Re: mutilation and ritual

mike shupp (ms44278@HUEY.CSUN.EDU)
Tue, 2 Jul 1996 21:48:12 -0700

On Tue, 2 Jul 1996, Robert Snower wrote:

>
> It is just the other way. The farther away you get from the original, the
> less ritual and ceremony is involved, the more condensed, simplified, and
> indecipherable, the original becomes. That evolution is illustrated by the
> baseball rituals, which are condensed and simplified beyond recognition, and
> that is why Western rituals are both simple, quick, and without ritual,
> Westerners being further away, not in time, but in degrees of
> sophistication, as compared to others, so that Adrienne Dearmas is able to say:
> >
> >> Remember, Westerners tattoo - and we are not alone, as many cultures tattoo
> >> the body. However, we are (as far as I know) the only culture that tattoos
> >> without ceremony, symbolism and ritual.


Weddings, funerals, political campaigns... I'm not convinced (though
the baseball comment is a good one).

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ms44278@huey.csun.edu
Mike Shupp
California State University, Northridge