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This blog has been created as a forum for students at the University of Michigan enrolled in a course titled "Technology and The Environment", designed by Professor Joe Trumpey within the school of art and design. This section is lead my graduate student instructor Ashley L. Lieber
17 comments:
After reading “A day in your life” within the Your Corporate Connection chapter, I didn’t feel much of a connection to it. Yes, I grew up with a McDonald’s down the street and my family probably went out to eat there maybe a couple times a month. There are two pictures of me from when I was a baby with a fry in my mouth—my dad’s idea of a hilarious picture. The image you may have of this picture could be frightening—but I’m happy to say that I don’t feel like McDonald’s is my best friend. I’m really not much of a food person. I suppose the exception to this would be the fact that I’m sometimes known for always have M&Ms with me. This is in part because I love M&Ms and in part because I’ve found they survive the rigors of life in my backpack and purse better than crackers. The truth is—I could replace M&Ms with any kind of food or snack that I like and it would be about the same to me, all I want is a convenient snack for when I get hungry during class.
What I do often find a somewhat irrational connection with is my electronics—ranging in size from the small to the very large. Ever since I figured out how to use the tape player, the CD player, and the turntable in my home—I’ve had a love affair with music. So when I caught wind of the iPod my freshman year of high school (long before they were really popular) I “had” to have one. My parents relunctantly bought my sister and I iPods that christmas after much nagging. I immediately filled it up with my music and used it enthusiastically. As with all electronics, my iPod became “out-of-date” only a while later when it was replaced by a new model with a fancy color screen. I naturally wanted the newer model. But even then I was realizing how weird it was that I wanted the new iPod when I had just purchased a new one only a short time before. So, while I appreciated the “cool” new features of new models that continued to come out—I stuck with my trusty old iPod. I still use my iPod today even though it has needed frequent touch-ups (a new battery at the four-year mark, etc.). In some ways I hope that by maintaining my electronics for as long as it is truly possible to maintain them, I might help other people realize that they can keep their electronics and save that much money. Anyone could argue it’s not “cool” to do this, but I can easily argue to the contrary. I’ve found that the majority of people are impressed by how long an electronic can last. On occasion some people will actually remark at how “cool” my iPod is or looks.
This is not something I practice with just my iPod. Before I received my laptop, my desktop PC at home was approaching the 7 year mark. The same goes with the desktop as the iPod—it did require it’s fair share of touchups—extra RAM, several “spring cleanings,” but if you turned it on today it stills runs just as it did then. Of course, by todays standards it’s slow, but the point is that it works. Every computer that my family has bought is still fully operational, this includes my dad’s first computer that he bought in 1987. In terms of other electronics, I still use my first digital point-and-shoot camera as a backup to my SLR, now about five years old. My family hasn’t bought a new TV in probably about ten years. Our large appliances are as old as our house, 7 years, but the smaller ones are much older. Our washer and dryer are as old as I am. They make annoying noises sometimes and are quite plain-looking, but they work just fine. The most “ancient” electronic is a 1962 tractor that my dad still takes out to do difficult yard work on a regular basis.
While I was reading Winter, once again, I became repulsed by our culture. We view each other negatively, we don’t care about our communities, and we place too much importance on an economic system destined to fail. The worst part of all this is we are unable to do anything about it; we know we have these problems, we want to change, and yet we cannot. This led me to wonder if these qualities that I so detest in our culture are things that coincidentally evolved based on our history, or is maybe these are things that we all have within ourselves and are just manifested in our common identity. I feel like we couldn’t possibly carry on these qualities if they were not based, at some level, on some instinctual feelings we already have. It would make sense in a way for the way we view each other. It is common in any species for mating to occur based on looks. If this weren’t the case then many negative traits, or mutations, would be passed on and absorbed into the species making it weaker as a whole. However, thanks to modern medicine, we no longer need these instinctual criteria for who we choose to be with. Unfortunately these instincts still are able to persuade our decision based on we already perceive as socially acceptable, strong, and healthy. This makes us as individuals too conscious of our bodies and therefore unhappy with ourselves because of our physical imperfections. As I work this out with myself I tend to wonder if it is actually better that we no longer need these instincts, or is unhappiness with ourselves, and others, just a sign that we have become too comfortable, too far away from our more natural lifestyles? I can’t really decide whether I am upset with the way we view ourselves or if I am frightened at what that means for our society.
