Kellogg,
Christopher
Nacirema Worship
WRA135:5-F05
John A. Dowell, instructor
last update: 9/21/05
Assignment
612 Words
Problems
With Worship
The Nacirema have developed an advanced
civilization due
to a highly successful economy and to new engineering feats that have
allowed
them to build some of the largest, most complicated structures any
humans have
ever conceived. Nacirema civilization is
based on the capitalist economic system, in which goods and services
are sold
to each other in exchange for paper with odd, green ink pictures and
metal
cylinders with wildlife and pictures of the faces of some Nacirema men
on them. All civilizations have certain
rituals and
customs, even the highly advanced Nacirema.
According to Professor Horace Miner, author of "Body Ritual
among
the Nacirema," the Nacirema are just like any other civilization in
that they
have a unique culture and body rituals.
One body ritual of great importance to
the vast majority
of the Nacirema population is the ritualized attendance to a temple, or
other
place of worship on a very consistent basis.
The Nacirema however, don't all attend the same type of
building to
worship their deities. This is one of
the very unique features of Nacirema culture.
The majority of other cultures shares the same types of
buildings and
performs the same ritualized worship throughout the specific culture. Nacirema have many different forms of worship
and many specific times when these rituals are carried out.
There are also some Nacirema that have
turned away from
these ritualized worshiping of deities, another unique aspect of
Nacirema
culture. These nonbelievers are often
thought of as a lower class in society.
This is one of the few things all of the believers, no matter
what their
specific beliefs, can agree upon. The
many different forms of worship have caused the Nacirema to have a
culture that
is not homogeneous throughout the whole population.
The cultural variance in the Nacirema has
caused many moral problems throughout the civilization as a whole, with
the
different worshipping groups often disagreeing and fighting with each
other. If one truly understands Nacirema
culture,
this bickering is not all that surprising due to the high emphasis the
Nacirema
place on the individual and the individual's own ideas and beliefs. These personal beliefs that the individual
Nacirema feel so strongly about often get the individual or their group
of
co-believers into trouble with Nacirema society and their laws.
The Nacirema with their strong market
economy and highly
evolved society have allowed the Nacirema to develop new technologies
that
enable the citizens an almost unimaginably comfortable lifestyle when
compared
with other civilizations. These new
technologies and scientific discoveries have caused a great rift in the
Nacirema society, with many different sides to the same problems. The various Nacirema worshipping groups feel
the strongest about some of these new technologies, including the
practice of
many Nacirema citizens to engage in sexual activity, while using
different
methods to prevent pregnancy. Many of
the most devout worshippers in Nacirema culture feel strongly against
this practice,
as well as the new found method of noitroba.
Some citizens feel so strongly against noitroba, that they
have resorted
to using magical devices that cause the temples in which this often
taboo act
is practiced to be destroyed.
The Nacirema culture, though highly
advanced still have
many problems. By worshipping their
deities, many of the Nacirema encounter and may even cause large social
problems throughout the civilization.
Nacirema culture is unique in that it has many different forms
of worship
and though these forms are tolerated by most, the moral dilemmas caused
by the
support of the deities has caused a great deal of hatred and even
violence
throughout Nacirema society. No
civilization is free of problems, even the Nacirema, arguably the most
advanced
in the entire world.