Does anyone honestly believe culture is a good thing?

[Frank Jardin]

A reoccurring theme throughout society is that with each generation, a bit of morality is lost. Where does that put us several generations down the road? I believe this is directly associated with our deteriorating culture. Our culture teaches us from a very young age to let money and material items be our desires. No happiness can be found in these things. If this is the case, why do we still listen to culture? Why can't we break free?

[lazybones]

I've read authors from the 17th Century who said the exact same thing; and I thought so too. Carrot and stick.

[Kristen]

We can only break free from a culture if we have free will. If a culture teaches us certain behaviors, we are conditioned to manifest these behaviors. We will only want to change our behaviors if our environmental conditions change. This is one of the reasons why breaking free from a culture is impossible.
The other reasons is that the destruction of a culture results in the birth of a new one. Culture is defined as a particular society at a particular time and place. If a society as a whole were to break cultural norms, then they would just be creating a new culture. For example, if a society stops valuing money and material items and instead turns their attention to spirituality and altruism, the society has only succeeded in going from a materialistic culture to an altruistic one.
Culture is like the universe: we exist in it no matter what galaxy we belong to.

[C. S. C]

We can break free individually but not as a society.

[Serenity71]

No culture is perfect, but we do need culture in a society, its part of progress and the need for clear boundaries that bring us together and work together for a common goal. Its when we lose sight of who we are and where we blong then it becomes a problem, and a human being becomes lost in the wilderness.

Some people might 'break free' for a while but eventually come back.

The most stable kind of culture is one that exists out of morality rather than just a set of rules. The stronger a moral culture is the more likely people will respect it and the sense of belonging is stronger.

I've been researching ancient cultures and why some lasted longer than others and were more stable or the people within stayed loyal to beliefs of the culture and rebellion was minimal...very interesting topic.

A quote by Cornelius Tactus about the Germanian culture.
"Good morality is more effective in Germany than good laws in some places that we know."

[ScottAFair]

Culture is the social environment we create. It is neither good nor bad, it exists. Whether we create it purposefully or it just happens, it is what we let it become.

Materialism in the US has a long history dating back to World War I. Edward Bearnaise, Sigmund Freud's nephew, was asked by the govt to help get the populace behind the effort. Bearnaise used psychology to to market the idea of the war to the people. After WWI, Bearnaise was asked by businesses to use these techniques to sell products.

We created our culture by trying to create a competitive advantage for our businesses and sell more than the other company. We let it happen because we thought, "Gee we're one company it can't matter". We can't break free because too many people depend on it to feed their families. We listen to it because, as social animals, humans are wired to behave in ways that society deems appropriate.

It will take a very concerted effort to change our culture to be less materialistic. Our celebrities and our role models will have to show the masses what the ideal should be. As long as we have shows like "Real Housewives of xxx" and "Cribs" people will strive to out "Bling" everyone else.