Erin Murray
Karin Alpert
ADP III
Weekly Response #7
While I do agree with almost all the topics and discussions brought up thus far in Culture Jam, I do get slightly frustrated reading it. Not only is it frustrating because of the way it confronts you face to face with the reality of American culture, but also because many times I do feel that a lot of things are exaggerated or generalized but don’t have to do with absolutely everyone.
The section “Winter,” discuses how Americans are all members of a cult. It says, “We’re not fathers and mothers and brothers: We’re consumers (p. 54).” Lasn also continues by speaking about allowance money and how even starting as children we just follow the consumer driven world and want more and more money to just buy more and more stuff to gain the feeling of power that money and stuff gives us. Also continuing along these lines, thoughts and ideas, Lasn says that as Americans we are all individually and as a society dreaming the same dream and hoping for the same things. All of these statements Lasn is speaking of may be true for some people or even most people, I believe it is wrong in to categorize the whole of America as thinking and acting in this way. In my opinion there are still many people in America who do not dream the same dream and who are not consumers over family members and who do not spend their money solely to keep up with pop culture. That is my opinion, and what Lasn is speaking of is his opinion about the majority of Americans and the way they live and behave but it is not unwavering fact.
While reading “Winter” it was all these points I listed above as well as many others that made me slightly angry because to all of these statements he wrote saying that this is the way all Americans think and behave I was able to say no that is not true for everyone. I am an American and I did not think in any of those ways Lasn described. I always saved my allowance, I never cared to spend my money to buy something just because I saw it on TV and thought I’d be “cool.” I saved my money for something I truly wanted and thought was important to me. I didn’t grow up in a trance over pop culture and I still don’t even though I live and grew up in one of the major pop culture cities, Los Angles. I on the other hand hated pop culture and was disgusted by those who were obsessed with keeping up with actors and what new fad existed at the time. I never looked up to any famous person, actor or singer as my role model; I looked up to my Zeide (grandfather) who was a Holocaust survivor. In regards to dreaming the same dream, I have always hoped and prayed to be healthy and happy and to have a family of my own some day. Not to be rich and famous. I grew up thinking that being healthy and having a good close-knit family is what brings you happiness in life and not at all pop culture or being a consumer and owning and buying everything.
This is one thing that truly bothers me when reading Culture Jam because sometimes I feel as though Lasn is attacking me and judging me as a person and human being just because I was born and raised in America. However, just because I am an American it doesn’t mean like he states, that I am a consumer over a daughter, sister, and friend, and it doesn’t mean that I hope to have money and things over a family and health. While I do believe the topics he brings up are very relevant in American culture, I also do believe it is important not to generalize and exaggerate as he does, but to make it clear that while many Americans may behave as he describes, not ALL Americans do.
I would say I am a person who grew up on a 'fast food nation' so to speak. Throughout most of my life, I ate food indiscriminately without much care for what it was doing to my body. Yet, it was a personal realization that led to me changing my habits. I think people are too quick to blame external factors.
It's natural to continue eating the food that you grew up with, but after your formative years, no blame can be placed on society for the position we are in.
To believe that we are constrained from free choice is a bit absurd. Through education, we now realize the negative environmental side affects and health consequences to some of the food we eat, and yet we still consume it.
It is different for those who are in destitute economic situations. The Farm Bill makes the production of foods from high fructose corn syrup cheaper than natural alternatives, hardening the choice for many.
Yet, for the majority of college-going adults from the middle class, there is expendable income for healthier alternatives—many of which are not nearly as expensive even.
There is a share of blame to go around for all, but to neglect the role of personal responsibility to our decisions is negligent and naive.
I think a lot of what we are reading is indeed frustrating and as Hallock has said, we cannot continue to just blame everything on external forces. While it may be disheartening to see our peers and the majority of our country continue its destructive and wasteful ways, it is up to the individual to make a stand. The problem is however many individuals, even those educated on these topics, just plain do not care enough to make a change. This is something that another class I'm in was discussing. Most individuals do not have the "emotional capacitance" needed to care, meaning they don't have the ability to actually care about these issues. If we as artist and designers could find a solution to this lack of "emotional capacitance" and make something inside of all of us truly care to make a difference, all of this frustration could be solved.
