Horace
Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema"
Miner's
1956 essay explores
the body rituals of a group called the Nacirema. The rituals
are based on magical beliefs concerning the body’s appearance and
health; women
baking their heads in ovens, visiting medicine men, men cutting
their
faces daily, mouth rites, and so on. Miner concludes, “[it]
is hard
to understand how they have managed to exist so long under the burdens
which
they have imposed upon themselves.”
James
Earl Carter's "Crisis of Confidence: Energy and National Goals"
"The Malaise Speech"
refers to President Carter’s perceived crisis of confidence in 1979
America.
The Watergate scandal,
assassinations of JFK,
RFK, and Martin Luther King Jr., and the loss in
Vietnam,
all contributed to the crisis of
confidence. OPEC
oil embargoes created an energy crisis.
Carter
proposed a set of National goals. First goal was to recognize two paths
Americans
could take: one of fragmenting self-interest or one of American values,
the
path to true freedom. Second, Carter assured, “we are the
generation that
will win the war on the energy problem.”
If
the nation united under common goals, our crisis
of confidence would be solved along with the war on energy.
Anthropologist Katherine
Newman addressed the rising subject of downward mobility in American
Society in, "American Nightmares."
Downward mobility is the slide down the socio-economical ladder.
Newman
points out, “[a]bout one in five American men skid down the
occupational
hierarchy in their working lives,” but the topic is
never discussed in the media. Media focuses solely on success and
upward
mobility and does not address pressing economic times. Newman concludes, [n]o one ever talks about the Pilgrims who
gave up and headed back to England.
Our optimistic heritage stands in the way of recognizing how frequently
economic failure occurs. Americans fear failure; therefore, downward
mobility
is not topic of discussion in our society.
Charles
Derber's "The Good Man Fills His Own Stomach"
Derber takes a deeper
look at wilding in American society and the American Dream.
Derber shows
examples of how wilding is slowly consuming the American society (1989 New York City
rape, Stuart shooting, The Ik society, etc.). He concludes
wilding has to
be used to obtain the unrealistic American Dream and there is “no doubt
that a
whole society can embrace "wilding" as a way of life.”
Derber believes that Americans dreams are becoming so unrealistic in
order to
obtain it one must resort to wilding to fulfill their dreams and
“wilding is
becoming part and parcel of the American Dream.”
P.J.
O'Rourke's "Slamming and Jamming"
In O'Rourke's essay, Guardian Angels are a group of
unarmed drug
fighters in the inner city. The Guardian
Angels run through the city "Slamming and
Jamming" the drug houses. Their
ultimate goal is to rid the streets of drugs and make the neighborhoods
safer. O'Rourke paints a vivid picture of all of these drug
houses and
users injecting drugs. The Guardian
Angels bust in, break their peace pipes, stomp on their drugs, and
steal their
money. These busts seem to be more effective than the government
agencies
fighting the War on Drugs, “they[people in the
neighborhoods] could see the results of government policy, and they
could see
the results of the Guardian Angels. They could tell what works.”
John
Grisham's "Somewhere for Everyone."
Grisham addresses
the issue of homelessness in the United States. His focus is on
how people try to avoid talking about homeless people and even came up
with alternate words to describe the homeless that sound "more
appealing." Today, government is trying to remove
homeless from the streets by criminalizing homelessness. Grisham
states, "[the] problem of homelessness is not solved by removing the
victims from our view." While doing research on the homeless,
Grisham went to the streets and shelters of D.C. to get a personal look
at homelessness and the one question he asked himself after was, "[is]
this the Third World...[or] is this America?"
Jo
Goodwin Parker's "What is Poverty?"
Parker's
"What is
Poverty"
really brings the effects of poverty straight to the heart. The
account of the poverty stricken single mother of four is gut
wrenching. This account is Parker's way to bring about change in
the aid provided by the government for the poor. The mother asks
you, the reader, to take action, "[look] at us [the poverty stricken
people] with an angry heart, anger that will help."
Studs
Terkle's interview, "Mike LeFevre: Who Built the Pyramids?"
