Common Threads: "Precious", "Haiti" and the "We are the World" Requiem
It is my belief that all things in this universe are threaded in some way. Each thread are not necessarily the same, but a closer investigation, the collective commonality can manifest predicted outcomes.
For instance, in the Christian scripture that states that "All things work for the good for them who love the Lord". One common deduction can be that evil and good not only run parallel, but they intersect. Hence, where there is good, in this world, evil is also lurking somewhere in the scheme. It is arguable that in order to achieve a noble result, one has to go through hell to get there. Can anyone relate?
So, one has to see tribulation as an opportunity. Tribulation will come, but, hopefully, God makes it pliable and manageable and in degrees.
I've argued that the law of 'cause and effect' colors everything that happens in this life. For some strange reason Haiti finds itself overcome with a devastating disaster. Why did it happen? And, what happens next?
The latter question (What happens next?) is more palatable in trying to figure out (The first is divinely indecipherable). Man's response becomes predictable because an American paradigm for responses have already been created. An institution that normally takes the lead in responding to fantastical news is the media. The media's response serves as a regulator for all responses. It dictates the veracity of responses from other industries, including government, entertainment, and individuals.
If the media doesn't take the lead in responding, it is violating the paradigm of response that our culture has placed in the fourth estate, whether it is lying, fudging or over dramatizing. Then effect of the media response is reinforced by related tentacles that come in the form of donations, military response, etc. It determines if we will re-make "We are the World" requiem. So if the flow of the cultural paradigm is doing its job, in the case of Haiti, we can expect a "We are the World" remake, where this (American) paradigm gives (Predominately American) entertainers to act whether they do or don't care about the world.
Yet, the American paradigm is just what it says, We are the world. American is it! America leads (Or, have been preconditioned to think so) in everything. This example reinforces the paradigm of the American responses--it's media, its leaders (Of all people, Clinton and Bush?) , its entertainers, its communities. Others are expected to fall in line with what the American response paradigm is. Whether its responding to Haiti, Katrina or the presupposed Iranian Nuclear crisis, the American cultural paradigm must prevail!
The success of "Precious", the movie, becomes predictable as it helps reinforce the historical stereotypical layers of cultural and racial indifference that still remains a prolific cultural paradigm in America and remains threaded. It is manifested in most of our community, local, regional, national and yes, international situations of today.
If predicable results don't prevail according to our American paradigm a whole new way. a whole news system of seeing and thinking may be on the horizon.
For good or bad, our cultural paradigms are so entrenched in our response mechanisms that it would be improper to stray from the course. Media must report news and entertainers must stay in the limelight. The catastrophes in Haiti, Katrina, etc. help us to re-validate our self importance of our cultural paradigms, no matter how dysfunctional.
"We are the World" are Americans saying that we are what matters when responding to an event or giving a preemptive action in the world. This world stage slyly allows us (Americans) to assure others that our caring and hegemony must have preeminence on the world stage.
No foreigners allowed, except those who are playing the part of the affected or those who give cameos in helping us to validate our cultural paradigm of world importance and thus help to make our institutions relevant.
Once the threads origin become interrupted, we are compelled to do things differently. Entertainers would not be able to have a platform for feeling sorry for the unfortunate and the unfortunate can become empowered to sing their songs without the burden of needing someone else to (seemingly) use them or their condition to substantiate their supreme patronage to the world.
With crude reasoning then, it would appear that the "The We are the World" crew are not only thankful for having a stage to boast their benevolence to the less fortunate but they are thankful that the earthquake made it possible for them to reaffirm their euro-centric nature of patronizing others.
What if Haiti was the rich country and America was the poor one? Would their value system (or paradigm of values) allow a visual scenario where others of the world literally are represented? So, the correct title should be: "We are America" vs. We are the World". Problem is that while the change may be politically correct the new syllable arrangement messes up the lyrical musical rhyming (We are the World (4 syllables) vs. We are A me ri ca (6 syllables). It becomes an inconvenient inconsistency that's antithetical to the American paradigm.
For instance, in the Christian scripture that states that "All things work for the good for them who love the Lord". One common deduction can be that evil and good not only run parallel, but they intersect. Hence, where there is good, in this world, evil is also lurking somewhere in the scheme. It is arguable that in order to achieve a noble result, one has to go through hell to get there. Can anyone relate?