As eye-opening as Lasn's impassioned words have been, I've had difficulty connecting to any of it for his tendency to make (in my opinion) very unfair assumptions and generalizations, much like what Karin was talking about. Despite Lasn's bias, I think his overreaching message should cut to our core, should make us feel defensive, and crack into the "spectacle" that we've all, whether we'd like to admit it or not, been a part of. I found particular resonance with this most recent chapter, the Revolutionary Impulse, with the anecdote about peak experiences, 'satori,' and Lasn's meditating experience. This echoes the ideas in the very in the Introduction, when Lasn includes a quote by Guy Debord, saying "Revolution is not showing life to people, but making them live." The concept of truly living, versus being subjects to an envisioned world, is in no way foreign to us today. I think of movies that have made large impacts, such as The Matrix, where Neo unplugs and thanks to Morpheus, begins to actually live, though the reality of life is much grimmer than his manufactured dreamworld. Likewise, the revolutionist V from V for Vendetta, had to make Evey experience the torture and horror, not just show her the negativity of the culture she was living in.
That 'peak experience,' or satori, is, I believe, something absolutely critical to human existence. That moment of reckoning, of figuring out just what your life is, has been an aspect of human life since its conception. An author, Joseph Conrad, whose worked centered on religion and mythology, described something like this in his book The Power of Myth:
"People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive."
I don't think we as human beings have lost the potential to find satori, but it has become increasingly difficult to do so in a society that, according to Lasn, has "manufactured desires and manipulated emotions." As much as I want to believe that this could all be solved by some incredible revolution, I think all that anyone can do is show a person the way, give them the knowledge and the information and the truth. Beyond that, it's really a battle within the self, within the individual, to realize the reality and come to terms with it. And like Matt said, maybe there's some who just don't have that--maybe modern society has eroded away that ability to comprehend truly.
It was difficult for me to find a particular passage in "Winter" that stood out. I found this entire section to be impactful and relevant. Therefore I have chosen three passages/paragraphs that caused my mind to slow down for a moment and really reflect on what I had just read. In the section "The Cult You're In" Lasn states, "Cult members aren't really citizens...We're not fathers and mothers and brothers: We're consumers. We care about sneakers, music and Jeeps. The only Life, Freedom, Wonder, and Joy in our lives are the brands on our supermarket shelves.
Are we happy? Not really." When reflecting upon my own life in relation to these statements I find just the opposite to be true. Happiness is not found in Best Buy or Macy's. When I find myself in a mall it usually consists of me sitting on a bench, watching my older sister finding any Coach product she can get her hands on, running around the shoe, makeup and purse departments while I sit alone, annoyed. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shopping when I really need an item or just window shopping with my mother when the weather is to cold to walk outside. But I look at my sister bouncing in and out of expensive stores constantly asking, "Will you buy this for me?" She has everything an American girl could want, and more, yet still finds something to complain about; something else she "needs". As much as I would like to disagree with Lasn's statement in relation to me, I look to my sister, the poster child of average American consumer. Parallel to Lasn's "anti-citizen, pro-consumer" statement he mentions the perfectly spaced "Cult rituals" throughout the year, i.e. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and how each of these holidays provokes "stuff you have to buy, things you have to do." As if most of us and our gift receivers do not already have enough stuff. It seems as though our culture has lost the entire meaning of most of holidays, they are now merely gift receiving and giving excuses; just another reason to spend money. You can bet that my sister will be the first in line on Black Friday to score all of the big "deals." She and many others looks at Thanksgiving not as a time for family and thanks, but one day closer to sales at all of the stores. It is nice though, if one is ignorant to what is going on behind the scenes and why what we are buying is so cheap. Even if we are aware of what is going on, the fact that cheap items, in a diminishing economy, are available to us is more than tempting. But why? Why and how have we all gotten so selfish and ruthless that we care so little of the horrors on the other side of the world that allows us to buy so cheaply? I know, I know. It's our culture, it's what we have been brought up with, raised on, our so-called ideal. I find these answers to be not only generic but unacceptable.
