Page 143 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 143
i. bijuklič ■ manufacturing and selling a way of life
cause we do not recognize that our suppliers make us deprived and inca-
pable of experiencing. Rather, too, we just think that we are only being
supplied /…/ each one always belongs at the same time to both groups,
since within the conformist society there is nobody who in one way or
another is not conformed somehow (Anders, 2012: p. 180, 185).
Let’s consider once again what kind of relation is experienced and
what happens with the capacity of human thought, judgement and ac-
tion once it becomes merchandised. Per example what does it mean to
sell someone the idea of going into war, and that someone should buy and
own it. If we take into account as referential a comparison with business,
trade exchange, commodity market etc., then selling and buying usually
comprise a certain item that has already been made and finished by some-
one else and the customer receives and owns it exactly as such, as already
finished in purpose and function by someone else. The item is also made
in such a way and arranged in its appearance to appear more attractive to
the costumer, to meet his needs or expectations or at least give such an
impression. The customer’s main activity is to choose among them. But
whatever choice he makes, when it is bought and becomes someone’s pos-
session it starts to determine in one way or another the owner’s conduct.
The product starts to produce the owner himself. If an idea of going into
war is sold as something already finished/decided and becomes adopted
by those who bought it as their own, it is not because an individual was
persuaded by arguments in a discussion, but because he sold his capacities
to think and formulate his own judgements, renouncing in advance the
steps necessary for partaking or making any kind of decision. When ideas
like these are sold, bought and possessed on a massive scale, we face a new
phenomenon of a »buying public«, which excludes itself completely with
the conditions to be participating or to be actively present in shaping and
judging common affairs.
These expressions resembling a merchandising process are not just
a way of figurative speaking. Park’s (1922) study of the immigrant press
and its control already demonstrates that advertising became one of the
most promising methods for the socialisation of men: »National adver-
tising is the great Americanizer. /…/ American ideal, law, order, and pros-
perity, have not yet been sold to all of our immigrants. American prod-
ucts and standards of living have not yet been bought by the foreign born
in America. How can they buy them when they know nothing about
them« (Park, 1922: p. 450). Similarly, Creel (1920) summed up the activi-
ties of his wartime Committee on Public Information that persuaded the
American public to support the decision for war and to actively engage in
141
cause we do not recognize that our suppliers make us deprived and inca-
pable of experiencing. Rather, too, we just think that we are only being
supplied /…/ each one always belongs at the same time to both groups,
since within the conformist society there is nobody who in one way or
another is not conformed somehow (Anders, 2012: p. 180, 185).
Let’s consider once again what kind of relation is experienced and
what happens with the capacity of human thought, judgement and ac-
tion once it becomes merchandised. Per example what does it mean to
sell someone the idea of going into war, and that someone should buy and
own it. If we take into account as referential a comparison with business,
trade exchange, commodity market etc., then selling and buying usually
comprise a certain item that has already been made and finished by some-
one else and the customer receives and owns it exactly as such, as already
finished in purpose and function by someone else. The item is also made
in such a way and arranged in its appearance to appear more attractive to
the costumer, to meet his needs or expectations or at least give such an
impression. The customer’s main activity is to choose among them. But
whatever choice he makes, when it is bought and becomes someone’s pos-
session it starts to determine in one way or another the owner’s conduct.
The product starts to produce the owner himself. If an idea of going into
war is sold as something already finished/decided and becomes adopted
by those who bought it as their own, it is not because an individual was
persuaded by arguments in a discussion, but because he sold his capacities
to think and formulate his own judgements, renouncing in advance the
steps necessary for partaking or making any kind of decision. When ideas
like these are sold, bought and possessed on a massive scale, we face a new
phenomenon of a »buying public«, which excludes itself completely with
the conditions to be participating or to be actively present in shaping and
judging common affairs.
These expressions resembling a merchandising process are not just
a way of figurative speaking. Park’s (1922) study of the immigrant press
and its control already demonstrates that advertising became one of the
most promising methods for the socialisation of men: »National adver-
tising is the great Americanizer. /…/ American ideal, law, order, and pros-
perity, have not yet been sold to all of our immigrants. American prod-
ucts and standards of living have not yet been bought by the foreign born
in America. How can they buy them when they know nothing about
them« (Park, 1922: p. 450). Similarly, Creel (1920) summed up the activi-
ties of his wartime Committee on Public Information that persuaded the
American public to support the decision for war and to actively engage in
141
