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"I should warn you that people will tell you that the impression I've given you of tribal peoples is a romanticized one. These people believe that Mother Culture speaks the undoubted truth when she teaches that humans are innately flawed and utterly doomed to misery. They're sure that there must be all sorts of things wrong with every tribal way of life, and of course they're correct--if you mean by 'wrong' something you don't like. There are things in every one of the cultures I've mentioned that you would find distasteful or immoral or repugnant. But the fact remains that whenever anthropologists encounter tribal peoples, they encounter people who show no signs of discontent, who do not complain of being miserable or ill-treated, who are not seething with rage, who are not perpetually struggling with depression, anxiety, and alienation." My Ishmael
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UNIT 17 Civilization: Who Likes It?
Does the public have different expectations of a religious leader than a star quarterback? And if so, why? Would your opinion of Quinn's ideas change if, like a rap star, he was arrested while driving drunk, with a suspended driver's license, with an unlicensed gun and a stash of cocaine in the glove compartment? How does this relate to what the author is saying about himself here?
Why did the president who told Quinn his work was "too good for kids" care that it was too good? [It will take some digging to get the answer. You may have to ask questions about related industries. For example, what would it mean if a theatrical producer told the costume maker that s/he was making the costumes "too good"? Clearly, "making something too good" is code for "spending too much money on it."]
Where does Quinn's allegiance lie?--with the ten percent who "love their work" or with the rest who need to find fulfillment beyond civilization? Or is he sympathetic to both?
In pointing us toward a new territory beyond civilization, does Quinn seem to be saying, "You go ahead. I'm staying here"? [This is a question that will invite reassessment in later sections.]
To get a sense of how well the author is doing, have students rate each of the twelve statements in "Pulling the pieces together" with a zero, 1, or 2, scoring zero for "unconvinced," 1 for "somewhat convinced," and 2 for "completely convinced."
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