Lest we think the revolution is a revolution, re-read summary

In Cynthia Selfe’s article, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” she explains the three major Narratives that Americans usually misconceive. The three American Narratives are: the “global village” (pp. 294), the “land of equal opportunity” (pp. 301) and the “un-gendered utopia” (pp. 305). The “global village” is the concept that technology will connect everyone in the world through communication to cooperate for the commonweal. The “land of equal opportunity” is the American belief that the internet and electronic technology is a sort of landscape in which everyone has equal shares in and has a right to. The final Narrative, the “un-gendered utopia,” is another conception that electronic technology will help create a utopic society in which there is no discrimination of any kind. These narratives are all however wrong. The reality is that technology is only available to some people and geared towards males, thus crushing the conception of the Narratives.

In regards to the “global village” narrative, Selfe describes the American fears of , “Becoming just another member of the tribe, just another citizen of the global village, suggests the possibility that Americans could be asked to relinquish their current priviledge status in the world…” (pp. 294). This claim suggests that Americans are actually hypocritical in the thought of the “global village” because we wouldn’t want to relinquish our “top dog” status over the other societies in the world and move down or bring them up to the American level or social status. This is Selfes defense on the claim that the American conception of the “global village” is wrong. Another of Selfe’s claims is, “All these things remind us that opportunity is a commodity generally limited to privileged groups within this country” (pp. 304). This claim is in support of the claim, “-that America is the land of opportunity only for some people” (pp. 304). Through these claims, Selfe promotes the idea that the American Narrative of the “land of equal opportunity” is a false Narrative because it is only true for some people. These claims are supported by the history of slavery, immigration, women’s suffrage and labor unions.