My First Blog...ever.

What is culture? What is pop culture for that matter. I acknowledge that every one's respective opinion differs slightly but we can all agree that we have a great deal of culture in our society. I mean, Los Angeles in particular is known as a melting pot due to how many differing cultures have come together. I suppose that we should define what we mean by culture. Is it a belief system practiced by a group of people? Perhaps similar to religion? Possibly. Is it a means to classify individuals into a categorized system? Maybe. I recently read an article by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan which makes an argument that there is a ying and yang approach to culture. A battle between the haves and have nots - if you will. I give weight to this theory. Yes, the corporate world does manipulate the masses through cultural icons like Lady Gaga and Fox News. We buy what they tell us to buy. We think like they wish for us to think. And I believe that the alternative voice also makes good communicative headway through a smaller yet relative style of communication. Think of Fox News versus  Front line. One is completely commercialized to sway a certain demographic and the other seems to merely inform. I'll let you decide which is which. So what is culture? I don't know that I am fully ready to answer the question as the term seems ever evolving but I know that it is cool to be considered cultured. Shallow? A bit, but I'm human.