![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/guitarstor.jpg\")
Sitting in the Plaza de Armas of Carhuaz, a small town of some 3,000
\n inhabitants, almost all Native Americans, one is struck by the contrasts
\n of cultures and world-views. It is not quite a Clash of Civilizations,
\n except as the last echoing aftermath of the Indian wars of the previous
\n 500 years. But it is one of the interfaces between emerging, all
\n encompassing Global Economy and Culture, and something much older, more
\n mature, and as different as living on another planet.<\/p>\n
Sometimes it can be incredibly impressive to see how many of the accoutrements
\n of the Global culture are available in this tiny town on the absolute
\n periphery of Globalization. For example, we are posting this from a cybercafe
\n right on the colonial plaza. Within a few blocks one can purchase Brittany
\n Spears CDs, knockoff VCD’s.of recent Hollywood blockbusters not even out
\n on DVD yet in the states, newspapers, lottery tickets, Purina dog food,
\n barbed wire, wine, whiskey and beer, Ramen noodles, bicycles, disposable
\n diapers, disposable
\n razors,
\n Duracell
\n batteries, a dozen brands of cigarettes, imitation Bic lighters, ketchup,
\n Nikes, Coca-Cola, automatic drip coffee machines, and telephone calling
\n cards.<\/p>\n
You can find all of the major medications; antibiotics, analgesics,
\n tranquilizers, antipyretics, ointments, syrups and salves. You
\n can get your hair cut, dyed and permed, call or send a package anywhere
\n in the world. It is really a tiny miniature node of western civilization.
\n None of these products or services or habits are available to the Indians
\n living in villages or isolated groups of farms further up the mountains.<\/p>\n
But this same ubiquity of fashion, this deep penetration of concepts,
\n memes and paradigms, can at times seem depressing, even deadly. As the
\n local population is sucked into the sights and sounds and sensations
\n of the Global Culture, mesmerized by cheap knockoffs and flashing Christmas
\n tree lights, we can’t help but feel that something important, even essential
\n and irreplaceable, is being lost in the process.<\/p>\n
People are in danger of forgetting that life is possible, even in some
\n ways advantageous, without capitalism, consumerism and a hyper-stimulated
\n sensationalist culture. <\/p>\n
We keep seeing a re-run of the same New World-Old World story that has
\n been playing out on this continent for the past 500 years. The
\n actors change, and the scenery and staging, but the story line is repeated
\n over and over. Is it the inevitable march of Progress, or are we watching
\n the terminal phases of an insidious virus that has finally managed to infect
\n the furthest reaches of the collective consciousness of the human race.<\/p>\n
Time will tell…<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sitting in the Plaza de Armas of Carhuaz, a small town of some 3,000 inhabitants, almost all Native Americans, one is struck by the contrasts of cultures and world-views. It is not quite a Clash of Civilizations, except as the … Continue reading