you which aren't completely... accurate.

That aside, yesterday's Comms lesson on the debate of cultural imperialism got me thinking. Living in an era where everything is so globalized and countries have such high interdependence, will all our unique cultures eventually disintegrate, or will they become richer? Will we be subjected, finally, the American way of life at the end of the day? To me, I think only time will tell.

Cultural imperialism is defined as the "practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture of one society into another". (P.S: Wikipedia FTW!) As it is, C.I is a very broad topic, so I shall just narrow it down and talk only about the presence of electronic imperialism.

According to our lecture notes on page 21, electrionic imperialism as defined by McPhail in 1990 as the "dependency of relationship established by importation of communication hardware and foreign-produced software... that may alter domestic cultures and socialization process". This view is very much accurate since our consumption of foreign (aka American) goods, products and services are hardly as conspicuous now.

From my understanding, electronic imperialism includes the online/offline games we play in times of relaxation, as well as the music we listen to almost everyday. Just think about it for a minute - where did all these stuff come from? The answer smacks right in your face - AMERICA. Sure, I'm generalizing here but if you look around, it's true. Most of the time we are so comfortable where we are that we don't seem to notice that all we're consuming and still consuming are simply products of America.

Let's start with the games. It is fairly easy for me (or any other gamer) to quickly list out some titles - World of Warcraft, L4D, Resident Evil, CounterStrike, BlackShot, SuddenAttack, The Sims, Super Mario and the list goes on and on. It is easier to point out their source of origin. Avid players can sometimes get so immersed in waiting for these new games to be released, they do not realize that much of their own unique way of life is slowly beginning to erode. It is obvious that the more we play and get involved in such Americanized games, we will understand their lingo and culture. In addition, we might even pick up how they go about their lives. Come to think of it, even the characters in these games look American. There is no room for escape once we start to indulge in Westernized gaming, which holds a great deal of their culture. Apart from all the finanical gains, the dominance of such electronic imperialism is undeniable. 

Music can be said to be just a part of their lives, but looking from the culture imperialism perspective, it is again quite easy to see how much of our likings and support are shaped in favor towards the Westernized music. Really, most HMVs or Music Junctions here in Singapore allocate the biggest spaces for American CDs and shows. If you wish to purchase something that is of a local flavor, HMV or That CD Shop may not be the right store for you. Furthermore, we ourselves as young adults tend to buy Americanized CDs and movies so we would not be lost with the current trend - see, this is our fixed mentality that ONLY Westernized goods are up to date and so we must have them - that lends proof to the effective dominance of electronic imperialism. Our local music is seen as being on the periphery of disappearance; once they are unable to keep up with the demand of being more Americanized, they cannot stay. From this, we can see that our views and opinions are moulded towards the Western society; we are gradually detaching ourselves from our own roots and being towed towards the other side of the line. 

As much as I agree that keeping our roots and knowing where we came from should remain an integral part of our lives, globalization on the macro-level scale is something that is inevitable and already occuring. We cannot deny that one day when we wake up, America's culture imperialism would have won and we are all being subjected to this change. All there's left to do is wait, and probably, by taking steps at a time, to curb this imperialism which seems almost impossible to resist.