Summaries:
CONSUMERISM:
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
I am sure there are many definitions for the term "consumerism," here is mine: consumerism is the voluntary suspension of disbelief in the value of material goods . In the grip of consumerism, we respond to advertisements for products without once asking "if this product is so valuable, why do they pay to advertise it?" This is an everyday statement of a well-established principle in advertising -- things of real worth are generally not advertised. Sometimes an advertisement is designed to persuade you to switch between one worthwhile thing and another (or one worthless thing and another), but no one pays simply to make you aware of a worthwhile thing. What's the point? You already know there are cans of oil, coat-hangers, Pez dispensers. No one needs to tell you this.
MARRIAGE
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
Early in our history, marriage simply didn't exist, in fact it is a relatively recent development (by "recent" I mean after the dinosaurs died and before the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show). Marriage was originally conceived (no pun intended) as a way to signal the presence of a special bond between two people. At that time, marriage had no special significance itself, it was merely a social signaling device, and to some extent it also represented a contract with mutual obligations . In those times marriage stood as a mere symbol for something of actual substance -- a relationship between people that would have existed whether or not the symbol of marriage was also present .
GOVERNMENT
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
Modern people may have a hard time remembering that government was originally conceived as a method for accomplishing as a group what individuals could not accomplish alone. In this hypothetical model, groups formed to achieve specific goals, they learned how to work together, they succeeded or failed , but then the group dissolved and the individuals returned to their natural lives . In the modern version, just as with marriage, what had originally been a symbol for a thing now seems more important than the thing it originally represented.
RELIGION
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
The reason religion seems so appropriate a repository of dreams compared to, for example, a used car lot, is only because religions have been practicing longer. The crude methods of the used car salesman, the appearance of chrome and freshly washed metal icons, flags, balloons, cannot compare with the sophisticated, "uptown" presentation of a modern church. In a Western church you see actual images of deities, some frozen in advanced stages of suffering. Compared to this, a vintage Mustang, a classic Ford Coupe, mere metal and oil, cannot compete.
SCIENCE
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
Science is by far the most misunderstood modern human activity, and the one whose essence is most poorly conveyed to students. And yet, in order to comprehend the modern world, one must also comprehend science. We are surrounded by the fruits of scientific thought, but we don't understand the process by which these things are created, and more importantly, we don't understand the limitations of science. And, as with so many other parts of the modern world, we have replaced the reality of science with a symbol that is more a caricature than a reflection.
EDUCATION
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
"If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightly consider it an act of war." -- Nobel Prizewinner Glenn T. Seaborg
In the first paragraph of this article, I asserted that education could reshape itself "to provide actual knowledge instead of the symbolic representation of knowledge." In this section I will provide the meaning behind these words.
Modern education could serve to clarify the difference between symbol and thing, except that much of modern education depends on just that confusion - - you aren't in school to acquire knowledge, you are there to get a degree. And mistaking a degree holder for an educated person is possibly the commonest confusion of symbol and thing in modern times . Do you need proof? Okay -- Dan Quayle not only went to college, he graduated .
CONCLUSION
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html
Most of us are unable to sort out reality -- we can't distinguish between a thing and a symbol for that thing . This springs from several causes. One cause is that we are isolated from the natural world, where the distinction between a thing and a symbol is more obvious. Another cause is our educational system, which simply reflects the intellectual laziness of the society in which it is embedded. A third cause is resistance on the part of vested interests -- if we could think creatively, we would be difficult to govern, and advertisers would have to appeal to reason instead of emotion.
Good stuff in there.
http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/symbols.html