More on Teacher Strategy 317world have deep feelings, let alone an ability to share them with other
individuals. How can a cultureless society export culture?
I suggest that the answer to this contradiction involves Teacher
emotion. Mercy thought wants to hold on to experiences which have deep
emotional content; it wants to love and to be loved. This is the basis for
cultural interaction. However, if empty Mercy experiences are coated with
strong Teacher feelings, then it is possible to form the illusion of culture.
This creates people who, deep down, are very shallow.
This Teacher packaging is known as professionalism. Remember that
Teacher emotion comes from order within complexity. Therefore, if Mercy
experiences are arranged in a way that produces positive Teacher emotion,
the result will be a pseudo-culture. For instance, a huge warehouse store
which markets all types of goods, arranges them logically on shelves, and
sells them in bulk is a pseudo-culture. Another example is a modern,
complex economy which runs efficiently and smoothly. Shallow music can
also be turned into a pseudo-culture if it contains the latest technogadgetry
and multimedia, and is played with tight
rhythms which are technically correct
and free of errors. Teacher thought also
loves computers, and marvels at how so
many megabytes of memory, gigabytes
of hard storage, and zillions of
transistors can work together in
harmony. I suggest that this type of
superb Teacher packaging characterizes
the so-called culture which North
America exports. It may be Mercy
garbage and vacuity, but it is
professional trash, awe-inspiring
emptiness.
A Teacher pseudo-theory is unveiled
by bringing it into contact with
competing explanations. Similarly, I suggest that a pseudo-culture can be
shown up by exposing it to other cultures. Most people in the world have
deep Mercy feelings. North Americans, in general, do not. North America
claims to be a melting-pot, a society of immigrants in which all social
backgrounds are accepted, a world where all cultures are free to express
themselves openly and with emotional meaning. In actual fact, whenever
we in North America encounter real feelings, we run away from them. We
say to each other, “You must come over some time,” and know that we do
not mean it. We savor the cuisine and art of other cultures, but we shy
away from their deeper traditions, and cannot fathom the emotional
convictions which motivate their behavior. And yet, we still „know‟ that
our culture is superior.