r/culture

Please fill it guys need genuine responses means a lot😭🙏

Not to "yap,"

but this is a summary of my links.

1991-2017 shift: https://www.reddit.com/r/generationology/comments/1tu5mdm/earlymid_1991_to_springfall_2017_is_one_deep_era/

The "True" beginning of the 21st century:

https://www.reddit.com/r/culturalstudies/comments/1ullez4/being_honest_late_2017_octoberdecember_2017_to/

Next 21st Century shift:

https://www.reddit.com/r/generationology/comments/1uk6iks/junejuly_2026_is_the_gradual_beginning_of_the/

Eh, and perhaps the 2020s subdivision:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Roaring2020s/comments/1uls772/the_2020s_subdivision_cleanup_post/

This is to help "the surroundings," perhaps?

This is typed by me, Brian Shear Jr. (who is also known as "ProfessionalBee")., who is also a 2026 High School Graduate I had been spreading my posts to Reddit, about the experiences that I am aware of.

Growing up in South Africa, it never occurred to me that there was any other way to spell English, than the UK version.

It's now painfully obvious to anyone living outside of the USA that there are TWO major spelling conventions in English - UK spelling and US spelling. (With more local variants, but these are the main ones).

I’m very glad that in SA we broke apartheid, not so glad that the democratic government the people voted for, and who promised ‘a better life for all,’ has failed so abysmally.

The ANC was great at destroying apartheid, but an unmitigated disaster when it came to actually running the country:

• 80% of Grade 4 pupils can't read for meaning in any language.

• The public health system is chronically understaffed, underfunded and plagued by medicine and equipment shortages.

• Eskom's (national power utility) load-shedding was caused by deferred maintenance, corrupt coal supply contracts and skills flight after aggressive affirmative action staffing changes hollowed out engineering expertise.

• Water infrastructure is failing nationally — Johannesburg faces recurring supply crises from poor maintenance and corrupt water delivery contracts.

• Municipal collapse is widespread: most municipalities receive qualified or adverse audits year after year; sewage that spills into rivers and coastlines is now routine.

• Rail and port infrastructure has deteriorated so badly they've become a direct drag on mining and export competitiveness.

So now I live where English is not a first language. German is.

But it constantly sticks in my throat that I am forced to speak and spell American, when my actual mother tongue is English.

There’s a difference.

Yes, I know America’s GDP (never a great benchmark, but it is what it is) sits at around $32.4 trillion. They’re still the world’s largest economy (Trump notwithstanding). (By comparison, SA sits down at around 40th globally with a GDP of about $450 billion, and Germany, where I now live, is at $4.7 trillion, Europe’s largest economy.)

So I get it. Most of the tech we use in our daily lives is American. Google, Apple. Chat GPT, Claude, MS Word & Excel, Adobe Premiere and Photoshop. Time and again, the default spelling on all this tech is US English.

Ghost, a writers’ portal I was considering, doesn’t even offer an alternative. It’s US English or nothing. So I’m opting for an EU based platform instead.

So, based on this frustration, here's an open letter to American tech owners:

Dear American Tech Owners,

I’m glad you had a wonderful 4th of July. Whoop de doo. Your President in his speech, even managed, for 40 painful minutes, not to shoot himself in both feet. Which in itself is an achievement.

But here’s the thing. Outside of what is becoming progressively less ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave,’ we speak English.

Not American.

You're obviously unaware that we don't actually consider American to be English. It's more of a colonial creole.

We have pavements and jerseys and squash. You have sidewalks and sweaters and racketball. We say organise. You say organize. We say colour. You say color.

The entire British Commonwealth (with the exception of Canada [42 million people], where it's a bit of a mix and match, although after your President threatened to annex them, that may soon change) is taught, writes, reads, speaks and communicates using UK English spelling.

Think India (1.45bn), Pakistan (251m), Nigeria (232m), Bangladesh (173m), Tanzania (68m), South Africa (66m), Kenya, (58m), Uganda (50m), Malaysia (34m), Australia (28m), Ghana (34m), Cameroon (29m)... you want me to go on?

Not millions. That's BILLIONS of English-speaking people - many times more than the 349m who live in the USA - who don't speak American.

We speak ENGLISH.

Even here in the EU where English is taught as a second language, they teach UK English, not American.

The British invented the language for goodness sake. At least pay us, living outside of the USA, the respect of allowing us to use it in the original lexicon.

