“At some point I started getting published, and experienced a meager knock-kneed standing in the literary world, and I started to get almost everything that many of you graduates are hoping for--except for the money. I got a lot of things that society had promised would make me whole and fulfilled--all the things that the culture tells you, from preschool on, will quiet the throbbing anxiety inside you. I got some stature, the respect of other writers, even a low-grade fame. The culture says these things will save you, as long as you also manage to keep your weight down. But the culture lies.” WorldLongWholeLyingCultureFameQuietAnxietyLowsStandingWeightManageGradesGraduatesFulfilledStaturePreschool Book:Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith Source: Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
“As a student of American culture, I am willing to argue that the Twist is a valid manifestation of the Age of Anxiety.” AgeCultureStudentsWillingAnxietyArguingManifestationTwistsAmerican Culture Author:Marshall Fishwick
“The Miss America contest isthe most perfectly rendered theater in our culture, for it so perfectly captures what we yearn for: a low-class ritual, a polished restatement of vulgarity, that wants to open the door to high-class respectability by way of plain middle-class anxiety and ambition.” WayWantAmericaCultureClassDoorsMiddleMissingAnxietyAmbitionLowsTheaterEntertainmentMiddle ClassRitualCaptureContestsPolishedVulgarityRespectabilityMiss AmericaHigh Class Author:Gerald Early
“Ours has been called a culture of narcissism. The label is apt but can be misleading. It reads colloquially as selfishness and self-absorption. But these images do not capture the anxiety behind our search for mirrors. We are insecure in our understanding of ourselves, and this insecurity breeds a new preoccupation with the question of who we are. We search for ways to see ourselves. The computer is a new mirror, the first psychological machine. Beyond its nature as an analytical engine lies its second nature as an evocative object.” WayFirstsHas BeensSelfLyingCultureUnderstandingBehindsObjectsAnxietyComputerMachinesMirrorsPsychologicalLabelsSelfishnessWho We AreInsecurityCaptureEnginesNarcissismInsecureMisleadPreoccupationAbsorptionSelf Absorption Book:The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit Source: The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit