I'm sure they would self-identify as Westerners, but most of them would also claim that there is a God. Just because they do it doesn't make it right, right? It's not paranoia. You just cannot be specific when you talk about 'culture'. It is impossible. Cultures, especially in history, are narrative constructions that pretty much only serve political purposes. But then again, I am a hardcore post-structuralist, and being in critical theory takes away alot of believe in language.

This whole culture debate is a massive derail/threadjack.

Dear Obama, I didn't appreciate what your crowd did to Bush at the inauguration. As a result, I'm taking back my vote for you and trading it into Gamestop. Daddy needs Left 4 Dead. ~Fyre

OP had me until 'Western Culture'. What's wrong with Western culture? You don't like it, or you want me to define it better? Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler I was pretty high when I wrote that, so it is probably confusing. It does not exist. There is no such thing as 'Western Culture'. Every 'culture' is basically a linguo-political construct. ESPECIALLY so called western culture, which is a mixture of many many many influences. Eh, there's a certain pervasive *thing* that differentiates culture in the west from culture in the east beyond the individual cultures that make it up. Well then, what is this thing you speak of? Greek/Roman influence and the general belief in law as the ultimate, and not political leaders? And more directly Western/Holy Roman Empire (as opposed to Eastern or Byzantine) influence, reinforced by colonial/imperialism and non-Communist economic/political systems in a post-industrial society. Yeah, plus the general increasing focus on individualism as a result of burghers and mercantilist and later capitalistic systems, the Renaissance's influence, plus the division between East Orthodox and Catholic religions-- as mentioned in history books, East Orthodox caused Eastern European countries to adopt the Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic alphabet was based on the Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and consonants from the older Glagolitic alphabet for sounds not found in Greek. It along with Glagolitic was formalized by the two Greek brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius, who brought Christianity to the southern Slavs, or their disciples.[1][2][3] Paul Cubberly posits that while Cyril may have codified and expanded Glagolitic, it was his students, perhaps at the Preslav Literary School in Bulgaria, that developed Cyrillic from Greek in the 890s as a more suitable script for church books while Western Europe took up the Latin alphabet. This east/west divide also corresponds partially to NATO vs Warsaw Pact. Of course, it's different because of political considerations and the fact that Russia had effectively taken control of all the land from it to eastern Germany during the push on the eastern front in WWII, and some countries remaining neutral. There is, of course, a Wikipedia article on what is meant by "The West" or "The Western World" or "Western Civilization." A series of scholars of civilization, including Arnold J. Toynbee, Alfred Kroeber and Carroll Quigley have identified and analyzed "Western civilization" as one of the civilizations that have historically existed and still exist today. Toynbee entered into quite an expansive mode, including as candidates those countries or cultures who became so heavily influenced by the West as to adopt these borrowings into their very self-identity; carried to its limit, this would in practice include almost everyone within the West, in one way or another. In particular, Toynbee refers to the intelligentsia formed among the educated elite of countries impacted by the European expansion of centuries past. While often pointedly nationalist, these cultural and political leaders interacted within the West to such an extent as to change both themselves and the West.[20] Yet more recently, Samuel P. Huntington has taken a far more restricted approach, forging a political science hypothesis he labeled the "The Clash of Civilizations?" in a Foreign Affairs article and a book.[22] According to Huntington's hypothesis, what he calls "conflicts between civilizations" will be the primary tensions of the 21st century world. In this hypothesis, the West is based on religion, as the countries of Western and Central Europe were historically influenced by the two forms of Western Christianity, namely Catholicism and Protestantism. Also, many Anglophone countries share these traits, e.g. Australia and New Zealand, as well as the more heterogeneous United States and Canada. Of course, so does Latin America.[23] Huntington's thesis was influential, but was by no means universally accepted; its supporters say that it explains modern conflicts, such as those in the former Yugoslavia; the thesis' detractors fear that by equating values like democracy with the concept of "Western civilization", it reinforces stereotypes that some perceive as being common within the West about non-traditionally Western societies that some may consider racist or xenophobic; others believe that Huntington ignores the existence of non-Western democracies such as the East Asian, South-Central Asian, and Latin American democracies. As such, these detractors believe that it will serve to provoke and amplify conflict rather than illuminating a way to find an accommodating world order, or in particular cases a commonly agreed solution. In Huntington's narrow thesis, the historically Eastern Orthodox nations of southeastern and Eastern Europe constitute a distinct "Euro-Asiatic civilization"; although European and mainly Christian (as well as notable Muslim influence and populations, particularly in the Balkans and southern/central Russia), these nations were not, in Huntington's view, shaped by the cultural influences of the Renaissance. The Renaissance did not affect Orthodox Eastern Europe due in part to the proximity of Ottoman domination; though the decisive influence on the Renaissance of Greek émigré scholars should be acknowledged.[24] Other views might be made regarding Eastern Europe.[25] Huntington also considered the possibility that South America is a separate civilization from the West, but also mused that it might become a third part (the first two being North America and Europe) of the West in the future.[26] It also has some interesting maps which give an indication of some general differences that may constitute different cultures, including latin alphabet distribution, human development index (Green is high, yellow medium, red low), ranking of gov'ts in terms of free electoral democracies to not free, not electoral democracies, and a map by Huntington, the political scientists mentioned above, which delineates general civilizations in his view. Do you really think that Western Civilization doesn't exist as some sort of shared cultural heritage that influences people's thoughts and actions? EDIT: Sorry for going off-topic.

