Culture vs Counter Culture
In its essence, a culture is a set of knowledge and skills that enables a human
to survive a given context. You could argue it's what makes people different
from animals, since human children need to be taught their culture in order to
practice it; human culture is too complex to be instinctive.
A good illustration of culture is probably the Eskimos. They can survive in the
Arctic, and have done so for thousands of years. However, your human from a temperate
climate would probably not last long in the Arctic, because they're naive of the Eskimo
culture.
The Eskimo example shows the life-and-death nature of culture. For tens of thousands of
years, a human without culture simply couldn't survive. You could only get "cultured" by
living among a tribe for your formative years. Hence, the habit of people to work and live
in groups and copy each other's behaviour.
With modern technology came alternatives: you still had to have culture to survive, but more
than one was available to choose from. An example might be the white Africans. They brought European
culture to Africa and were able to synthesize it with what Africans taught them to make a new
way of life. The white Africans are a very successful people (although I realize they vary from
country to country). Their way of life depends much more on technology than the indigenous Blacks
did, but the white Africans can sustain that technology, so their culture is viable - for the last
few hundred years, anyway.
You could call the white African way of life a counter-culture: it's another way to survive in Africa
that doesn't follow the "original" way. You can choose either one, if you have access to the right teachers.
In many people's minds, the term "counter-culture" probably conjures up visions of Ziggy Stardust or even Che Guevara.
Both men did seek alternative ways of life to the dominant ways surrounding them. You could even argue both
were successful. However, I think counter-culture could be illustrated with much more mundane examples. The
modern non-nuclear family represents a counter-culture, for instance.
Now, to the man pictured right: Richard Simmons. He is a true icon of counter culture. Why, you might ask?
The answer is obvious: while Americans have gotten sedentary and fat, Richard offers an alternative: doing
his workouts and staying fit. Undeniably, Simmons' way is viable; most Americans would certainly be healthier
if they followed Richard's prescription. So, why don't they?
Every counter-culture has icons or stereotypes associated with it. People generally choose a culture
based on their ability to relate to - or picture themselves as - members of it. Most people can't imagine
themselves being like Richard Simmons. He has the guts to make a better choice and stand out for it - and even
get rich in the process.
By the way: I own a couple of his workout tapes. I think I'll go do one now. I think any true artist, really,
is a member of a counter culture, and we should celebrate it. (Plus, my kids are making fun of me for being fat.)