Lastly, a statistic stated that 9 out of 10 girls, ages 11 to 15 thought that they "should be thinner" not necessarily that they wanted to be. Now, we can look at this a few different ways. For one we don't know the body type of girls surveyed. They could very well have been over weight, to an unhealthy extent, and realized that some weight loss should occur. Chances are however that 16 years ago, when the study took place, obesity was not at the rate that it is today and most of those girls were not obese nor were concerned with health issues. Knowing that this study was done in the early 90's makes me wonder how it has changed since. I was unable to find more recent results.
My sister is a frequent reader of Cosmopolitan, OK!, and Fitness magazines. I met up with her at the mall the other day, in the shoe/makeup area. I hadn't seen her in nearly 2 months, I almost walked right past her, not recognizing her until she turned away from the counter facing me. I looked at her in a mild shock and said, "What's up, bones?" She looked at me confused. I recounted, "You've lost a lot of weight. You're really, really thin..." She smiled and said thank you.
Kalle Lasn begins to talk about obsession, particularly about body obsession,
“Size matters, but size has proved relative. He has found that building the perfect body is a little like building the perfect stereo system: When you improve one component, everything else becomes underpowered by comparison and must therefore be upgraded…Thus is born obsession.” (Culture Jam, Page 74).
Both men and women obsess about their bodies, it is rare to find someone who is completely happy with the way they look. Most likely there will always be one flaw they will find. Body obsession and consumerism go hand in hand. The media influences us and according to the media we should all look a certain way. One body type is more acceptable than another. In order to achieve this particular look, advertisers will try to sell the newest diet pill or newest trend in order to lose weight fast. There are even body suits one can purchase to deceive others. To make it look like they have the media perfect body when in fact it’s a suit that sucks them in to appear smaller.
Many people buy into all of these schemes, and truly believe that their flaws are not flattering, that they should in fact look a certain way. I am in no way saying I am not one of those people. I do find flaws in my body and feel that it is not perfect. There are aspects that I believe need work. I will admit I will also look at people in advertisements, or on television that have a body that I envy. However, I am not one to change it surgically, or by one of those nonsense diet schemes advertised in commercials. I am one to change my own way, by exercising and watching what I eat. But is that really better? Exercising can be healthy but can also become an obsession in itself. it is the same with watching what you eat. There is that line between eating in moderation and starving yourself, then overeating.
Size matters. I wonder when it is me trying to change for myself or because I want to look more like the model in the magazines. There is no perfect body, I do believe that but when is my look, my body at its natural state? I wonder how much is too much, and if this wondering is my own obsession.
I love how Lasn frames the dysfunctional American culture and the sorry saps (us) living within the confines of The Cult of the American Brand. Just like members of an actual religious these people can’t see outside their little bubble nor do they try to. They might try if they knew the truth but unfortunately they don’t and don’t want to know. Knowing would break the dream, destroy the comfort, and insist on change. As Lasn puts it, “[Cults] fill the void, but only with a different kind of void. Disillusionment eventually sets in- or it would if we were allowed to think much about it. Hence the first commandment of a cult: Thou shalt not think. Free thinking will break the trance and introduce competing perspectives. Which leads to doubt. Which leads to contemplation of the nearest exit.”
Cults are a scary thing. So Lasn is portraying the American dream as a scary thing as well. I think he’s right. American influence is sweeping across the world like a cultural plague. There can be too much of a good thing. Or was it ever good? I don’t know. Am I on the inside? Are you? I think this question is what really makes this idea scary. The corruption of the American dream happens so gradually and on such an intrinsic level that we can’t even tell when we’ve gone to far. We can get trapped. Trapped by the culture we rely on. It is something, which we cannot escape and cannot even detect. “It” has become us as we all collectively have strived to become “it”.
I’m very grateful to say that I’ve been aware of the existence of “consumer cultists” since my formative years as a young cult member. I grew up in a rather frugal and considerate household. My parents are college graduates and Sierra Club members and they made sure that I understood the BIG picture. Never living beyond one’s means meant that I had to learn to carefully weigh my purchases and be a smart consumer. When I moved away to college this had new meaning as my bank account was no longer for savings but for spending and I had to make the cash last. Despite all my supposed knowledge, thriftiness and miss trust for MTV and designer jeans, I still feel as if I’ve played the cults game. It just seems so unescapable. The most I can hope for is to try with all my might to ignore the TV prophets and crappy web banners and pray I don’t sink any further into the cult of consumerism and the perverted american dream.
