[1961] I loathe processed bread in cellophane, processed towns of cement and glass, and the Bible processed as a comic-strip; I loathe crooners and
swooners, quizzes and fizzes, neon and subtopia, the Organization Man
and the Reader's Digest. But who coerced us into buying all this? The
United States do not rule Europe as the British ruled India; they waged
no Opium War against us to force their revolting "Coke" down our
throats. Europe bought the whole package because it wanted it. The
Americans did not Americanize us -- they were merely one step ahead on
the road towards a global civilization with a standardized style of
living which, whether we like it or not, is beginning to emerge all
over the world. For we live in a state of cultural osmosis where
influences percolate across the porous frontiers, native traditions
wane, and the movement towards a uniform, mechanized, stereotyped
culture-pattern has become irresistible.
