Where are we acculturated? Where do we find out how our culture works?
We get the official version in
school. The party line, as you might
say. School indoctrinates us. Teaches us what is expected of us. What is permitted and what is banned.
Teachers are authoritarian figures, like
it or not. This may or may not be
uncomfortable to them. I had teachers
who were ironic. Teachers who told jokes
that not everybody caught. Other
teachers were literal. Did they believe
what they were teaching us, or were they going along to get along?
In Sunday school, the teachers were
volunteers, proselytizing for whatever the creed believed. They felt justified in imposing their beliefs
on you because you were there under duress, or of your own volition. Either way, they assumed you wanted to be
brainwashed. They were only too glad to
oblige.
The popular culture teaches us lessons we
don’t even know we’re getting, subliminal messages. They are very powerful. They are crafted. The pop culture is trying to sell you a bill
of goods. Successfully, most of the
time. If it doesn’t work, it isn’t used.
Most cultural teaching is effective
beneath the level of consciousness.
But sometimes it’s obvious.
A lot more is obvious to a writer than to
his fellow citizens.
He tries to convince his fellow citizens
that he can see things from his angle of vision that they don’t seem to see
from theirs.
If he’s way out of line he gets crossways
with his culture.
This is risky.
The artist learns lessons at home that he
is not meant to learn. Do as we say, not
as we do. You aren’t all the other
kids. This is going to hurt me more than
it hurts you.
To the artist, this is the first bullshit
he can make a clean break from.
The family narrative.
The family story.
What’s your story, man?
Some families nurture and protect artists
and encourage them in their independent development more than other families.
It’s tough to have artists for kids
because you want to protect them from themselves.
You can’t.
They have to leave the nest. Sink
or swim on their own.