Tuesday, June 17, 2008

south of the border

I am always surprised when I go to the United States, because I expect it to be just like home, but it’s not quite. Little things (like advertising for prescription medication) and big things (like the shrine-like monuments to presidents past on the National Mall) jar my senses, when I am expecting business as normal. When I was in DC last week, I was struck by the use of military language in advertising – when I was riding the subway, I saw a variety of ads for things like investment banks and software products that used language about “knowing the enemy” and being “ever vigilant.” It was weird – it wasn’t necessarily that fear was being used as an advertising tactic (à la “buy our insurance or your family will end up on the street when your house burns down and it will be all your fault”), but just that this was a metaphor that the advertisers were using to speak to their audience – as in “everyone knows how we have to be ever vigilant in war, so clearly this translates to business too . . .”. This highly militarized discourse was particularly interesting in light of another thing that I have noticed about Americans – they’re generally quite friendly. From my experience, on the one hand, it’s a nation that can be convinced to buy through mention of “the enemy”, but on the other, it’s a society full of people who are quite happy to start up a pleasant conversation with a stranger in the elevator. Weird.

4 comments:

Ryan said...

I would say that even the most culturally conditioned people are generally good.

The US, however, lives by the myth of redemptive violence. It is the ultimate solution, culturally, to any and all problems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_redemptive_violence

We in Canada are not completely immune to it, if you will note our lovely war in Afghanistan. We have to defeat all the terrorists with force before there can be any peace. Victory before peace, the slogan of the Romans, is very much our own, versus Christ's, which is justice before peace.

Peace

Ryan said...

I would suggest "Engaging the Powers" by Walter Wink, which discusses the prevalence of violent resolution (ie militarism) in western culture. Another good article can be found here:

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/cpt/article_060823wink.shtml

el Maggie said...

Just when I thought I was getting through my reading list . . .

It is amazing how often the either formative or cathartic nature of violence is a theme in our stories - right down to the Dixie Chicks bouncy "Earl Had to Die".

Ryan - I'll be expecting a post on this topic soon, you've got a lot to say.

Ryan said...

Perhaps a post in the mere future...

Just evangelizing, I assure you!