“SNOB … stands for Social Naiveté of Behavior or Simple Necessities of Business, depending on which side you’re looking at. Those who espouse the SNOB theory hold dear the motto ‘Nothing so Blind as a Colonized Mind’. …

SNOB’s guiding principle is that human beings tend to imitate those they perceive as their social superiors. … With transnational capitalism, SNOB began to creep across frontiers … The goal of the practicing corporate (or development agency) SNOB is to enroll Third World bourgeoisies in the brotherhood …

Modern SNOB’s wouldn’t dream of using bombs and napalm when training programs, foundation grants, marketing experts, and mass media work so much more effectively. The fun of the game is to make the victim want your _______________. The blank may be filled in with ‘dangerous pharmaceuticals,’ ‘plastic shoes,’ ‘infant formula,’ ‘soft drinks,’ ad libitum, and easily extended to include ‘hospital based health care,’ ‘educational system,’ ‘agricultural techniques,’ etc.

This has proven almost too simple. The only element that adds spice and subtlety to the mind-colonizing game is this: The target population must be encouraged to abandon its own authentic culture in favor of a lower-middle class, Western, wholly commercialized ersatz. Third World elites must not, with very rare exceptions, be allowed to witness of to participate in the culture of Western upper classes, for the very reason that this upper class culture is often uncannily close to the one the conditioned victim must learn to despise as ‘backward’ and ‘inferior’ in his own country, for obvious commercial reasons. …

‘Savages’ breastfeed, as the quoted African doctor puts it. Western masses and nouveaux riches (and not so richs) Third Worlders bottlefeed with infant formula. Upper-class, educated Western women breastfeed.

‘Natives’ are thin because they work hard and often go hungry. Lower and middle class Westerners are often obese – as are rich Third World wives – living proof their husbands can afford to stuff them. Rich Westerners are slender – indeed they may spend as much money losing weight as putting it on. …

I believe SNOBism is here to stay. That is why I propose … that we encourage Third World imitation of Western modes, but that we make some effort in the direction of social equality … with volunteers from the best families … [devoted] to the display of authentic upper-class Western lifestyles. Trendy New York hostesses could lecture on how they serve unpolished rice and perfect vegetable terrines … Their husbands would explain that ‘nobody’ watches television or buys anything plastic when a natural substance is available …

Who knows? Western corporations could lose a few marginal markets, but Third World elites might begin to feel secure in their own traditions.”

aus: Susan George: Ill fares the land. Essays on food, hunger, and power. Washington D.C.: Institute for Policy Studies 1984, S.91-93, siehe auch erweiterte 1990 Internetversion.

04/24

“Si les gens étaient réellement persuadés de leur propre mort, ils vivaient plus drôlement. Leur sérieux vient de leur sentiment sous-jacent de leur éternité.”

aus: Pol Bury: Les caves du Botanique. Bruxelles: Les Éditions du Botanique 1986, S.90.

Abb.: Pol Bury: Pan Am Building, 1970, im Internet.

09/22

“People trying to hide behind the shield of satire are interesting. For me, who makes a living making fun of race, making fun of white people, it’s hard to say what exactly is acceptable and what works and what doesn’t. It’s like the old ruling on pornography where the judge says I can’t define it but I know what it is when I see it.

You don’t really have to be that smart to tell when someone’s satire is coming from a place of intelligence and not a place of hate. It is so hard to disguise the hate that comes out of people who try to call it funny.”

Baratunde Thurston: How to be black. New York u.a.: Harper 2012, S.230

03/24