I am a product of the Dominant Culture.

After reading Ohmann's essay on aesthetic value stemming from class conflict, I wondered if there could be any break away from the dominant culture of our nation. I see that it might not be possible as I think about it now. To say that we could try to break away from the dominant culture would be to say that we would then embrace the minority culture, the most underrepresented culture, but then the minority would become the majority and the dominant culture would surface again, just with a new set of values to ascribe to. It is always a circular process, because we have to value something, we have to value, let's say, some kind of literature or music or art, then more and more people value it and it becomes the acceptable value. Majority and minority are binary oppositions, we have to think of them together, or at least one or the other, but we always have both in mind. They constantly circle one another, threatening to take the lead. I dont believe it is realistic to set yourself apart from the majority or minority. I do not believe one can be completely isolated from their culture and its influence. If I were to go to the library and purposely check out a book I had never heard of, and then continually do that for my object of value, would I really be creating my own sense of value apart from the dominant culture? Would I be able to resist telling friends about my new literary values, urging them to read the obscure literature too? Would I be able to resist the book reviews and criticisms Ohmann writes about, trying not to be swayed to find value in what is widely acknowledged as valuable? I think not. I would be like a hermit, shutting myself off from the world, and that is not possible. Culture always affects us and that culture is the dominant one.

It is in my nature to want to rebel against this dominant culture. We talked in class about how classic literature is taught in our English classes in our institutions because the instructor is simply reproducing the values of the ruling class. That ruling class says that the Classics are worth studying, so we study them. The scientific method is worth studying, so we study it. Classical music is worth studying, so we study it. But why? Why cant I rebel? Maybe I want to be succesful by the dominant society's standards. I want to get that A. But then if I rebel and choose the individualistic, self-taught-type way of life, then I am still reproducing that dominant culture, because like Ohmann explains, my rebellion has roots in dominant ideology; individualism is a dominant value in our society. There is no escape.

Caitlin commented on the value of rap music in her blog, I think, and I found her line of thinking interesting. She questioned why classical music was valued over rap music and who decides it. It seems that nowadays, rap music is more widely listened to than classical music. As we talked in our discussion group in class about this, we grumbled over the importance of Verdi and explained to each other that rap music has its roots in confronting importance issues of race and economic inequality and social justice. We grasped desperately for some importance in rap music, so that it was on par with classical music. I see that this thinking is an example of what Ohmann said when he said that a subordinate but influential class will shape culture in ways that express their own interests and experiences, but then inevitably they will find that their values have roots in dominant thought. We were so quick to find the "intellectual" and "elevated" importance in rap music to put it on level with classical music, music of the dominant class. The dominant class always seems to win, and I wonder if this can ever be broken.

There are revolutions stemming from political, social, and economic issues all the time. They evoke change, but then that change becomes accepted and the new dominant value. Is this a bad thing? Is it bad that I read literature that has been on bestseller lists simply because they have been on bestseller lists? Is it bad that I do my homework and write my papers with the thought in the back of my mind that I have to write to please the teacher so I can get an A? Is it bad that I dress a certain way because I have seen the clothes on other people and have liked how they look? I dont believe anyone can be truly individualistic, and then if he is, he is because society says it is good. We are all individualistic! It unites us. And I think we want to be united. We want to be told what to think and how to act. Who really questions it? Nobody at Messiah College, I know that. We simply take what we are taught because we believe the professors know better, the book review critics know better, the TV knows better. How could we truly separate "ourselves" from the rest of the world? We are products of the world. I dont even know what I would look like apart from what the dominant culture has fed me. Should I question that?