67 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
67 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
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ooooo ooooo .oooooo. oooooooooooo HOE E'ZINE RELEASE #596
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`888' `888' d8P' `Y8b `888' `8
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888 888 888 888 888 "Think For Ourselves?
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888ooooo888 888 888 888oooo8 What Kind of Concept is That?"
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888 888 888 888 888 "
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888 888 `88b d88' 888 o by Rhea [4/24/99]
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o888o o888o `Y8bood8P' o888ooooood8
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Today in American history class I could barely keep myself from
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bursting out into laughter, because good ol` Mr. Kirkendall, my teacher,
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decided to try to "enlighten" his students about something which is
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probably completely beyond their comprehension.
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We were learning about the culture of the 1920's and Mr. Kirkendall
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was talking about how literature in that time seemed to focus on the
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negative effects of modernization and commercialization. "Really," he said
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to the class sometime during the lecture, "the whole concept of the
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American individual is just a farce. People like to say that everyone is
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unique, but why is that not true? Anyone?"
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No one, of course, raised their hand.
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"It's because people's likes and dislikes -- things that people like
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to think are unique about themselves -- are completely controlled by mass
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media. This particularly affects teenagers who are really the most
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susceptible to trends and are one of the largest groups of consumers. And
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the biggest influence on what American teenagers buy is what's on TV, in
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the movies, in the magazines they read. Ultimately, Americans are just
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pawns to certain advertising companies trying to make money, ultimately."
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(He also likes the use the word 'ultimately' at least five times a
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period. Sometimes I count how many times he says it and make a tally mark
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each time. The record is currently at 10 times in a period. Ultimately,
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this constant usage has ultimately led me to posses an intense hatred for
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the word 'ultimately', ultimately.)
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Well, anyway, that's about as much as he said on the subject, and so
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it didn't last long, but still, it was very, very funny. Maybe you, dear
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reader, can't discern the humor in the situation as well as I can, based on
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just the information I've given you, so let me add a little more. It's
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important to take into the consideration the audience of the lecture he was
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giving. To my left was Dan, wearing big khaki pants and a polo t-shirt.
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Dan is fascinated by rap music and watches BET all the time. Next to Dan
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was Liz, with super trendy clothes and loads of make-up and a Seventeen
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magazine poking out of her bookbag. Cassie, to my right, was wearing a
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blue t-shirt with a huge logo for "Abercrombie and Fitch" screen-printed
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across her breasts. Mark was wearing some sort of sports brand shirt, Nike
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or something. Etc, etc. etc.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not excluding myself from the group. Well,
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ok, I am, but only out of vanity. I guess I'm probably as bad as they are
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in my own way. At least I don't advertise on my clothing. But that's not
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the point. The point is that the whole point of what he was saying just
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completely went over their heads, ultimately. How could they understand,
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with their brains raised and nurtured by Mother TV and Father
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Advertisement? Ultimately, commercialization is such a huge part of our
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society that criticizing it is like saying Christians are stupid. Yeah, I
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do that sometimes, too. Christians would never listen, and neither did we.
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Ultimately, I guess we American teenagers just don't give a damn,
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ultimately.
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[ (c) !LA HOE REVOLUCION PRESS! HOE #596 - WRITTEN BY: RHEA - 4/24/99 ]
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