'The shock of recognition! In an electric information environment, minority groups can no longer be contained - ignored. Too many people know too much about each other. Our new environment compels commitment and participation. We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other."
-Marshall McCluan The Medium is the Message
although our environment 'compels commitment and participation' i don't exactly feel that this participation is encouraged by our institutions in minority groups. this paragraph here seems to encourage that Canadian sense of multiculturalism that ghettoizes and essentializes the hybrid state of our current society. As the electrical age has moved into the technological and now the hyperreal, the myths fabricated by imperialism continue to threaten our understanding of cultures that have been positioned in which to be 'othered.' what we know about 'these' cultures is filtered through a western understanding of academia and eurocentric cerebral pollution. Our museums, schools and electric media often deliver a disneyified description of such cultures, bypassing subjugation and genocide. and what about the idea of being 'othered'? how do we balance that? is it better to separate or integrate? i guess that depends on the kind of integration. integration into to the 'Canadian' society is based in imperialism and is just a form of assimilation. it is the Canadian society that needs to be deconstructed and repositioned in order to reflect and promote the various and distinct values of the many diverse indigenous communities that make up this continent.