Please fix the language settings on your software, or consider the Commonwealth market a grumpy place where we will now actively try to develop alternative technologies and platforms that are less USA dependent.

Oh, and the same applies to your text-to-speech and AI voice software.

It is profoundly irritating to have one's sat-nav, AI and God knows what other software talking to one in American instead of English, as a default. Often without providing alternatives.

Have you ANY idea of the huge difference in cultural signalling, between a voice speaking in British RP (received pronunciation), compared to, for example a nice broad Yorkshire or Glasgow accent? A Jamaican accent, compared to a South African one?

Hearing English in the accent of your homeland feels warm and friendly.

Being forced to listen to an American twang feels… alienating and downright rude.

We English speakers who live outside of your country, are a polyglot of humans who just want to get on with the increasingly difficult task of living.

We have different forms of English. Different slang. But we share a common heritage and a beloved tongue that is one of the most expressive and widely used on the planet.

So stop forcing yours down our throats.

On this Independence Day, at least have the humility to accept that there is a big wide world outside of your borders.

One that is probably quite important if you, if you don’t want us to find the first viable alternative tech, where our culture and language is at least respected and honoured.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.

A grumpy South African English German grandpa.

Hello, cultural anthropologist and film buff here attempting to create a family-friendly series of mini-episodes with each episode set in a fantasy version of a different country.

My question is, what would you want to see for an episode set in your country? I’m looking for the usual (clothes, traditions, food, myths/epics/folktales, etc.) but also anything you feel represents your culture, both past and present, something that may not get shown as often as you would like or something that must be shown no matter how many times it’s been done before because it’s part of your home’s beating heart.

So i feel silly making this post, but i want to broaden my world view and don’t know where to start.

I’m american from a rural area so my general understanding of other cultures is really lacking. I’m open-minded and have always assumed, “oh yeah, I’m someone who would fight for any minority, ethnicity or subgroup.” But what does that even mean? I want to be the person who actually understands what i’m talking about or people of other cultures don’t have to explain themselves to me.

If you have resources, books, podcasts, YouTube channels, or anything to help me get a starting point. I would appreciate it.

I want to have already heard of cultural phenomenons and history and media. Not be some dumb American with only the knowledge of my own little bubble.

I did explain it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/1uehj71/the_2020s_subdivision_is_very_distinct_from_the/

https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/1uegj1i/earlymid_1991_to_springfall_2017_is_one_notable/

I am aware that several express how the 2020s is another 2000s. Well, I also am aware of certain reasons.

While there are several reasons, that are also explained in the links that are in the beginning of this page, the 2020s is essentially the "real" 2000s of the 21st century. The 2000s was more of a gradual period that blended the 20th and 21st centuries, but, the 2020s is the very first total decade (I said, "total," because the very late 2010s were essentially the beginning, if looked at the link) , that "gives off" this phenomenon that transcends what is even considered "The New Century" and even transcend the phenomenon of"The Millennium."

In the other link, I spoke on the Subdivision of the 2020s. It is heavily (and seemingly) mirroring the 2020s, but is also more "tweaked up." March 2020 was essentially September 2001 (if anybody knows the "clear" reasons of why). However, lots of people also perceived, even the months before September 2001 to have "an off feeling." Though, to me, the "Off Feeling " was probably even more noticeable in 2018 and 2019, than it was in 2000-the first half of 2001. Late 2021 (maybe the last four months) and down to the First Half of 2023, were essentially, maybe 2002-2004 of the 2020s. It was an odd hybrid of the beginning and the center of the decade. June-July 2023 (I did say June 2023 in the link, but now I choose to extend it to July 2023), was really the complete beginning of the Mid 2020s or Core 2020s. To me, this was probably like, how Late 2003 and into 2004 was like. It was the beginning of the core, meaning , there were remnants of the earlier period; but it was also a notable shift too. 2024, 2025, and levels of Early-Mid 2026 are like a continuation of what was becoming more prominent in Mid-Late 2023. This period was really, like a hybrid of 2004-2005 and 2006-2007/early-mid 2008. This was the "True" core of the decades. The Mid 2020s was really the heavy transition from the effects of the Pandemic and Late 2010s, and more into the solidification of the identity of 2020s (AI, Inflation becoming more notable, Futuristic- filled emphasis, and the likes). June-July 2026 and into 2028, is the period right now, that does seem like the "True 2020s." Things that had been taken from the Early-Mid 2020s are being solidified and extended . With the 2000s comparison, it is difficult. ...........This time I have to base it, more on blending the numbers and impacts. 2006-2008 was seen as a transition from the classic 2000s and into the "newer 2000s." However, I also see this era as in being like the "Mid-Late 2007/2008 to 2009" era, which was the "True" Late 2000s (especially Late 2008 and into 2009). It took what was present in the Early and Mid 2000s featured, but tweaked it for the end of the decade. The 2026-2028 era, may extend into the beginning months of 2029. Several expressed on how 2009 was the "unofficial" beginning of the 2010s. especially mid-late 2009. I would express, that maybe in Spring-Summer 2029 (unless something would occur in 2028), would be the total official beginning of the 2030s, outside the number. I hate to sound like I am writing too much, but the 2020s is also quite fast paced (Especially 2023-2024 and onward). I believe the 2026-2028 shift, may already began to feel like a newer version of the Early 2010s quite soon.(and even partly , right now). However, I still believe that 2028-2029 will be the further prelude to the 2030s.

