But what is bland? Is it just something you're used to seeing? Something you grew up around? I think so. There's nothing inherently bland about any culture, and nothing inherently rich or exciting.
Of COURSE some cultures are more bland than others. Just as some cultures are BETTER than others. Bland is not bad. I spent seven years in a prep school that was half-WASP, and grew up in Connecticut, which has plenty of WASPs.
I think of Harry Lime’s speech in the Third Man:
“Don’t be so gloomy. After all, it’s not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.”