Southern Culture

Doug Simpson

I challenged myself to think about my culture. I think a lot of my culture since my birth has been diluted by time and changes in our country's spiritual beliefs and vision for who we are as a real person. I titled this painting "Southern Beliefs" because I grew up and lived almost my entire life in Texas with a strong Southern Baptist influence on my life. Changes in societal norms has greatly reduced the number of churches for all Christian denominations and replaced them with the socially acceptable attitude of offend no one which has changed many church affiliations from their roots to branding themselves non-denominational. This has made a large change in my culture. Normal advancements in technology and particularly the internet has affected a major change in how society functions. Social media apps have fractured our society, disseminated both true and largely false information, shaping the beliefs and societal behavior of the masses. Our country is celebrating its 250th year of freedom and the pressure to destroy that freedom has never been stronger. Many, if not most, of the changes in our country and our culture might be a good thing for our life in the United States. Change is a good thing but our country and its regional cultural idiosyncrisis are increasing being shoved into the trash bin of the outdated.