One thing also about the 2020s, it is not just being "another 2000s," but is also extending what the 2000s brought.

In this decade, lots of the discovery of things that were difficult and impossible in the previous decades (and even in "overall history") is becoming very dominant in the 2020s. Not only is there Artificial Intelligence, but there is broader shift of norms, a "phenomenon" of Renascence (being the consideration of "old fashioned" aspects returning for a new era), and much more.

This is truly the "Complete Decade" and more.

Tell your views, and feel free to read it again, for better details.

This is a shifting period!!!!!!!!!!!

-Done by Brian Shear Jr. on June 30 2026., hence my name "Bee." Recent 2026 High School Graduate, and is having thoughts of my career.

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My children find learning foreign language so difficult that they once said to me that “why don’t we just speak one language?” They explained that it would be much simpler and nobody would have to learn another language; we could travel anywhere without facing language barriers. What do you think?

Has anyone else been really interested in a country​​/culture that's not one of the main ones people seem to obsess over (South Korea, Japan, Britain, France​​​​​) and you're a different continentality, never been there, and have no connection to that country have people (that aren't that ethnicity) claim it's offensive​​​​​/problematic/racist for people of a different race that's never been to ​there and have no connections to to really love that country/culture in that way​​ because while I usually would just have people think it's unusual I was once playing a roblox and girl who told me she was Japanese said that kind of stuff about me loving and talking about China and Taiwan after she asked if I was Chinese or Japanese and I said "no and I'm not Taiwanese either" (she knew I never been to those places because I was talking to my friend about how I wanted to go) 😭​​​​

As a middle eastern, specifically Khaliji, I always find it difficult to understand why mostly western individuals are shocked when we aren’t very infatuated with dogs. While I don’t want to generalize, everyone I know has a pretty neutral opinion on dogs in general. We don’t consider them the ultimate pet the same way people in the west do, but we don’t necessarily have it out for them.

In our Islamic majority culture, dogs are seen generally as unclean animals. While I don’t necessarily have every single thing down concerning the rulings for dogs (feel free to correct me), dogs are seen as any other animal. You aren’t allowed to harm them for any other reason, except for self defense obviously. You are not allowed to own one inside your own living space (outdoor space is fine). And saliva or physical touch with dogs must be followed with cleansing of the body, otherwise obligatory prayers are not accepted. I believe this is the reason why so many people in the Middle East don’t own dogs. We don’t necessarily hate dogs (as media outlets portray) I personally never have, in fact I find them cute. But would I want to own one, not really considering it see,s like dogs require a lot of maintenance to keep.

As for cultural pets for us arbs (specifically khaliji arabs) are definitely either the Arabian horses or camels. They are treated more like family than animals. Just a fun fact I liked to share.

Hello! I am an artist and I have an idea for a series of paintings but a little worried about how it will be received. My idea is to reimagine historical paintings of white women and men to show black women and men instead. I person would love to see more representation of the black culture in the same manor that was mostly white representation centuries ago such as the Renaissance, rococo, etc.

I told my fiancee and he said it sounds like I'm doing black face so now I'm worries. I'm white so I know I can't speak for anyone else.

I really don't want to offend anyone and just would love to celebrate black women and men the way they should have been all along. What do you think?

I explained "more" in these links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/generationology/comments/1tu5mdm/earlymid_1991_to_springfall_2017_is_one_deep_era/

https://www.reddit.com/r/generationology/comments/1u7xbn6/june_2026_is_the_proper_beginning_of_the_20262028/

How did you adjust and accept your differences if any.