Terkle's
interview opens peoples eyes to all the hard working blue collar
workers do and the little credit they receive. Terkle interviews
blue collar worker Mike LeFevre who goes to work eight to five every
day and receives no credit for all
his work, but he goes back every day just to make a better life for his
children. Throughout the interview LeFevre constantly makes nasty
remarks about his college educated boss, but he hope one day his kids
will be the white collar boss of a company. LeFevre says,
"[every] time I see a young guy walk by with
a shirt and tie and dressed up real sharp, I'm lookin' at my kid, you
know?
That's it."
Peter
Marin's "Helping and Hating the Homeless."
In
Marin's
essay, he first
addresses the fact most homeless people were once people just like
ourselves and once a tragedy stuck, they were left on the
streets. Next he says there two kinds of homeless; those who have
had it force upon them and those who chosen it as a way of life.
In order to truly help the homeless, our government institutions need
not try to change the homeless, but help then find a place to stay and
a good meal every so often. With our culture geared to conforming
everyone into a perfect mold, it scares the homeless away from the help
they need.
Alter
discusses how the digital
divide keeps growing in the United States. The digital divide is
the gap between people who own or have access to computers and other
digital technology and those who do not. Not only is there a
divide between people who have digital access, but there is a divide
between those who actually know how to use digital technology in a
beneficial way. This divide is not just a divide of the digital
world and the non-digital world, but a divide of the classes. Not
all low-income households or communities can provide access to digital
technology that is taking over our society and it is leaving people
behind. Alter warns, "[unless] the "digital divide" is narrowed,
soon, the United States maybe headed for a return to the class warfare
of a century ago, t he last time the economy changed so fundamentally."
Jay Shaft's "US
Homelessness and
Poverty Rates Skyrocket"
Shaft's
essay addresses the increase of homelessness an poverty in the United
States. The United States is the richest nation in the world, but
the number of homeless and poverty stricken citizens is it is
comparable to Third World Nations. As the numbers of homeless are
increasing, the numbers of aid given by the government is holding
steady. With the demand for aid increasing, but the aid staying
steady, many are going without aid and programs are being cut. In
order to help our citizens, Shaft calls upon our government to, "put
our priorities in line with the welfare of all our citizens. We
cannot afford to neglect the children or any citizen any longer."
Kate Santich's "Life's a bummer,
but whatever"
In
Santich's
essay, she addresses the cynicism present in Americans today. The
increase in cynicism is believed to have started with the Vietnam War
and the assassination of JFK, and only increased with events such as
Watergate, Nixon, Clinton sex scandal, and the 2000 presidential
election. Santich accepts the increase in cynicism, but
addresses the fact that cynicism is not necessarily a negative
characteristic. She quotes Author Mirvisi who believes, "behind
every cynic is an idealist who wants things to be better."
Cynicism is a large part of what makes our nation today and always
keeps the U.S. citizens questioning our government and keeping their
decisions in check.
Quindlen's post 9/11
essay
addresses the graduating college class of 2005 at Columbia
University. This class came in just a few days before the 9/11
attacks and stayed to prove they would not let the terrorists win, but
Quindlen believes the terrorists did win. Ever since 9/11 the
attitudes of Americans have changed, "[no] one believes in mistakes
anymore...today, human error in so many arenas has been supplanted by
the ubiquitous suggestion of sinister forces." Since
the attacks on 9/11 Americans have become polarized; it is either black
or white, no gray area. People have become close minded and only
believe their views are correct. Quindlen challenges people to go
into a discussion with an open mind and ask yourself, " '[is] that
true? Maybe I should change my mind.' "
In Reich's
essay,
he discusses how each story in American history can be classified as
one of four different American Tales. Reich explains,
"the American morality tale our understanding of who we are, and of
what we want for ourselves and one another." Throughout history,
each one of these parables represents our nation because our nation is
one of "humble, immigrant origins, built out of nothing and into
greatness through hard work; generous to those in need, those who
cannot make it on their own..." These four tales include, the mob
at the gates, the triumphant
individual, the benevolent community, and finally the rot at the
top. Mob at the gates represents our fear of tyranny and our need
to isolate ourselves from "them out there." The triumphant
individual represents the hardworking man who works his way from rags
to riches, "with enough guts anyone can make it on their own in
America." The third parable, the benevolent community represents
the American people working together to benefit others. Our final
parable is the rot at the top which represents the "powerful elites"
and corruption created by the elite. The elite are then kept in
check by the muckrakers who make sure the people are informed of the
corruption. Reich shows us how these four parables tie our nation
together with one common hope, the American Dream.