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ooooo ooooo .oooooo. oooooooooooo HOE E'ZINE RELEASE #596
`888' `888' d8P' `Y8b `888' `8
888 888 888 888 888 "Think For Ourselves?
888ooooo888 888 888 888oooo8 What Kind of Concept is That?"
888 888 888 888 888 "
888 888 `88b d88' 888 o by Rhea [4/24/99]
o888o o888o `Y8bood8P' o888ooooood8
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Today in American history class I could barely keep myself from
bursting out into laughter, because good ol` Mr. Kirkendall, my teacher,
decided to try to "enlighten" his students about something which is
probably completely beyond their comprehension.
We were learning about the culture of the 1920's and Mr. Kirkendall
was talking about how literature in that time seemed to focus on the
negative effects of modernization and commercialization. "Really," he said
to the class sometime during the lecture, "the whole concept of the
American individual is just a farce. People like to say that everyone is
unique, but why is that not true? Anyone?"
No one, of course, raised their hand.
"It's because people's likes and dislikes -- things that people like
to think are unique about themselves -- are completely controlled by mass
media. This particularly affects teenagers who are really the most
susceptible to trends and are one of the largest groups of consumers. And
the biggest influence on what American teenagers buy is what's on TV, in
the movies, in the magazines they read. Ultimately, Americans are just
pawns to certain advertising companies trying to make money, ultimately."
(He also likes the use the word 'ultimately' at least five times a
period. Sometimes I count how many times he says it and make a tally mark
each time. The record is currently at 10 times in a period. Ultimately,
this constant usage has ultimately led me to posses an intense hatred for
the word 'ultimately', ultimately.)
Well, anyway, that's about as much as he said on the subject, and so
it didn't last long, but still, it was very, very funny. Maybe you, dear
reader, can't discern the humor in the situation as well as I can, based on
just the information I've given you, so let me add a little more. It's
important to take into the consideration the audience of the lecture he was
giving. To my left was Dan, wearing big khaki pants and a polo t-shirt.
Dan is fascinated by rap music and watches BET all the time. Next to Dan
was Liz, with super trendy clothes and loads of make-up and a Seventeen
magazine poking out of her bookbag. Cassie, to my right, was wearing a
blue t-shirt with a huge logo for "Abercrombie and Fitch" screen-printed
across her breasts. Mark was wearing some sort of sports brand shirt, Nike
or something. Etc, etc. etc.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not excluding myself from the group. Well,
ok, I am, but only out of vanity. I guess I'm probably as bad as they are
in my own way. At least I don't advertise on my clothing. But that's not
the point. The point is that the whole point of what he was saying just
completely went over their heads, ultimately. How could they understand,
with their brains raised and nurtured by Mother TV and Father
Advertisement? Ultimately, commercialization is such a huge part of our
society that criticizing it is like saying Christians are stupid. Yeah, I
do that sometimes, too. Christians would never listen, and neither did we.
Ultimately, I guess we American teenagers just don't give a damn,
ultimately.
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[ (c) !LA HOE REVOLUCION PRESS! HOE #596 - WRITTEN BY: RHEA - 4/24/99 ]