Culture and Philosophy

Started thinking about a theme to develop throughout this blog, since its never quite had one.  The notion of culture and philosophy led me to  popularcultureandphilosophy.com what a snooze fest!  Who knew popular culture could be so boring.  I guess that what makes things culture or philosophy also makes them, well, dead.  It takes so long for things to develop into culture, that by the time they're actually cultural they're certainly not popular anymore, nor are they trending.  How does something get from trending, to popular to culture?  Is it inherent in the philosphy of culture to ask this question?  Is there a difference between popular culture and culture? When does it become history?  Well at least there is always a wiki for this sort of thing.  

 Revaluation of mass culture in the 1970s and 1980s has revealed significant problems with the traditional view of mass culture as degraded and elite culture as uplifting. Divisions between high and low culture have been increasingly seen as political distinctions rather than defensible aesthetic or intellectual ones.^[1]

I really like the line that mass culture is degraded and elite culture is uplifting.  You might actually be able to argure the opposite.  I'd say elite culture tends to be a bunch of crap, but I certainly agree that these are political distinctions rather that aesthetic or intellectual.  America is devoid of intellectualism.  When is the last time there was a coherent arguement on television.  Oh, wait there's the Daily Show , which may be the last bastien of hope for Americans with brains  (Side Note: Can we enact the American's With Brains Bill?).  Unfortunately, the only actual intellectualism that takes place on the airwaves these days is seen as satire.  Oh the irony!  Americans are so stuck on being brainwashed that the only thing that might make them think about anything is perceived as a joke.