So, one has to see tribulation as an opportunity. Tribulation will come, but, hopefully, God makes it pliable and manageable and in degrees.
I've argued that the law of 'cause and effect' colors everything that happens in this life. For some strange reason Haiti finds itself overcome with a devastating disaster. Why did it happen? And, what happens next?
The latter question (What happens next?) is more palatable in trying to figure out (The first is divinely indecipherable). Man's response becomes predictable because an American paradigm for responses have already been created. An institution that normally takes the lead in responding to fantastical news is the media. The media's response serves as a regulator for all responses. It dictates the veracity of responses from other industries, including government, entertainment, and individuals.
If the media doesn't take the lead in responding, it is violating the paradigm of response that our culture has placed in the fourth estate, whether it is lying, fudging or over dramatizing. Then effect of the media response is reinforced by related tentacles that come in the form of donations, military response, etc. It determines if we will re-make "We are the World" requiem. So if the flow of the cultural paradigm is doing its job, in the case of Haiti, we can expect a "We are the World" remake, where this (American) paradigm gives (Predominately American) entertainers to act whether they do or don't care about the world.
Yet, the American paradigm is just what it says, We are the world. American is it! America leads (Or, have been preconditioned to think so) in everything. This example reinforces the paradigm of the American responses--it's media, its leaders (Of all people, Clinton and Bush?) , its entertainers, its communities. Others are expected to fall in line with what the American response paradigm is. Whether its responding to Haiti, Katrina or the presupposed Iranian Nuclear crisis, the American cultural paradigm must prevail!
The success of "Precious", the movie, becomes predictable as it helps reinforce the historical stereotypical layers of cultural and racial indifference that still remains a prolific cultural paradigm in America and remains threaded. It is manifested in most of our community, local, regional, national and yes, international situations of today.
If predicable results don't prevail according to our American paradigm a whole new way. a whole news system of seeing and thinking may be on the horizon.
"There comes a time when we heed a certain call. When the world must come together as one. There are people dying, it's time to lend a hand to life, the greatest gift of all ..."
For good or bad, our cultural paradigms are so entrenched in our response mechanisms that it would be improper to stray from the course. Media must report news and entertainers must stay in the limelight. The catastrophes in Haiti, Katrina, etc. help us to re-validate our self importance of our cultural paradigms, no matter how dysfunctional.
"We are the World" are Americans saying that we are what matters when responding to an event or giving a preemptive action in the world. This world stage slyly allows us (Americans) to assure others that our caring and hegemony must have preeminence on the world stage.
No foreigners allowed, except those who are playing the part of the affected or those who give cameos in helping us to validate our cultural paradigm of world importance and thus help to make our institutions relevant.
…We are the World vs. We are Americans. Problem is that while the change may be politically correct its syllables messes up the lyrical rhyming...
Once the threads origin become interrupted, we are compelled to do things differently. Entertainers would not be able to have a platform for feeling sorry for the unfortunate and the unfortunate can become empowered to sing their songs without the burden of needing someone else to (seemingly) use them or their condition to substantiate their supreme patronage to the world.
With crude reasoning then, it would appear that the "The We are the World" crew are not only thankful for having a stage to boast their benevolence to the less fortunate but they are thankful that the earthquake made it possible for them to reaffirm their euro-centric nature of patronizing others.
NEWS UPDATE: Huffington Press-03/08/2010
A House subcommittee approved a measure on Thursday to press major international financial institutions to completely cancel all debts owed by Haiti, where a major earthquake devastated what little capacity Haiti had to pay the debts back.
What if Haiti was the rich country and America was the poor one? Would their value system (or paradigm of values) allow a visual scenario where others of the world literally are represented? So, the correct title should be: "We are America" vs. We are the World". Problem is that while the change may be politically correct the new syllable arrangement messes up the lyrical musical rhyming (We are the World (4 syllables) vs. We are A me ri ca (6 syllables). It becomes an inconvenient inconsistency that's antithetical to the American paradigm.
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for opting to join the dialogue on important issues. Be respectable - and watch your language.