Carter Moore says he wants to forget culture but what he’s describing isn’t culture, it’s rampant, unchecked-by-self consumerism. An inability to refrain from buying another pair of sneakers because “people whose respect you crave [look] down at your feet and [give] a nod of respect or even a quiet compliment” isn’t about culture, it’s about a kind of addiction and it’s about status. It’s, really, idolatry Moore is grappling with there, isn’t it?