The Gods Must Be Crazy

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” This film tries to send a message on how globalization can negatively affect a culture such as the Sho tribe of the Kalahari Desert. The people of a technologically advance and “civilized” culture decide to casually discard an empty “Coca Cola” bottle from the window of an airplane. A member of the “primitive” Sho tribe witnesses this object falling from the skies and considers it a “gift from the gods”. In his mind this is an object to be worshiped and must have been sent by the Gods to benefit his tribe, therefore he gave it to his people. Prior to the introduction of the “Coca Cola” bottle the people of the tribe were peaceful, satisfied, and shared with each other. There was no sense of possession or greed, no jealousy, nor did they physically harm one another physically or purposefully. The tribe found many beneficial uses for this “gift”, such as making music, pounding on dough, and grinding flour. All of these things were accomplished before the appearance of the bottle, however now the task seemed to have been made easier. Since all of the members of the tribe had different uses and needs for the bottle, it became a commodity, a desired possession of value; it was no longer a worshipped object. This created discourse among the people and led to the physical injury of a child, due to a malicious act that resulted in hitting the child with the bottle. The tribe now felt shame at their behavior and questioned the “Gods” for sending them this “evil thing”, which the tribe removed from their presence and returned to their peaceful cultural ways. A current example of the above situation would be the introduction of cell phones and laptops to a culture based on home phones and office computers. One would consider the technological advances of cell phones and laptops as a gift, that will simplify their life, free up more personal time and save them money. Instead what has occurred is that you spend more time on learning