The Numbing of the American Mind: Culture as Anesthetic Essay -- Thoma

ENLIGHTENED SURRENDERHow many essays expect been written closely American culture? Howmany books dedicated to the intense scrutiny of each aspect of ourmodern beau monde? Countless thoughts, countless theoriesmany of them lose in the very chaos that the authors spent 300 pages explaining. Thereargon always solutions, which their creators seem entirely convinced will solvethis mess, barely the truth is that these ideas are often impractical and unrealistic.But no whizz writes an entire book complaining without offering ussomething at the conclusion. Sociologists edge around with their ownsuperfluous speculations, conflicting and contradictory, but this must bebetter than unresolved pessimism, right?Thomas de Zengotita doesnt seem to speak up so. In his essay, TheNumbing of the American Mind horticulture as Anesthetic, he discusses theperceptual overload of Americans and the differing and indistinguishablelevels of frankness in which we exist. He claims that more or less peo ple dont knowand cant blob what is real what is not. There are so many differentkinds of realityhe lists sixteen out of manyand they have all fuck offso intertwined into our lives that they bleed together. As a result of thesediscrepancies, we can no longer appreciate the differences between what isimportant and what isnt. Using modern examples homogeneous the events ofSeptember 11th and the medias response to them, de Zengotita explainshow weve become numb to things so enormous, so horrific, so stark, thatwe believe the great blob of virtuality that is our public culture wouldbe unable to absorb it (342). It is a typical review of American societypessimistic and dauntingthough his sarcastic humor and nonchalant position are... ...ous diagnosis of a seriouscondition. Would we rather not know approximately it because it happens to beincurable? This goes much deeper than subject matter, or political bias,the chronic folder. It determines the way we frame everything . . . the att itudewe bring to living in this globe of surfaces. (de Zengotita 350)No amount of truth can ever bring close change on the grand scale, butthe way you chose to function at bottom it will define the difference betweenprisoner and progressive. In expressing a helplessness to do nothing, deZengotita has accomplished more than all the theories in the world.It was to have been the end of irony, remember? (de Zengotita 340)Works CitedZengotita, Thomas de. The Numbing of American Minds Culture as Anesthetic. 2002.The Text Wrestling Book. Eds. Donna LeCourt, et al. Dubuque, Iowa Kendall Hunt,2005. 340-351.