DECODING THE NEW RULES
Even prices, standardized during the Second Wave period, begin to be less standard now, since custom products require custom pricing. The price tag for an automobile depends on the particular package of options selected; the price of a hi-fi set similarly depends on the units that are plugged together and on how much work the buyer wishes to do; the prices of aircraft, offshore oil rigs, ships, computers, and other high-technology items vary from one unit to the next.
In politics we see similar trends. Our views are increasingly non-standard as consensus breaks down in nation after nation and thousands of “issue groups” spring up, each fighting for its own narrow, often temporary, set of goals. In turn, the culture itself is increasingly de-standardized.
Thus we see the breakup of the mass mind as the new communications media described in Chapter Thirteen come into play. The de-massification of the mass media—the rise of mini-magazines, newsletters, and small scale, often Xeroxed, communications along with the coming of cable, cassette, and computer—shatters the standardized image of the world propagated by Second Wave communications technologies, and pumps a diversity of images, ideas, symbols, and values into society. Not only are we using customized products, we are using diverse symbols to customize our view of the world.
Art News summarized the views of Dieter Honisch, director of the National Gallery in West Berlin: “What is admired hi Cologne may not be accepted in Munich and a Stuttgart success may not impress the Hamburg public. Ruled by sectional interests, the country is losing its sense of national culture.”
Nothing underlines this process of cultural de-standardization more crisply than a recent article in Christianity Today, a leading voice of conservative Protestantism in America. The editor writes, “Many Christians seem confused by the availability of so many different translations of the Bible. Older Christians did not face so many choices.” Then conies the punch line.
“Christianity Today recommends that no version should be the ‘standard.'” Even within the narrow bounds of Biblical translation, as in religion generally, the notion of a single standard is passing. Our religious views, like our tastes, are becoming less uniform and standardized.
258
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430