After reading the chapter “Winter” in Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jam, I am once again left feeling hopeless and saddened by the state of our country and the fading of our culture. Everything I read resonated in me as true, as if I’d known it all along but never wanted to believe it. Two things in particular stuck in my mind: the media has tainted our sexuality, and that our country was once very weary of large corporations.
I don’t find it hard to believe that our sexuality has been dulled by the sense that we will never be attractive enough for the opposite sex. I can find numerous examples of this in my everyday life: just last year, I was almost constantly ill and lost weight as a result of poor diet, lack of sleep, and stress from moving away from home and starting college. Instead of being concerned that I wasn’t healthy, I felt better about myself because I received compliments about my figure. I was sick! This year, I haven’t had more than a cold and I feel healthier overall, but I also feel like I’ve been gaining weight, even though I’m at a healthier weight now than I was last year. What kind of media brainwashing has occurred when I feel better about myself when I’m sick than when I’m healthy?
I was very surprised to read about our country’s weariness of large corporations when we first broke away from the British. How is it possible that we let ourselves get to the point of giving a corporation the same rights as an individual? I think it is time for us to take a long look at our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and try to get back to the principles our country was founded on. What is our culture, anyway? Freedom to what, go shopping at the mall? Anything that would set us apart as a culture has long since been buried under the haze of corporate consumerism.
“Dreams, by definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream. It’s a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities. What does it mean when a whole culture dreams the same dream?”
I was so captivated by this quote. When everybody dreams the same dream, it creates a sense that there is only one path in life. It tells us that there is only one way to view the world, to live your life, to achieve success. Individuality is lost.
For example, I feel that women are constantly fed information on how to fit a certain image. Magazine covers broadcast articles on how to have the best hair, wear the best make-up, and sport the latest fashions. All of these are modeled by a select group of people, and we are expected to emulate them. We look at celebrities as inspiration for the “ideal” look. A woman’s beauty is judged according to one set of rules, and if she doesn’t fit the bill, she has failed in some way.
This narrow view of looking at success is rooted in so many aspects of our culture. As Lasn wrote, we equate success to having wealth and power. We are living by one definition, and are not exposed to anything else. However, there are so many different definitions of success, so many ways to live your life to the fullest, but those ways aren’t respected because we have been taught to view the world one way.
I think the key to resisting this singular view of success is to follow what makes you the happiest, and to focus on yourself rather than others. But on the other hand, is it possible to erase these standards that our culture has placed on us? How would people be able to measure their success if everyone viewed it differently?
Caroline Aulis
In “Winter,” Diamond explained how Americans are nothing more than consumers. We just want more and more stuff. We are never satisfied. No matter how well off we are, there is always something else we want. This brings up the question as to if we are really happy. Advertisements make people think if they have that phone, or that shirt, or that bag, they will be happier. It seems that money doesn’t buy happiness because no matter what social level Americans are at, there is always something else they want. Although this isn’t true for all people, it is for the majority of Americans.
Americans are sucked into the idea of consumerism and it’s hard to avoid. Advertisements and media promote materialism and consumerism basically everywhere you go. Americans have grown up with the idea that we need to buy more stuff and be on top of the latest trends. After reading this I thought to myself. Is it really necessary to be on top of the latest and greatest merchandise? Is it really making us happier? Who are we trying to impress?
Diamond also discusses the issue of body image. Women struggle with this more than men, leading to eating disorders. Women are pressured to have the “perfect body.” Though what is the “perfect body”? Everyone has her own idea of perfection, and is it really worth one’s health to reach such an unrealistic goal? I struggled with this problem in high school. Especially because I was really involved with dance, I felt I needed to be skinny. I lost a lot of weight and got several positive compliments. However, I wasn’t being healthy and I wasn’t happier. I put unnecessary pressure on myself to fit a certain image, and I became stressed and frustrated with my body image numerous times.
