birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
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birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@zebratron2084 holy shit
re: birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@Sig Right? I love satire like this, that turns some cultural blind spot right on its face. Ever read "Body Ritual Among The Nacirema?" (If not, go read it and come back -- I have STORIES about that essay. XD )
re: birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@Sig (I had some trouble digging up a free public copy so here ya go brother <3 : https://usflearn.instructure.com/courses/1058273/files/47476872 )
re: birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@Sig So... my sophomore year of college, I took a Sociology 101 course because it sounded cool and I was still determined to get a goddamn liberal arts education instead of a career.
It was a very popular elective for students in several of the professional degree programs, especially nursing and engineering, because it was "easy." So we had a lot of people in there who were just kinda intellectually along for the ride.
My prof was a big charming pudgy folk who, in retrospect, sets off my gaydar and enbydar fiercely. They had a habit of coming to class wearing things like "Give Me The Chocolate And Nobody Gets Hurt" T-shirts. And six weeks into the course, they assigned us "Body Ritual Among The Nacirema."
The next morning, they got up to the lecture podium with the BIGGEST FOXY GRIN. And they asked us, completely deadpan, "So what did you think of today's reading?"
OH GOD.
Maybe a sixth of the class had gotten it. And we all apparently decided very quickly to keep our mouths shut and enjoy the free entertainment.
One classmate got five minutes into earnestly defending the Nacirema and their strange differences. She observed how similar they are to us, and how the "scraping and lacerating the surface of the face" part could have just been shaving, seen through an unflattering lens.
She was so close I wanted to cry.
Eventually, our prof had mercy and said, "OK, everybody, I want you to take a look at the name 'Nacirema' and read it backwards."
First chorus, ~5/6ths of the class: "OHHHHHHH!"
Second chorus: ~1/12 of the class: "Huh?"
Third, one poor bewildered nursing student: "I don't understand!"
Yeah. That class, as you can imagine, was formative in ways that nobody at that university except our prof probably ever intended.
re: birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@zebratron2084 ...Jesus. That might be the most compelling evidence for my impostor syndrome I've seen yet. :D
re: birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@Sig Yeah. I hate to say it, but par for humanity is REAL LOW, dude.
I learned this lesson early in life: I took a lot of Greyhound trips in the 2000s. D:
re: birdsite, neo-colonialism, bad journalism, food writing, snark
@zebratron2084 aahh that was great, I love this kinda stuff :D