860 likes | 1.09k Views
Introduction to the Nacirema. Introduction to the Nacirema. Major rituals known as “strecnoc” Often involve drug-induced ecstatic experiences (from “anaujiram” and other mind-altering substances) Ritual platforms called “egats”. What are young Americans cultural values?
E N D
Introduction to the Nacirema • Major rituals known as “strecnoc” • Often involve drug-induced ecstatic experiences (from “anaujiram” and other mind-altering substances) • Ritual platforms called “egats”
What are young Americans cultural values? Independence, “freedom,” self-centered, apathetic, unshockable, desensitized, rebellious How do these beliefs exist within a social and political context? *Disconnected (video games v. baseball games, texting v. face-to-face) *More time alone (2 working parents, trend since 1960s) *TV joins the family *Politics of the Cold War (communism = sharing, capitalism = individuality) What components of American culture facilitate this? *TV, computers encourage little social interaction *suburbanization *Cold War – Capitalism = consumerism *rising socio-economic status
“We shape our tools,and thereafter our tools shape us.”- Marshall McLuhan
the conversationsare controlled by few and designed for the masses
the conversationsare always entertaining (even the serious ones)
the conversationsare punctuated by 30 second commercials
the conversationscreate our cultureof irrelevanceincoherenceand impotence
“What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East?”
“The public has adjusted to incoherence and been amused into indifference.”- Neil Postman 1984
“What we are encountering is a panicky, an almost hysterical, attempt to escape from the deadly anonymity of modern life ... and the prime cause is not vanity ... but the craving of people who feel their personality sinking lower and lower into the whirl of indistinguishable atoms to be lost in a mass civilization."
“What we are encountering is a panicky, an almost hysterical, attempt to escape from the deadly anonymity of modern life ... and the prime cause is not vanity ... but the craving of people who feel their personality sinking lower and lower into the whirl of indistinguishable atoms to be lost in a mass civilization." - Henry Seidel Canby 1926