If you ever question the
power of symbols just watch a 3-year-old maneuver an iPad. Mine can
scroll through 4 pages of apps, find his favorite videos and games, and play
for hours even though he cannot read a single word. Symbols are powerful.
While Postman's thoughts
in Ch 9 were interesting, especially Milgram's study, I'd prefer to dive into
Ch 10- The Great Symbol Drain. After reading it I had a long talk with my
husband who has a post-grad degree in advertising and marketing. Both of
us found Postman's critique to be correct, sadly. Our society is so
quickly swayed and it really is through selfish gain. As Postman says on
page 170, "It is about the character of the consumers of
products." Josh (my husband) said that one of his biggest
assignments in Ad school was to sell to a particular consumer group. But
they were not given a product at all- just the audience. It was
exactly as Postman said- all about the consumer.
While this (advertising) "symptom"
of the anti-tradition worldview, as Postman calls it, lays claim on our culture
there follows a loss of narrative/respect for symbols due to their overuse.
I'd agree with Postman that this may have catastrophic effects on
education. I'm especially glad he brought up the question
"WHY?" I'm afraid we don't ask this question enough when we
integrate new systems into our schools.
Postman follows this up with more questions, "What story does
American education wish to tell now?" and "What is education
for?" Which leads to several perspectives and philosophies of education.
I was most inspired by a small paragraph on page 178 about religious
educators. Although Postman questions the plausibility of (our)
philosophy in education during a Technopoly, I'm glad he included the
distinction. I believe our role as Christian educators should only
magnify the questions being asked, "Why?" "How will we tell THE
story now?" and "Have we drained our most sacred symbols of their
meaning?"
Questions to process: How can we use the Technopoly we are a part of to
tell THE story?
How can we protect our sacred symbols from becoming part of Chardonnay
ads?
Digital Immigrant and Digital Native hard at work
You ask great questions, Julie and I don't think I really have the answers to either of them. I think if we go back to that article about "Loving Technology and Loving God" it can give us some insights. Ultimately, God is also the God of technology and technopoly, so we need to be challenging ourselves and our students to worship Him in our use of it. I think to do this effectively and intentionally takes awareness and diligence and constant attentiveness to the positive and negative things about technology.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really hope Jesus is never used to sell Chardonay, but I don't operate under the illusion that it could never happen. I guess we need to make sure that we have out-spoken Christians in the advertising businesses.
While I hope the same thing about Jesus never being used to sell anything, I look at the TV show and movies that are out there and how often do they use "Jesus" or "God" or the "Big Guy" or the "Man upstairs" in them. . .really to make it funny or really, to sell it. And the viewing population is sitting and watching and not enough people are rejecting it because it keeps showing up! I've had conversations with people about how exactly can we reject the "R" content when it is showing up EVERYWHERE. How do you find viewing entertainment without it? And how, then, if we can't get rid of it, how do we teach against the acceptance of it, how do we teach that God and his God's creation is really "sacred" or "peculiar treasures"? That worldview and that deep-rooted understanding or God's redemptive plan is so crucial here.
DeleteAnd with your line "we need. . .[to]have outspoken Christians in the advertising businesses", I think we need to both teach that to our students--that they have a voice--a loud one and a modelling to others one--and also BE the outspoken Christian by our purchasing choices or by what we accept or reject. We need to teach it and model it--live it.
Not an easy task!
I think that how we perceive symbols ties directly into what we worship. No matter how many times I see the symbol of the cross, it never gets "ordinary" or meaningless to me. I love that symbol because I worship the Lord who loves me through His sacrifice on the cross.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I really get weary on national symbols and the "standing at attention" that the flag invokes. I do not worship a country, but instead value it.
The symbol of a flag does not excite me or cause me to bow down. The symbol of the cross causes me to weep and fall to my knees. I think that the way we respond to symbols reflects our hearts.
The advertising industry probably realizes this and that's why they target the consumer and not the product.
I never really thought all this through before, Julie. Thanks for a great post and question!