The representation of culture in modern society has been seen to extend several social vices across the globe. Instead of upholding the moral norms of a perfect culture advancement, the current definition of social growth is retrogressively built along the lines of the socio-economic and political agenda of major influential powers. These authorities expose the entire society to several undesired practices of individuality, class division, and labor specialization. These factors are commonly used to influence the ideologies of members of the larger community into accepting a misrepresented cultural development. The contemporary generation does not question the consequence of their actions and is prone to social manipulations falsely branded as a cultural success. As such, adopting Theodore’s article What We Have to lose is crucial in explaining the misrepresentation of modern civilization as a perfect development in the current society.
Theodore’s main argument is the idea that contemporary society represents a culture which lacks authenticity and development because of the influence of dominant powers. He questions several social thoughts that misrepresent the definition of community advancements to disrupt a society’s social order (Dalrymple). He exposes how those acts can be detrimental to a given culture and render its progressive nature a total failure. Theodore identifies several societal issues, such as the dominative power or influential groups and the inappropriate use of communication systems, as factors undermining the society’s view of a natural environment as an ideal civilization. He criticizes the common notions that define civilization on the basis of socio-economic and political achievements. For instance, he refers to the current centralization of power, the ideas of superman ship, individual progress, and labor specialization as dominative to the illiterates. The author emphasizes that considering societal growth along these lines is demeaning, barbaric, and a total failure of the ideal community’s development.
While supporting his arguments, Theodore criticizes modern civilization as a primitive culture founded on the wrong precepts of development. For instance, this progress is merely defined along lines of intellectuality. As such, the unlearned are subjected to a feeling of shame when engaged in communal acts. Throughout his arguments, the author maintains a corrective tone to certain members of society. For example, he corrects the ideas of individuality common with most members of the current generation. He further argues that justice and protectionism is an integral element of civilization ‘I choose my countries with unconscious care and thereby received many object lessons in the fragility of the human order, especially when it is undermined in the abstract name of justice’ (Dalrymple 4). As such, social progress lacking togetherness is fragile and must be handled with care.
I agree with Theodore’s ideas depicting modern civilization as fragile to the disruptive nature of individualistic and superman ship ideas. Modern society relies on the personal ideologies of prominent persons in dictating their behaviors. Modern generation is, therefore, unconscious of the discourse created by group mentality. Individuals fail to articulate their social constructs, instead, the manipulative powers introduce a perfect substitute to limit their ability to question their daily choices and behavior. Such human beings are, therefore, used as robots in fulfilling the interests of prominent members of society. As a result, modern society is more vulnerable to the disruptive nature of the current civilization.
W. Raymond’s arguments of Culture as a Sense of Life are also similar to Theodore’s assertions of cultural misrepresentation. The philosopher argues that the current social progression extends several social inequalities to ordinary members of a community. Raymond asserts that such disparities are common vices of society’s growth (Fuchs 744). As such, they undermine an individual’s freedom and beliefs in judging good or evil. Raymond recommends a good cultural representation as the absolute remedy to addressing the social vices associated with the 21st-century generation. The philosopher recommends that it is necessary to deconstruct the current definition of life in identifying the merits and demerits of the misguided interpretation of modern civilization. Raymond’s insights are relevant to the provided analysis mainly because they share the same ideas as the beliefs of Dalrymple. Raymond contributes to the analysis because he provides solutions to the problems that currently exist. In addition, I decided to combine these two articles because I personally enjoyed reading them and found a lot of interesting information.
To summarize, Theodore’s article What We Have to Lose is playing a crucial role in explaining the misrepresentation of modern civilization as a perfect development. The study presents several societal issues ranging from the dominative influential group as well as the inappropriate use of communication systems as core factors undermining the society’s view of what an ideal civilization is in supporting the desired cultural development. These ideas define civilization along the lines of socio-economic and political opinions of certain influential groups. Instead of enhancing peace, security, and protection of the larger public, these ideas have been used to create a new form of social ranking and superman ship within the larger community. Thus, the presented response analyzed the article of Dalrymple in detail by discussing the philosopher’s arguments and relating his ideas to Raymond.
References
Dalrymple, Theodore. “What We Have to Lose Our Civilization is More Precious, and More Fragile, Than Most People Suppose.” City Journal, vol. 11, no. 4, 2001, pp. 74-83.
Fuchs, Christian. “Raymond Williams’ Communicative Materialism.” European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 20, no. 6, 2017, pp. 744–762. Web.