The Last Place

angela morgenstern writes "Buddhist Bhutan was the last place on earth to legalize television. Trading traditional practices for daytime soaps and WWF, many fear that western influence will trample the culture." A whole set of articles about the effect of American television on one of the most remote places on earth - it's official, there is no escape from American "culture".

No escape?

[warmcat]

Sure there is, turn off your TV, prise your kids out of the kid-shaped depression in the sofa and do other things that don't require you to be passive and watch ads to give you a value system.

WWF

[Anonymous Coward]

What does the world wildlife fund have to do with any of this?

Re:American influence.

[dvanduzer]

Americans just doesn't get it, most simply don't understand how good they have it.

45 cable television channels, featuring everything from the BBC to Baywatch, all for about $5 a month

How good we have it? I would *kill* for such low cable bills!

Avoiding US Cultural Imperialism.

[tjensor]

it's official, there is no escape from American "culture".
Sure there is. Here are a set of simple instructions.
1) Locate point of entry for electricity in to your house.
2) Disconnect Electricity (some car is advised at this point). 3) Locate all telephones in house.
4) Smash telephones with Hammer, or other large heavy object (possibly your now useless VCR).
5) Locate large wads of cotton wool.
6) Insert cotton wool in to ears (in case of passing boombox).
7) Never leave house.

Never mind Pax Americana, fear Pax AOL / Time Warner.

Waitasec.

[vavenger]

Bhutan's top 10 cable channels. [pbs.org]

They mean to tell me that they get HBO in friggin' Bhutan? I can't even get it in Canada!

Re:Hmm

[velco]

What is so "wrong" with American culture? Why everybody hates it?! If our culture can so easily break your own traditions from usual TV broadcasts then you should blame only yourself, not Americans. And if you don't like American Rationalism then welcome back to medieval age...

Nothing's wrong with American culture. Nor with the USA "culture", it's just that people outside USA don't call WWF, McDonalds and The Simpsons "culture".

~velco

Re:"...all for about $5 a month."

[Zarf]

So these people get to watch adverts for cars/food/luxuries that they will not be able to purchase.

Sounds like TV in Alaska.

Re:"...all for about $5 a month."

[io333]

So these people get to watch adverts for cars/food/luxuries that they will not be able to purchase.

Exactly. And plenty of folks there are going to want to purchase those things. And they're going to realize that they need to quit hanging out in the monestary so often, or meditating, or whatever other unproductive things they do and GET A JOB.

And in a few years they're gonna be waking up early every morning and going to a job they hate and busting their butt every friggin' day, just like you & me, to get all that stuff.

Welcome to the west.

WWF

[oliverthered]

It's good to see that the people of Bhutan keep up with there budist nature and look after pandas and the wildlife...

didn't you mean WWE [wwe.com]

Re:Avoiding US Cultural Imperialism.

[EverDense]

... 6) Insert cotton wool in to ears (in case of passing boombox).
7) Never leave house.
8) ???
9) Profit

Europe got culture?

[marlowe]

Oh, boy. I am such a redneck. I need to put on a Kraftwerk CD and read some gibberish by Derrida. And then maybe go out and pogrom a few Jews. Then I'll be suave and sophisticated.

And now is the time on Sprockets where we go on about how much more culture we have than the Americans.

Okay, I'll grant Europe had a fine culture, once. Operas and architecture and symphonies and everything. But that was a gosh-darn long time ago. Let's just face it. Europe has been in decline, culturally and politically, for about a century now.

I can get Beethoven, Mozart and Sibelius on CD. I can get the Dutch masters in high quality reproduction. I can even get the worthless crap the French are passing off as philosophy these days, though there's not much point. Who needs Europe anymore? It's all used up.

Nowadays, someone mentions European culture, and what comes to mind is the topless aerobics in that Chevy Chase movie. Just think, honey. They've been doing this for eons!

Re:American Culture

[Anonymous Coward]

Careful, there's some laser-guided culture flying in through your window!