Captain PMS 09/05

Captain’s Blog Stardate 09/08

I found the trip downtown to be helpful. I was having a bit of trouble after the reading with seeing the differences between the terms Jencks uses. Now I see that the terms are a lot alike but they each have there separate distinctions. Having real life examples in front of me put that into perspective.

I looked through the slides from Tuesday’s lecture again last night. I paused for a long time on the one of the magazine the government released to help explain hip-hop to Iraqi citizens. Of all the slides this one was not only the most humorous to me, but it also, I think, shows the biggest gap in post-modernism. The gap between the US and the rest of the world grows bigger everyday and it seems that as a country we have lost any clear self-perspective.

I often watch documentaries and History Channel shows about Rome. During the lecture on Tuesday, Roger commented that we are a spectator society. I couldn’t help but think of the coliseum and how Rome too was a spectator society. People often comment on how violent the action in the coliseum was but when you compare it to what we watch now it isn’t hard to see that perhaps we’ve just become desensitized to our own love of violence. Rome was a culture that spread technological advances around the world but they also used massive amounts of brutality to conquer people less fortunate than they. Is this where we’re headed? If so how long before we fall? If post-modernism advocates turning away from the pain and anger of war and instead concentrating on enjoyment and distraction than perhaps we are the modern day version of Roman citizens lounging in the baths and cheering gladiators. If so I think we’re screwed.