1st World Media Brainwashes 3rd World Nations

(Journal Entry from Sunday October 19th, 2008)

I really just don’t know what to document anymore about me experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Just about everyday is novel, but novelty is so common that it seems trivial and unimportant to speak of it. Newness is the norm in my life to the extent that things seem just the same. The other day I found myself at a house across the street from the Pastoral Center in the town of Marisule’s East Winds. The Pastoral Center is where we spent our first 3 days in St. Lucia. Strangely, when I saw it I didn’t recognize it, even in the least. I suppose this is because the context was different and my perceptive lens has changed. I could swear when we first arrived on island and drove to the Center the road and view were different. The road was smaller and more rugged than what it is now. The view was more expansive and foreign. Now, the road seems normal and the view familiar. My Lucian lenses are becoming clearer.

I find myself wondering what it would be like to never have seen roads the size of airport landing strips, roads that pass over one another in the sky and building that reach the clouds. It must be wondrous to see those things on TV. It is even beginning to amaze me. What is it like to never have seen snow or hail, to no know what it is like to have mail delivered to your front door? What is it like to be astonished that there exists a place in the world where all the children own lap tops and IPods? A place where all adults have their drivers license and cars. It is beginning to seem extraordinary even to me.

My friend asked me today about clubs in Texas. I had to correct him and assure him that ‘No, all the clubs are not like Girls Gone Wild’. He thought the club scene would be one of girls running around topless and guys having sex with them on the dance floor. I was astonished that I was being asked this in all seriousness. Then I realized, this is what they get to see on TV commercials, which leads me to another topic.

Currently, I am living in a third world nation which has access to the media and technological merchandise of the industrial first world nations. Through cable television and advertising St. Lucians are exposed to the luxuries that Americans have access to, e.g., more fast-food chains than you can name, IPods, IPhones, fashion, accessories, fancy cars, large universities, pools, Wal-Mart, enormous ball stadiums, high rises, restaurants, new shoes, boats, spas, etc, etc, etc. What do you think exposure to this media does to the ‘have nots’? Well, the same thing it does in American culture; it develops an appetite. The local markets are no longer satisfactory and the people hunger. People find themselves wanting the McDonalds, Wendys, chain restaurants, Wal-Marts, and more merchandise. They welcome the large corporations. They bring jobs and wealth they say. They don’t see how these things drown out the local markets, breed consumerism, promote materialism, increase dependence, and depersonalize society. Why don’t we show that in our media? The constant exposure to the advertisements of large businesses in the states sadly makes them want those businesses to come to St. Lucia. I wish that instead, Lucians would be driven to develop technology and projects here so that their labor won’t be exploited later by American business owners.

I don’t know, it’s just my initial thoughts and logging of the subject and I need to reflect on the topic more at a later date.