Crashing Through the Window, Renouncing our Culture God

Billy the wannabee astronaut and Sally the next hopeful President of any random third grade classroom would have never thought they could grow up to be wolves. Sadly, by the time they could sound out their career dreams, their chance to be wildlife had already ran off.

There is believed to be a small window, a critical, irreversible period where all human development depends on for us to break into the world of humans. While we learn that crying gets us some delicious breast milk, our brains are analyzing, like little robots, the culture around us. We might see pain as something to panic over when our father slams his foot on the leg of a chair. We might learn that pennies aren't swallowed so easily. But, most important, we become humans when we learn to understand language. And, as babies, we're living life in the fast lane, pooping and crying; if we never learn language, the window is slammed shut and we might as well be thrown to Mother Nature's wolves and their snapping jaws.

Feral children are different. Feral, or "natural" children, are the Lost Boys of the Jungle Book, not Peter Pan. Tarzan was a feral child turned ape-man adult. But feral children exist in this world, and not just in the happy stories of the cartoon jungle. Abandoned by their parents for some personal or societal circumstance I hope to never understand, feral children either die in the wild or become wild. Oxana Malaya was the Ukraine girl raised by dogs. John SSebunya ran away from his murderous father at age 4 and grew up with monkeys. They show that we learn from our surroundings with or without language, and if that means wolves, you better believe you'll learn to growl, howl and eat raw meat. And that window for language slams closed.

What this boils down to is the simple fact that Culture is God. It's frightening and fascinating to know We were all one short step away from being unleashed animals left to our own biology. Language opens the window we need to swallow the culture around us. We end up looking to culture for guidance, knowledge, reason. We work forty hours cause America says we do. We buy breath mints and deodorant, HDTVs and sports cars. And that's all fine, if you're happy with it.

My understanding, though, is that we're not happy. I feel endless guilt to remain part of the Culture-fearing society. If I tweet and jerk around on Facebook all day at work, I feel the enormous pressure to do something for the company. When I'm unemployed and trying to enjoy the day I feel enormous pressure to search endlessly for a new one. It's all to repeat the cycle my brain has developed understanding.

But what if there was a small window for us to renounce Culture? What if there was a window slamming when we're stuck being "productive" humans and not something more? While science has yet to show us how declining a Starbucks mocha frappe could be beneficial for us, besides our waistline, it might be worth it to think outside the culture we live in each day.

It raises long lists of questions as to how we could live if we just realized that everything we know on this Earth might not matter. Likewise, the idea of renouncing your God, whether it is culture or religion or wolf, is never easy. But you might want to consider it before that big ol' window slams shut and there is no looking back.

ChatRoulette: A Cultural Evolution

I honestly believe that you can get an accurate snapshot of America if you just watch a couple of hours of America's Funniest Home Videos. You are quite literally welcomed into slivers of American homes. Tom Bergeron is your Robin Leach into the Lifestyles of the Middle Class. It's not to say we're all clumsy or silly or stupid, but we all take pride in sharing the moments that made us laugh. Laughter is an acquired reaction and when you get someone laughing you surely have their attention. We all just want to be seen on our own terms.

Enter ChatRoulette, an anonymous one-on-one video chat session online. Like speed-dating on crack and with lower expectations, you're poised to share whatever it takes to keep someone on the other side.

Ironically, the dichotomy of the ChatRoulette audience is pure good and evil. The reflection of the young, Internet-savvy America is either curious groups of kids or dicks. Physical dicks. Either people are looking for something interesting to watch or hear, or providing the most basic of entertainment: masturbation.

NOTICE: The beautiful, sad truth is the power ChatRoulette gives to each user. You have the world at your fingertips, firmly ready on the F9 key that connects and disconnects your "Stranger" on the other line.

We are all eager for connection of the right kind. Our generation has grown up drowning in media, meeting so many characters that they feel the same. And when we don't feel that we know anybody on a passive screen, we turn to the active one.

SIDE STEP: Whether or not we are losing our attention span I can't say for sure. Like some kind of cultural evolution we are expected to be of interest to the world. If someone is patient enough to be interested in your face and hear your words, you're expected to say something of interest, too. It becomes an exercise in how alluring you honestly can be.

For my group of friends, most conversations quickly became an impromptu session of show-and-tell. We resorted to how children express themselves. Through our possessions, we opened up our homes rather our minds because too often we don't have original, compelling thoughts. Myself included.

But now it makes me think that building myself into a more interesting person is worthwhile. To have something ready to ponder, discuss, analyze or rant about seems like tons of more fun than small talk. Likewise, I've always been content with the causal jeans and tee look but now I dare to wonder if changing my style is worth it to make the best of my interactions.

I think the world wants us all to be more interesting. And damnit, I'm gonna try.