Culture Jam Journal 1

I often feel like when people talk about American culture, they either take the view of freedom-seeking hard workers, or materialistic lazy slugs. I think the introduction of Culture Jam did a good job forthrightly expressing the latter view, without sugarcoating it and yet not putting the reader on the defensive. The introduction and first few pages of Culture Jam identify the consumerist nature of American culture as the primary driving force of a monotonous and meaningless life. The introduction describes the author's mission, his "awakening" moment, and the "Culture Jamming" movement.

Post-Introduction, I was left feeling a little confused as to the exact mission of the Culture Jammers. Although they quite clearly stated it as, "to topple existing power structures and force major adjustments to the way we all live in the twenty-first century," (xi), I was unclear as to what power structures he is referring. Will they restructure the education system? Will they fix corruption in the food, drug, and agriculture industries? Will they eliminate useless consumer goods? This all seems not only impossible, but also undesirable in a way. If production of American consumer goods (including, and maybe even especially, war goods) declines, the American economy will likely also decline, potentially causing not only national, but global problems. This may be a reason (although probably not the major one) politicians, law and policy makers, or corporations are unwilling to change the status-quo on many of the issues "Culture Jam" discusses.

However, I do also agree with many of the authors assertions about the causes and affects of America's cultural vacuum. I often find that American culture is obsessed with image, conformity, and the most you can as fast as you can. I think that it makes sense these cultural attributes stem from a situation where "most of us spend the majority of our time in some ethereal place created from fantasy and want," (7). From my experience of American culture (especially that of the American teenager), I truly think that is often an accurate description of how we spend our time, and why we are so unsatisfied with reality. I especially liked the authors analogies and references to a disconnect from nature as part of the reason for this disconnect. Although I feel pretty connected to nature, as I grew up surrounded by and immersed in it, I am often surprised at many people's lack of knowledge or abilities in the natural world. I like the author's metaphor that, "when you cut off arterial blood to an organ, the organ dies. When you cut the flow of nature into people's lives, their spirit dies," (6). I think that a lack of connection to nature is one of the things that makes American culture a self-centered and self-serving one. Lack of responsibility for or belonging to something greater than oneself is a trait that I find not only in regards to Americans' relationship with nature, but also with other individuals. As American culture engenders these behaviors, yet values politeness and social graces, a sort of false interest results, contributing to the ingenuine and cold feeling one gets from most Americans.

I am really excited to read the rest of Culture Jam. I think that the subject is a very interesting one, and the author is doing a good job of making the book engaging and informative.