Sally, 10/30

Reading/discussing Horkheimer and Adorno's essay: The Culture Industry: Elightenment as Mass Deception gives rise to some misconceptions/misgivings I have had about society, in general. Among my peers, there is a common sentiment that our society is out of touch with the valuable things in life and it has become transient and superficial. A throw-away society with permanence and meaning having lost their place as important characteristics of relationships and "things." I tended to agree with my friends' assessment, but, then, I read this essay - an essay that was written in 1944! At the end of the essay, this conclusion appears: "...personality means hardly more than dazzling white teeth and freedom from body odor and emotions. Consumers of cultural commodities which, at the same time, they recognize as false." (71) Again, let me underscore the fact that this was written in 1944, in Germany, near the end of WWII; i.e., life was difficult then. The amazing irony is that in the midst of a war, people actually were concerned with white teeth and having no body odor. What I find most amazing is the historical/contemporary application of this one quote. If that same quote had appeared in an article today, we wouldn't think twice about it; we (at least my friends and myself) would respond, "So, what else is new?" thinking the quote is describing the underbelly of our society. Yes, personality is still hardly more than white teeth and no body odor according to cultural standards. Magazine ads and tv commercials readily come to mind promoting just that. Have sparkling white teeth and YOU will be a sexy dynamo with a personality to match! It all hinges on the white teeth....amazing, amazing, amazing that this was an observable characteristic of Adorno's society in 1944.

The second aspect of the quote has to do with consumerism. I won't be as hard on our society after reading that non-meaningful (i.e., wasteful) spending has been around for decades; even so, there were a lot of societal successes in those later years. Adorno gives an example of a "telephone voice" as being pleasant and that it "bears witness to the fact that one is attempting to turn oneself into an apparatus meeting the requirements of success." It is an example of "the fake." Well, I can't find too much fault with that type of falseness because it speaks more of interacting as well-mannered adults. It is of concern, though, when we willingly seek such false "commodities" in our culture and think nothing of it. It feels good to us, so we do it. We pay money for it. I can't help but think of Disney in this regard. We pay for an experience that is free from worry, distress or worldly-concerns. I've done it....and probably will do so again in the future. But, I always KNOW the whole experience is fake and I am choosing to "go along for the ride," so to speak!

Adorno does a good job of illuminating culture and its hold on us....Dr. Casey summed it up succinctly when he said, "We're gonna buy, buy, buy although we know it's not real and it doesn't bring happiness."

Overall, I think I feel good knowing this has been a characteristic of societies for a long, long time. I won't be so hard on our society when I encounter the superficiality and "falseness" that is promoted as "real." Before, it irritated at times; now, I'll take solace in the fact that it's nothing new. We, the masses, seem to survive the superficial and the "false" in our lives; who knows, in the big scheme of things, it may play an important psychological role.