be able to perform his toilet duties alone.” (COLORS October-November 1999 issue, pg. 14) In
Japan it is considered high status to be a sumo. How does different ideals and role models
influence the pursuit of knowledge? Having traditional roles such as sumo wrestlers or geishas in
Japan as a few examples, influences knowledge of the people because the roles dictate what you
20 know and how you should act in certain situations. Geishas are trained from an early age to master
the art of serving men and providing their patrons with the ultimate pleasure. What they know is
decided by their role in society, and how they use their knowledge is dictated by tradition. Years of
training prepare them to fulfil their tasks with grace and perfection.
For some people the ultimate achievement is to be on television. For them it is valuable to be seen
25 where everyone looks, and sacrificing privacy or pride does not seem like a high price where
everyone wants to get their fifteen minutes of fame. in their world everything orbits around a
commercial, media-based planet where producers ridicule the people willing to expose themselves
for a nanosecond of fame. On talkshows the people running the show want to make money, the
host wants to get good ratings and the guests want to be on TV. They are examples of different sets
30 of morals and values and beliefs about the world. So how does this influence their pursuit of
knowledge? Andy Warhol, the frontfigure for the pop art movement in new York during the
sixties, said that in the future everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. Nowadays in
America, people expose their lives to be in programs on television. With the enormous number of
people that watch TV in the united states, it seems likely that you would, be famous if your face
35 appears on TV, right? But in a way if everyone is on TV, then no-one is on TV, because the
importance of every individual diminishes rapidly. When what you value is being part of a fast
moving machine of commerce, which is basically what people on various television shows are,
then the phenomena you are left with is a place where people’s knowledge is based on their ideals
and foremost interests. The target group could be assumed to be undereducated, bored people, but
40 surveys performed by other television programs such as the Jay Leno show, where reporters ask
people at various prestigious universities around the us about current political issues and everyone
draws a blank, while every single person can name the characters in the most popular television sit
coms.
In a society based on capitalism, people may have materialistic values. A nice house or car might
45 be important, or being able to buy lots of expensive clothes could be desirable. In an internet
survey one third of the Americans participating claimed that their primary hobby was shopping.
Money moves fast through people’s hands and lives, and what they value changes accordingly.
Would the world have pop culture if it was not a very strong current in people’s minds? Capitalism
creates great opportunities to succeed in a high risk world with no safety net to fall into when you
50 lose balance, and a lot of people do. The vision of glitter and glamour being within your reach
make people crave for more, and lets them keep the faith that one day they may be in people
magazine or somebody in the world of fame. “You can’t be too rich or too thin in America”
(saying in America), the statement suggests the obvious. An enormous number of people in the us
spend all their time making money and improving their looks. Fame is bought through silicone
55 breasts and lipo suctions, that in return could lead to more money and luxury. How does greed and
obsessions influence the pursuit of knowledge? Well, it certainly changes the way to look at the
world, making people willing to sacrifice it all, including the health of themselves and the planet,
to make another dime or two. It would obviously not be fair to say that every one of the citizens in
the United States values money and looks, but the current seems to be strong enough to be a valid
60 subject for discussion. The ideas seems to be very short term and everything seems
interchangeable. Throw away and buy a new, setting a pace for the replacement of anything, short
and intensive life spans for everyone and everything. What do you need to know in this world?
First and foremost I think you need to have faith, to believe in a kind of romantic existence, in a
utopia on the other side of the fence. While a fancy university could certainly give you some of
65 what you need to succeed, if for nothing else for the status it gives you to be able to hang a nice
and framed diploma on your wall, the bits and pieces picked up at social events may be just as
helpful. After all it is not who you are but who you know that defines you on your quest to wealth
and glory.
Maybe intelligence cannot really be measured in knowledge on a hierarchy scale, but rather
70 understanding that different people know different things, and because you happen to know all
about moviestars and nothing about nuclear physics, it does not necessarily mean that you are a
bad person. People in different parts of the world, in different social groups and walks of life,
know different things because the same things are not necessarily important to the global
population of humans. What we are brought back to time and time again are items of status. They
75 change from place to place, but people strive for what is most likely to get them status in their
particular clique. Saying that your most cherished thing in the world is your family or your friends
is a beautiful thought, but in the end, how much of that would we sacrifice to get to where we want
to be ourselves? Ultimately, what is the price of health, for us and for the planet? and which is
going to get you furthest, thinking about yourself because nobody else will, or stepping back to get
80 a wider angle and a different perspective and trying to be moderate and understanding? And what
does getting far mean? For man to be pursuing knowledge with an open mind and unselfish goals
may today be wishful thinking, but without wishful thoughts for a more considerate place where
different kinds of knowledge can be appreciated on an equal basis, there maybe would not be any
hope at all.
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