In my experience, most Westerners (well, moreso under the age of 40) seem to believe there is literally no such thing as culture, almost as if it is a completely imaginary concept.

False. Young Americans not only acknowledge different cultures, they even do things like use them in debates about ways to improve our healthcare, for example. Our education system even discusses Native Americans as pertaining to US history, which includes differing customs...

Saying that [a group of] people think all people, globally, are the same is really ridiculous. Maybe online it might seem that way but people in real life don’t.

> Saying that [a group of] people think all people, globally, are the same is really ridiculous.

I'm always curious whether these mistakes are intentional or not. I said "most". I was being partially hyperbolic (I honestly don't know if it's half or not, it depends on what conversation you observe really).

> they even do things like use them in debates about ways to improve our healthcare, for example

That's another commonality you will in public discussions: depending on the topic of conversation, cultures/genders are sometimes considered unique and sometimes not, by the same person. Their opinion changes depending on the topic of discussion. You see it online, you see it in the news, you see it in debates (online and real world).

If a politically correct person just came back from an overseas holiday, they will speak of the "richness" of the culture there, how they do some things in a different and often better way. (I agree with this perspective.)

The very same person, on the topic of immigration, will insist in complete seriousness, that there is no noteworthy cultural difference. Oh but also, we absolutely must have more immigration, because it increases diversity (despite the people not actually being different), which is good.

And I suppose it's necessary for me to explicitly point out: not all people do this, only some people.

What's your experience that gives you such an impression?

Because, if we acknowledge that more than one culture exists, then we will attempt to compare them. However, as everyone knows, all peoples are equal in all ways - any other conclusion is literally fascist and deserving of public shaming. Thus there is no culture because there are no differences.

Wait, so as an American I read reports of schools in France and how they feed the children better, more nutritious food all while teaching them some table manners. My appreciation of this "better" culture of food and dining makes me a fascist? You're making some really sweeping and baseless assertions.

Halt, fascist! You require reeducation.

Of course my comment is making sweeping and baseless assumptions. It is my attempt to sarcastically express the zeitgeist.

Consider me fooled! Poe's Law strikes again...

Not quite, there's some complexity involved here that was left out. For starters, it is only Westerners, and predominantly younger people, who believe such obviously silly things. Secondly, it is possible for Western cultures to be objectively worse, but(!) this in no means implies that there are differences in cultures. If that seems illogical to you, it means you just need more reeducation. It can often be helpful to feel about it, rather than think about it, thinking can fill your head with all sorts of crazy ideas.

Ah yes reeducation, I forgot I'm just some idiotic, unenlightened American.

There's quite a lot of sarcasm in the above replies, in case you (or others!) missed it; GP and others are laughing at those that claim these sorts of thoughts are fascist or dangerous, not actually saying you fall afoul of it

I seriously cannot tell anymore.

Interaction (or observances of interactions) with people, discussion of matters that occur in the news, etc. The notion that there are statistically significant norms of behavior within cultures is considered outright false, full stop. The reasoning? That is racist and therefore it is false. Whenever race/gender/religion is involved in any discussion, the correct answer is "everyone is the same", you don't even have to look at the science, that is a waste of time because no other answer is possible.

Not arguing with your experience, but offering something else to consider: these days when people bring up "culture" it sounds like what they really want to talk about is race. The term has a long history of being used to put a wig on various forms of racism: "Race XYZ obviously isn't inherently lazy, but it's part of their culture..."

Even assuming you don't mean culture as a proxy for race or religion (which are obviously related but not the same as culture), times being what they are when you hear "culture" from a stranger you don't usually think "oh interesting, an anthropologist!". Instead it's usually time to buckle up for a broad generalization about a very large group of people the speaker is no more familiar with than anyone else.

> The term has a long history of being used to put a wig on various forms of racism: "Race XYZ obviously isn't inherently lazy, but it's part of their culture..."

Because that's objective reality. Cultures do have statistically common behaviors/traditions/norms, some "good", some "bad" - that is literally a fundamental part of the very definition of culture. Acknowledging this obvious fact in a reasonable conversation is no more wrong than saying it's still not ok to drink and drive despite the fact that most impaired drivers do not cause any harm.

Mischaracterizing the simple acknowledgement of patterns of behavior as a claim that all members of a group always act that way, and no improvement is possible because the culture is fundamentally flawed, is incredibly disingenuous. Anyone who makes this claim should be ashamed of themselves, as it is attitudes like this that contribute to perpetuating disunity between cultures who will always be distinct. Cultural uniqueness is usually a good thing (and should be preserved), but not always.