(THIS POST WAS WRITTEN ON THE MORNING OF THE MONDAY THE 22ND AND THOUGHT TO HAD BEEN POSTED. FOR SOME REASON, IT WAS KEPT IN THE “DRAFT” SECTION UNTIL NOW – APOLOGIES)
It is 5:11 AM… Before the chaos of the day.
Well, I had a thought while reading about the Nacirema people. I mean this thought came not too long into the read. As I read about this group of people, I thought how American. Now, of course there are definitely differences, but these people are not that different from Americans. In theory, they have the same obsession as Americans with the outward appearance. They just practice it a bit differently. To me, the Nacirema’s are so American in three ways: their obsession with the outer, the layers of people involved, and the economics of their system.
The Nacirema people have this laser focus on the outward appearance. They go through much pain and time to mold their bodies into certain images. At the heart of this ritualistic society is the concept that the body is ugly and debilitating. With that as the foundation, they have many rituals to improve the looks of their bodies and teeth. That is extremely American. The American society is obsessed with how people look. Just look at the direction of advertising in America, the whole thought is that we as Americans are insufficient. Advertisers play on our self-esteem. Magazines, movies, and the entire entertainment industry have this unattainable standard of beauty that our culture obsess over. In many cases people have even died trying to be beautiful. Much like the Nacirema people, many of those people endure painful and dangerous rituals just to conform to their cultural standards of beauty. The Nacirema people even shun one another if certain beauty standards are not upheld. This is a systematic practice that involves many others.
The Nacirema people also have layers of people who perpetuate this system. They have the priest who lead elaborate ceremonies that consist of making the water holy. They have the medicine men whom prescribe and carry out sadist like rituals on the people. They also prescribe the charms and shrines that the people pray to. This culture also has people who are the “listeners.” The listeners operates as the exorcist. They cast out the evil. I compare that to Americans in the sense that there are multiple forces at play when it comes to how our culture views beauty. In America you have the advertisers, different industries, and even subcultures that dictates how we as a society view ourselves. We invest so much to make ourselves acceptable here in America.
Now, the economics behind the Nacirema people’s culture of beauty is extremely American. You literally have to pay for everything in that culture. In comes cases, you pay to enter the temple, but you also have to pay to leave. At each point a “gift” is required. Whether you are rich or poor, you have to pay. That sounds very familiar. Here in America, the beauty industry’s products sell in the billions of dollars annually. It is no shock why. Since Americans are so obsessed with beauty, products just keep coming out. We are bombarded with products to buy. They are simply everywhere. From regular retail store to the plastic surgeon, beauty in America is big business, much like in the Nacirema culture.
So I ask the question, in theory, Are they really that different from us?
ofomarthethoughts 