The impact advertisements and media have on Americans puts them in a mindset that we need to look a certain way and have certain things. People feel they need to spend an abundance of their money on the most advanced gadgets and the latest fashion trends. Magazines and television promote diet pills and other unhealthy methods to lose weight in order to have the “perfect body.” Yet having an abundance of stuff and being unhealthy to look a certain way will definitely not make you happy. Americans need to realize these problems and the negative effects they have on ourselves and our idea of happiness.
From Lasn’s section “Spring”, I found myself most compelled by his definition of what a culture jammer is. What I found most interesting about this was the way in which he describes what a culture jammer is not. Rather than give a description merely about whom he identifies with, he furthered the idea of our connectivity through multiple descriptions of other activist groups. While Lasn is describing the ways in which he is unlike these groups, he does specify the principles that he holds in common with the groups. This description shows the way in which culture jammers wish to unite us all and that by segregating ourselves into small factions we simplify our problems too far and also miss the mark on inspiring a potentially far larger group of individuals.
In this section “Spring”, I was also intrigued by the “culture jammer’s arsenal” of metamemes, especially the idea of “true cost.” This has to be one of the most important aspects of change in culture for us. I think many of us find it very difficult to spend more money on our goods when we know we can purchase them cheaper somewhere else. We work hard for our money and want to save and spend it wisely so we continually shop at the Walmarts and Meijers of the world to find the cheapest product.
The only problem with this is that the price we are paying for these goods at these stores does not represent how much it actually costs our environment and the people involved in production to produce these goods. It is difficult to imagine paying more upfront weekly for things like our groceries but it is necessary, in the long run, to get rid of hidden costs that cause problems that we will be forced to deal with in the future. I see “true cost” as one of the most essential mechanisms to a culture jammers revolution because it allows us a better understanding of the impact we have on our surroundings at the very moment of purchase. Hopefully, it can be a representation of what it means to our world to continue to buy and that we can begin to sift through our needs versus our wants as a result of cheap production and availability.
-Kelsey Sovereign
I am guilty of many of the "sins" in Culture Jam. I wouldn't say that I was raised on fastfood, but it was definitely a part of my life. I think that I became eating more of it when I entered high school and started driving. I lived far from my high school and was in a lot of high school activities, and McDonald's was down the street and cheap. I still remember me and my best friend driving through the drive-thru going through the ash tray looking for coins to get food from the dollar menu. Even though I believe that McDonald's is not good for you, like all things, it should be done in moderation, so its more about parents teaching their children good eating habits.
I sort of have a problem with the section about how we as a society are no longer "cool." It says that we are no longer individuals because of commercialism and branding, but people have to wear clothes, so no matter where a person shops, it is a brand and its sort of inescapable. It also makes a very shallow representation of "cool." I try to judge a person off of personality and inner personalities more than clothes, so by Lasn saying we aren't cool because of the way we dress is having a very shallow way of measuring cool.
I also have a problem with him saying I am a consumer more than anything else. I spend much more time with my family and friends than I do at the mall. I do go camping, fishing, and play sports with my father. I watch movies, sew, and go to shows with my mother. We have big family dinners at my Aunt and Uncles house. Lasn has a very narrow view of people, and seem to see only the bad in people, which I believe is a flaw in him. Yes we are all consumers, but we truly are more than that.
“And so you scaled down your hopes of embarrassing riches to reasonable expectations of adequate comfort – the modest condo downtown, the Visa card, the Braun shaver, the one good Armani suit. Even this more modest star proved out of reach. The state college you graduated from left you with $35,000 in debt. The work you found hardly dented it: dreadful eight-to-six days in the circulation department of a bad lifestyle magazine. You learned to swallow hard and just do the job – until the cuts came and the junior people were cleared out with a week’s severance pay and sober no-look nods from middle management. You begin paying the rent with Visa advances. You got call display to avoid the collection agency. There remains only one thing no one has taken away, your only real equity. And you intend to enjoy fully that Fiat rust master this weekend. You can’t run from your problems, but you may as well drive. Road Trip. Three days to forget it all.”
