Lia: Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution

My group had Narrative #1: The "Global Village" and the "Electronic Colony." Pages 294 to 301. In these 23 paragraphs we are deeply immersed into the mind of Cynthia Selfe, she makes very valid and fairly true points BUT at the same time extremely strong accusations at the American persona. Like for instance she says, "Americans use technology to become world travelers, to learn about-and acquire knowledge of-other cultures, while remaining comfortably situated within their own living rooms and, thus comfortably separated from the other inhabitants of the global village." (para.11) Which makes a stirring point when she also quotes Virgin Sound when they advertised, "For the world to have a future, we must work together as one tribe" and she goes onto say, "because "encroaching civilization," "disease," and "epidemics" are threatening some of the worlds people with "near extinction." It is interesting because we do do this, we try and fight for donations to help these people out who are sick and are dying from disease and then we go home and relax with our lavish livings and our expensive homes and with modern medicine at our immediate access. Selfe does show us the truth of the American vision, we want a united universe and we want this "one tribe" mentality...but in all actuality is it really happening. Americans feel like technology is going to get us there to be a "global village." Selfe makes a good point when she says, "As much as Americans might like to think it; technology is not the solution for all of the worlds problems-and, indeed, it might well be a contributing cause to many of them. Technology, in these ads, is an American tool. And what we use this tool for reveals all too clearly our values as homo faber-the tool maker." (para. 22 & 23) Technology might be a very useful tool but at the same time is a doomsdayer tool...he can either make us or break us. Its all in how we use it.