MEDIA LITERACY

Case Study

Bedouins, Camels, Transistors, and Coke

Upon receiving the Philadelphia Liberty Medal in 1994, President Václav Havel of the Czech Republic described postmodernism as the fundamental condition of global culture, “when it seems that something is on the way out and something else is painfully being born.” He described this “new world order” as a “multicultural era” or state in which consistent value systems break into mixed and blended cultures:

For me, a symbol of that state is a Bedouin mounted on a camel and clad in traditional robes under which he is wearing jeans, with a transistor radio in his hands and an ad for Coca-Cola on the camel’s back. . . . New meaning is gradually born from the . . . intersection of many different elements.¹

Many critics, including Havel (who died in 2011), think that there is a crucial tie between global politics and postmodern culture. They contend that the people who overthrew governments in the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were the same people who valued American popular culture—especially movies, rock music, and television—for its free expression and democratic possibilities.

The same familiar tools of American popular culture—Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and mobile phones—have also aided a democratic uprising (dubbed the “Arab Spring”) across North Africa and the Middle East. Using cell phones and 3G wireless routers (allowing for Internet connections on-the-go), citizens have documented the atrocities perpetrated by totalitarian regimes.

One such regime, headed by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, has been methodically gunning down thousands of antigovernment protesters since 2011. Syrian activists like Rami Jarrah began using Twitter and Facebook as platforms for communicating events in Syria to a global audience and for describing “the massacre of innocent people right in front of [his] eyes.” Even after he was forced to escape from Syria to Cairo, Egypt, Jarrah has helped establish the Activists News Association, which gathers every video Syrian citizens take and sends it to global news agencies. “You have over 1,000 videos filmed every day, maybe more. What we see on TV is really just a small percentage of what is filmed.” The developing global market and the resulting global connectivity have thus made it increasingly difficult for political leaders to hide repressive acts from the rest of the world.

At the same time, we need to examine the impact on other nations of the continual influx of popular culture—the second biggest American export (after military and airplane equipment). Has access to an American consumer lifestyle fundamentally altered Havel’s Bedouin on the camel? What happens when CNN or Facebook is transported to communities in remote African villages?

What happens when Westernized popular culture encroaches on the rituals of Islamic countries, where the spread of American music, movies, and television is viewed as a danger to tradition? These questions still need answers. A global village, which through technology shares culture and communication, can also alter traditional rituals forever.

To try to grasp this phenomenon, we might imagine how we would feel if the culture from a country far away gradually eroded our own established habits. This, in fact, is happening all over the world as U.S. culture has become the world’s global currency. Although newer forms of communication such as phone texting, Facebook, and Twitter have in some ways increased citizen participation in global life, in what ways have they muted the values of older cultures?

Our current postmodern period is double-coded: It is an agent both for the renewed possibilities of democracy and for the worldwide spread of consumerism and American popular culture.

Source: Kristen McTighe, “Syria’s Faceless Voices Risk Their Lives by Speaking Out,” March 14, 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/middleeast/15ihtm15-syria-blog.html

APPLYING THE CRITICAL PROCESS

Investigate the influence of American popular culture on other parts of the world. Look at stories on the home page of at least four international news sources from four different countries. If you are fluent in other languages, good; if you read only English, try the Guardian, the Independent, the Telegraph (all UK), the Mail & Guardian (South Africa), Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), the Globe and Mail (Canada), NHK (Japan), The Straits Times (Singapore), AlJazeera.net (Qatar), and The Times of India.

DESCRIPTION Describe the content of the four newspapers, with particular regard to any U.S.-related content.

ANALYSIS What patterns emerge in the U.S.-related content? Does the content have to do with international politics, sports, entertainment, or some other topic? What percentage of the stories on the home page of each newspaper is about the United States or American culture? Are there any other countries that dominate the news in each newspaper?

INTERPRETATION Does your analysis support the idea that U.S. culture is influential throughout the world? Does the United States have any rivals to the global strength of its culture?

EVALUATION Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of American culture becoming so popular worldwide. Is there evidence that other cultures are influencing American culture? Is that a good or bad trend?

ENGAGEMENT Continue to read international newspapers, and consider the influence of culture from other countries on the United States. Contact an editor at your local newspaper and ask why an important story you saw in an international paper isn’t news here.