I think this quote perfectly exemplifies what happens to a lot of people our age. We seem to have this goal of leading successful lives with lots of money, nice houses, fun technology, and all the other commodities we have come to enjoy. For many of us, we realize we are probably never going to be ridiculously rich, so we settle on the upper middle-class ideal. Yet, for so many of us coming out of higher education, we are stuck with huge debts to repay. Especially in an artistic field, we may want to go find our dream job and do some personal searching – but who has time to find the perfect job when there are debts to be repaid on top of rent and food and everything else? So most people find temporary jobs – just something to make cash while you find the dream job of course! But time passes by and you’re probably still stuck at that job. Of course you don’t love this job and it doesn’t pay what you need it to, and you start to go a little crazy. You feel beaten down by the system, drudging along, without time for yourself and I job where you feel fulfilled. I think this is the point where people seek a way out. There might not be a direct way out so we might as well distract our minds. So people turn to TV to numb the feelings and get a good laugh or a great drama. They might do the same on the internet, watching videos, playing games, catching up on the latest news and keeping tabs on friends. Or perhaps they shop with what little extra cash they have. Or like the example in the book, just take a road trip and drive without a purpose just to clear your head and enjoy some time with yourself. Well, in reality these things never quite solve our problems and only feed our consumer culture. Yet, we justify them as the little treats we deserve. Life has beaten us down and we deserve to buy that little something for ourselves online, or waste an hour or two watching our favorite television program. We drive aimlessly, using up gas, just to get away from it all for awhile. Yet the question should be why we need to get away from our everyday lives. Clearly there is something wrong with the system when people are so unhappy and so unfulfilled that they have to search in meaningless ways to fill the void in their lives. I think the heads of corporations get this and they market to that void. You will be cool if you have the latest ipod, you have to have the best phone out there to stay connected to all your friends, you won’t truly be beautiful unless you wear this kind of makeup or these kinds of clothes. Then we sell products FOR our stuff. Well now that you have that ipod, you have to have matching headphones in fun colors and a case. Your sweet phone? Better have the latest ringtones and a hands free headset. All of those makeup products you own? You have to have a case to organize it all. What would you do without a closet big enough to store all your clothes? So the vicious cycle begins. I believe culture jamming is trying to break people out of this cycle. To jam their thoughts and get them riled up about what’s wrong with our society. I believe Lasn definitely has it down. He has nailed our major problems and found ways to rile people up – but the long-term effectiveness of the solutions he proposes is, as always, questionable.
I have been thinking about the double standard, or rather the paradox of "going green" and developing the third world. I switch between my decision of what is most important- getting people out of poverty, or making the world a healthier place, so that it may last longer for these people of our future. It takes so much energy, time and innovation to create green energy, become a green society and make every culture green their lifestyle. So much time and money that might be better spent feeding the hungry and making their lives easier. I am not speaking in terms of developing into globalization, but sanitary water and stable farming in rural, third world countries. The fastest way to do these tasks are the non-energy efficient ways, which simply continues the cycle of pollution and rapid use of resources on our planet. I am at a loss to decide what is more important, because as much as i think about it and as much as i have read about cultures and how they have declined- it is always the rapid use of resources in terms of gaining power and money, when people and the land should be the main concern. but once we have begun on this path, it is difficult to stop. The poverty in the world is directly influenced by its relationship to its resources.
I found Winter’s chapter the Unofficial History of America to be interesting. Yes I think he is 100% right about how American history is taught in public schools. I defiantly received the American the victors and moral compasses of the world history, however I am not sure I buy into how he blames Industrialization and strengthening of corporations as the original corruption force of the American sprit. I think he needs to look at it again so he can see who really founded this country. The continental congress was made up of a bunch of land owning rich guys who were sick of taking orders form the other land owning guys across the Atlantic. Yes I agree the Boston Merchants rejection of the East India Trading Company, along with the acts made by the British government in an effort to raise funds is a vital part to what became the American Revolution. He also makes an excellent point about governments giving civil rights corporations like with the British and their efforts to revitalize the east India trading company can only do harm. I also believe that the American people still have sprit which allows them to act with passion, yet if America learned anything it was that the Articles of Confederation did not work because it was not absolute freedom, nor freedom with a cap, but freedom with a moral responsibility which works. Keeping track of the way we do business is part of that responsibility then perhaps its time we dump some tea or better yet Coca-Cola in the harbor.
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