Deep Thunder 9/5

I am really exited about this class and the topics we are discussing. For years, I have felt that there was something artificial about our society. I have done my best to avoid being consumed by consumerism and nationalism and to try to recognize the world for the way it really is in lieu of how those in control would like me to see it.
I relate to ROG’s story of the epiphany he had in the hut that taught him what postmodernism really is. I had similar experiences when I relocated to Mexico for a year in 2002. You see, the level of propaganda penetration in the months immediately after 9/11 weighed heavy on me. Also, my business crumbled because we imported accessories from India and no one wanted to look “Middle Eastern” even though that had nothing to do with India, or its culture. So I took what little I had left and decided to regroup.
I learned more in that year than I could ever share with you now, but most pertinently, I saw first hand what life was like when consumerism and capitalism was kept at a more reasonable volume. What did I see? Mostly that people will actually take interest and invest in one another (especially their families) if they are not constantly distracted by the “new and improved,” and “breaking news”. That a soccer ball can provide family bonding for hour upon hour (you don’t need the latest x-box). That you can still have full control over your world even if you don’t watch CNN. This bombardment by signs and information that we have in our culture is, quite frankly, too much for us to handle, and we have become schizophrenic sociopath puppets. I have seen true poverty, and the happiness that can co-exist with it, I have witnessed a people much closer to nature than the internet, to their families than their jobs, to their ideology than any political party.
Since I have returned, friends have referred to me as a rebel, a hippy, a granola (I kind of like that one), but maybe, like ROG, I’m just a post-modernist.