Plutarch,

Wow. You expressed it better than I did. You really cleared up a few things. One statement made a bigger point: It is the transformation of civiilization itself, universally.

I really believe that we are living in a new age. It used to be that world conquering civilizations eventually faded. Rome and Greece, for example, conquered the world (which, in hindsight, was obviously not the entire world).

However, with globalization as an economic term, we are speaking of the entire world. Burger King in Baghdad. KFC in China. We see the trend.

Here's an example. My spouse is from Jamaica. We all know the cliche, the 'Ya mon' which brings to mind Jamaicans with dreadlocks. Aside from the fact that it is mispronounced by everyone, the cultural meaning is lost.

This is the process: a business, for example, whether it be a tourist agency, a record company, a movie producer, whatever, recognizes this unique tidbit of culture that is distinctly Jamaican.

So this essence is extracted (which is why the word 'lixiviation' is really close to what I'm after) and is marketed out of context. Even if the context was known originally, all we know now is that it is from Jamaica; what we fail to understand is its genuine cultural context. The meaning has been eradicated. It has been extracted, drained and depleted.

It's kind of like our pharmaceutical industry: extract the essence of one plant, market it and don't worry about the side effects.

Universally, in an absolute linear sense, this process could do the same for everything that is unique, everything that makes cultures distinct and unique. I remember going on a cruise and we went to one of those manufactured islands owned by the cruise lines. It was hideous. My spouse and I busted out laughing. They were trying to duplicate the superficials of Caribbean culture but it was manufactured, safe, neat and absolutely meaningless. If there was meaning, it too was manufactured. No cultural context other than huts on a beach. It was horrible.

Manufactured meaning?

The transformation in an absolute sense is the abstraction of meaning, the depletion of culture as a whole, where everything is an but imitation of culture.

Paradoxically, 'the absence of culture' is a culture itself. And a culletization of culture is good; culture is eventually being grinded slowly to a pulp to the point that even the pulp will be found wanting of a meaningful essence, relegated to the dustbins of history.

I think the telltale sign is that we recently experienced a 70s revival. Disco and bell bottoms came back. It seems as if the 80s are soon to be upon us again. Then the 90s. What happens when we catch up to ourselves?!