T H E N EW WO R.LD O F T H E GOTHI C FOX
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ened my skepti cism abo ut the global arguments. Alth ough much o f what
I have sa id about th e uni ve rsa l acce ptance of your cultural arti fac ts ap–
pears
to
ride roughsho d ove r nati o nalism , I am convin ced that nati onal–
ism is in good hea lth and unlikely to va ni sh in th e near fu ture. Far fi·om
it, today th ere are more independent nati o ns, most o f th em enthusiasti–
call y nati o nali sti c, th an eve r befo re in hi sto ry, and we can confidently
predi ct that th ere w ill be even mo re befo re the end o f the centu ry.
Zachary Karabell:
If you start talking about cultural arguments, about
"soft powe r," yo u ' re also go in g to have to look at thi s as a two- way
street. Wh e n Ameri ca ns o rder C hin ese food , w hether in N ew Yo rk or
N eb raska, that doesn 't necessa ril y make th em emulate the C hinese. Many
li sten to Afi-ica n music, ye t that doesn ' t imply th at th ey w ill become
mo re sympath eti c toward Afi-ica. I'm sure most Califo rni ans ea t tacos on
occasio n , but thi s does no t lead th em to pro-Mexican attitudes. So we
also have to co nsider what th e effec ts of o th er cultures on Ameri cans
really are - w heth er co ntac t w ith th e "arti fac ts" o f o th er cultures ac tu–
ally signifi es th e asce ndance o f th ose cultures in the U .S. It apparentl y
does no t, and that raises do ubts abo ut th e dominant influence blu e jeans
and rap music, fo r example , have on th e culture of the rest of th e world .
Secondl y, in fo recas ting a glo bal ho moge ni za ti o n of th e fox, it is
one thing to be desc ripti ve of w hat is go ing o n ; it is anoth er thi ng to
be predi cting what is go ing to happen . On e o f th e dangers of describing
a ph enome no n is to ass ume th at because it is, it w ill be. I think to a
grea t degree thi s is no t a sto ry th at is a
fa it accompli.
In fac t , if o ne
looked at Indi a at th e turn o f th e ce ntury, you would have seen many
wea ring British cl o th es, nlll ch mo re adopti o n of British manners; you
might have assumed that Indi an culture had di ed . While in fac t, it didn' t
die. It became somethin g
SlIi gell cris
in time. But it didn ' t become
Engli sh . Similarl y, it is poss ibl e th at Latin Ameri ca may no t become
Weste rni zed ; it Ill ay become its own culture w hi ch w ill go inwa rd and
not just o utward.
Claudio Veliz:
All ri ght , but surely th e best cO lllment on your po int
about Indi a is th at English is now the
linglla franca
o f th e w ho le In dian
sub-contin ent. Th e populari ty o f Indi an restaurants in th e Engli sh-speak–
ing wo rld ca nno t possibl y be co nsidered the equivalent of th e ge neral
accep tance in Indi a of soccer, cri cke t, th e English language, and countl ess
other cultural arti fac ts o f E nglish prove nance. During th e past three cen–
turi es, the people who use th e English language have shown themselves
remarkabl y respo nsive to exo ti ca. Th ere is indeed an imbalance between
