This week, in class we read about the "Nacirema", a group of people who seem very strange in comparison to ourselves. The Nacirema have been known to have some very "exotic customs". They have been known to be concerned with vanity, out of fear that their loved ones will desert them if they do not perform their daily mouth rituals. They also put a lot of faith into the "holy-mouth men"-people who gouge holes into their teen, and put questionable substances into them. The Nacirema also have charm-boxes- which are integral to their survival. The Nacirema aren't anything like us, they do all of these unnecessary and dangerous things, and don't even seem to question them! Why do they choose to do/not do more civilized things like us? I'm sure, this is what everyone in the class was thinking at one time or another, but upon closer examination we learned that they are like us. Nacirema is American spelled backwards. All of the "uncivilized" and "uncouth" things they do, are things we do. The "holy-mouth men" are dentists, they do create holes in our teeth, and fill them with substances(I'm assuming that the author is talking about fillings), and most of the time, we can't even see what they're doing! The charm-boxes are pills, people who need to take them trust the prescriptions from their doctors, without really knowing why they have to take them. This piece reflected the blindness and ignorance of our society. We continue to trust the diagnoses from our doctors and other people in the health profession without comprehending why they do what they do, and how it will benefit us. Obviously, doctors and dentists know a lot more about teeth and health than that average person, but they are prone to making mistakes like most other people. What will happen if they make a mistake, and an unsuspecting patient takes the wrong medication, or a dentist gouges a hole in the wrong tooth? Who will end up paying for it?


When I read this, I thought of orange, because orange represents ignorance and an abundance of trust and faith. I also thought of yellow, because it represents knowledge.