Why didnt experts do something about these expected crises before it was too late?
Part 1. Prewriting.
A profound change in culture since the late twentieth century is the proliferation of
different products and advertisements through television and new media. We see in the news the importance of consumers for keeping the economy growing, and we are constantly targeted as consumers, as marketers try to get us to buy their products. A question is, does consumerism distract us from fundamental and important aspects of life? To what extent has consumerism become foundational to our lives, in that we help to create our identities through the things that we buy?
A profound change in culture since the late twentieth century is the proliferation of
different products and advertisements through television and new media. We see in the news the importance of consumers for keeping the economy growing, and we are constantly targeted as consumers, as marketers try to get us to buy their products. A question is, does consumerism distract us from fundamental and important aspects of life? To what extent has consumerism become foundational to our lives, in that we help to create our identities through the things that we buy?
A second question that arises in the reading is that of the role of “experts.” While in the nineteenth century, popular magazines carried articles on everything from literature to thermodynamics, knowledge has become much more specialized today. Perhaps the passivity of many of our daily activities also contributes to a reliance on “experts” to tell us what is wrong and what to do to solve the problem. On the one hand, we receive so much information that sometimes we must rely on shortcuts, the evaluation and advice of “experts.” But to what extent does this become a danger, when experts are sometimes incorrect, or even mislead us? Once again, we think about the recent housing bubble or Hurricane Katrina. Why didn’t experts do something about these expected crises before it was too late? And to what extent does our reliance on experts, rather than thinking, seeing, and acting for ourselves, make us vulnerable to these bad outcomes?
Write your reflections on these issues about the culture of consumerism and of experts.
Part 2. Pick one of questions below and then answer it.
Question 1: “Tibetans try to see death for what it is. It is the end of attachment to things. This simple truth is hard to fathom. But once we stop denying death, we can proceed calmly to die and then go on to experience uterine rebirth or Judeo-Christain afterlife or out –of-body experience or a trip on a UFO. . . Here we don’t die, we shop. . .Supermarkets this large and clean and modern are a revelation to me. I spent my life in small steamy delicatessens. . . In cities no one notices specific dying. Dying is a quality of the air.” (38)
Question 1: “Tibetans try to see death for what it is. It is the end of attachment to things. This simple truth is hard to fathom. But once we stop denying death, we can proceed calmly to die and then go on to experience uterine rebirth or Judeo-Christain afterlife or out –of-body experience or a trip on a UFO. . . Here we don’t die, we shop. . .Supermarkets this large and clean and modern are a revelation to me. I spent my life in small steamy delicatessens. . . In cities no one notices specific dying. Dying is a quality of the air.” (38)
