Unblended – NeoSemantics serves a dish of cultural integration
space
 |
 |
 |
 |
Good wine making often comes down to getting the blend right. It’s interesting how wine can often serve as an apt metaphor for life and culture – especially in regard to blending in this case. So much of America is still so racially divided – and seeing as America serves as a role model to so many countries, a more integrated America will make for a better world.
One of the things that struck me on going to Atlanta in May was that its a city where the blend of race, culture and lifestyle is one of the most balanced I’ve seen anywhere in the world. In fact I didn’t feel any tension, and from people I spoke to I got the impression that a cultural shift is underway and the east coast is leading the way.
Few sites really give the impression of catering to an integrated audience and even social networks like Facebook are predominantly white. The wine world is perhaps the largest culprit and the pages of Wine Spectator portray an industry leader making no attempt to better promote integration and cultural sharing. So many problems with racial integration are structural – and the beauty of the Internet and Web 2.0 is that the structures can be taken apart and reworked into a more inclusivist system.
Neosemantics have provided a platform with TheSynonym.com (info on social Events and pop culture);TheRetronym.com (editorials and current events); TheAntonym.com (admired churches and spirituality) and NeoBoogie.com (music and entrepreneurship) which fuses emergent culture with current culture, business culture, spirituality and social events. No doubt this is a movement that is much called for in the Mid-West in states like Ohio and across America in general.
In the early days of Wine 2.0 tastevine wants to ensure that taste is no longer structurally divided and that people are united within a common culture. Culture thrives on diversity and the mainstream media of the past have offered only hegemony. Already with viral movements like Obama Girl who has undoubtedly contributed to Barack Obama’s social network success (over 100,000 supporters on Facebook alone) we can see that NeoSemantics is at the root of a profound movement where its readership are not only concerned with culture, but are looking to make a change within the United States as a whole.
Wine owes its beginnings to the Middle East. It was then appropriated by the Europeans, and afterward cuttings were taken on board ship to begin new colonies as people sought a better life than was offered on the European continent at the time. Thus wine owes its heritage to humanity rather than to any one culture. Together with Tastevine and Neosemantics, we will hopefully pay tribute to this – broadening wine’s appeal, and hopefully getting the blend right this time around.
Tags: Culture, NeoSemantics
Recent Comments