Mr. President, Well, I'm glad that's all over - and I'm sure you are too. A man must make a living, and sodding about while the Beltway chapter of the Mutual Appreciation Club enjoy their annual reach around, it's time for you to be about the people's business. Something for which you are uniquelly suited. Maybe. I hope. Most selfishly, I would like to talk about the downfall of my industry: journalism. The Detroit Three got a bailout, as did steel, as did banks and other financial insititutions who were to busy sniffing pens to realize their mortal peril. Where does journalism fit in there, if not the watchdog for the people that it has been in the past? I say in the past because in our own hubris we vaingloriously waved on two wars and let Slappy McDumbass get reellected. Maybe we don't need saving - perhaps we don't deserve it. Journalism's peril reflects the peril in which we all sit in; that danger of uncertain times that every American now faces. The future for many is bleake and, thankfully, you have been refreshingly realistic. Realism, if you hadn't notices, has been on hiatus for the last eight years. I hear he was in the Hauge. I remember reading your book when it first came out. I heard you speak at the DNC convention in what seems like a decade ago and wondered "Sweet, merciful Jesus... who is this guy?" and I was captured by your honesty. Here's a fellow who has lived a life outside the rarified atmosphere in which many of our nations leaders dwell; rutting and reproducing at an incredible rate to secure their lineage. You are certainly not a "Joe Sixpack" and thankfully so. I remember when so many Americans were pleased by inhereting a child-king from a former ruler who was, for all intents and purposes, just one of the guys. But you don't ask Mr. Sixpack to lead the free world, and that's what we did. And, in a petulant reign of terror, has been hell-bent on consuming a generation of men and women for reasons we still don't fully understand. If the last fellow was a sixer of Schlitz, what are you? A bottle of Chateau Margaux 1787? Whatever your vintage, it's time to undo the atrocity that was your predecessors legacy. This presidency cannot be a foreign policy model that has you jet setting to Paris on a whim or deploying Abrams A-1 tanks in the sandy nether regions of the Middle East to "get er' dun". No, you kind sir are needed here at home, not abroad. Clearly something must be done. It is not enough that we feed or entertain the world, but the issue remains that we are no longer the leader in those things that made America great in the first place. We are fair to middling in the ideas economy when we need to be first and to do that, education needs to be a priority. Every school must be a palace and teachers should be paid six-figure salaries. To secure that future we must work harder to make sure that every man, woman and child recieves a first-class education that prepares them for the trevails they will inevitably encounter. Of course there are other things that must be addressed; infrastructure, banking, the environment, but we are losing the race to uphold the finest traditions of Mozart, Newton, Einstien, Monet, and others who have pioneered the higher paths which we must tred if we are to survive. It is not enough that we make America great, it is imperitive that we create and foster an intellectual renesseince that will capture the world and inspire it to great things beyond out own petty, human ambitions. We have lost our way, and after nearly a decade under a theocratic regime that applauded the status quo and detested the brilliant. We need someone who ignite those stagnant fires and create a society where intellect isn't a vice, but a virtue. I suppose that's a bit much, and I know you are terribly busy. But if you wouldn't mind, I'd apreciate it. Cheers, Justin

Dear Mr. President: I did my part. I voted for you. Sure, due to the electoral college and my presence in a state that is ridiculously retarded (Oklahoma) my vote didn't actually count for anything, but I argued a lot for you on the internet, so I hope that actually counts for more. I also convinced my parents and one of my siblings to vote for you. One sibling was already going to. Another works for Aflac, and in short would prefer for the health care system to suck so that people would buy more Aflac, thus resulting in him voting for McCain. Only the third was open to suggestion. In short, I bet something of my reputation as a relatively reasonable thinker on you. Please don't fuck up. P.S. Please make the financial industry pay back that 800 billion, and force the management to be fired, like they should have been. If it isn't too much to ask, while bailing out the auto industry, please also work in clauses requiring them to spend more time researching alternative energy vehicles, instead of blindly allowing Americans to destroy the environment with SUVs.