The Nacirema article was a very interesting read, and I would very much like to take the time to explore it. I believe the article is interesting because it takes the time to explore things from a third person perspective, or more accurately an anthropological perspective. The article specifically talks about everyday "rituals" which we go through to prepare for the day. Now I'd like to take a moment and put these rituals in perspective. To someone who is not familiar with these, it may seem like a strange process to go through each morning. The way we treat our body or objects may seem mundane but repetitive action or process show that we actually care about ourselves and the way we look quite a lot. We have become desensitized in a way from what we do everyday. Being able to deduce what values a culture holds just from studying what they do everyday is valuable It may even tell us more about ourselves and society than we ever could. By providing a third party window from which to view ourselves we have an unobstructed view of our activity and how we go about life. Dissecting a culture like this as I said before gives valuable insight into what the people if such a culture value and how the behave. Interaction with each other is another interesting insight that is gleamed by viewing a culture from this perspective. It can tell us what in socially acceptable and at the same time tells us what is rewarding and punishable. Anthropological views are important and I would like to see more examinations of this sort on different cultural and geographic locations to examine them further.
I think it's much easier to deny what we find important when we aren't confronted with a third-party's perspective. If someone believes that placing importance on physical appearance is shallow, they would probably try to deny that they partake in shallow behavior, even if they spend a significant amount of time on their appearance every day. Having the third party's opinion is useful because it forces people to confront aspects of their lives or personalities that they otherwise may overlook or deny.
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