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

ENLIGHTENED SURRENDERHow many essays stomach been written about American ending? Howmany books dedicated to the intense scrutiny of every aspect of ourmodern society? Countless thoughts, countless theoriesmany of themlost in the very funny house that the authors spent 300 pages explaining. Thereare always solutions, which their creators seem entirely convinced will solvethis mess, exactly the truth is that these ideas are often verbose and unrealistic.But no one writes an entire book complaining without offering ussomething at the conclusion. Sociologists parade around with their ownsuperfluous speculations, conflicting and contradictory, but this must bebetter than unresolved pessimism, right?Thomas de Zengotita doesnt seem to think so. In his essay, TheNumbing of the American Mind Culture as Anesthetic, he discusses theperceptual overload of Americans and the differing and indistinguishablelevels of reality in which we exist. He claims that most people dont knowand cant spot what is real what is not. There are so many differentkinds of realityhe lists sixteen out of manyand they have all becomeso 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 like the events ofSeptember eleventh 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 nonchalantattitude are... ...ous diagnosis of a seriouscondition. Would we preferably not know about it because it happens to beincurable? This goes much deeper than subject matter, or political bias,the usual folder. It determines the way we frame everything . . . the attitudewe bring to liveliness in this world o f surfaces. (de Zengotita 350)No amount of truth can ever bring about change on the grand scale, butthe way you chose to give out within 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.