In David Sedaris's story “ Us and Them,” he shows how watching TV impacts what he views as cultural norms and how not doing what is perceived as normal could prove to be taboo and lead to ostracism. This framework is important because it reflects how media affects society and culture as a whole. The Tomkeys are extremely odd in their neighborhood's eyes because they do not own a TV and David attributes everything that they do to the fact that don't own one. This point is proven when he states, “I attributed their behavior to the fact that they didn't have a TV” (Sedaris 2004), and because he and his family own a TV and watch it frequently, somehow it means that their behavior must be normal. Though what seems normal the Tomkeys is not normal to David because he feels as though they don't understand the way things work –he considers it taboo, as does everybody else.
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This was one of the things you were supposed to learn simply by being alive, and it angered me that the Tomkeys did not understand it” (Sedaris 2004), “normal people” trick or treat on Halloween. This shows that doing things that aren't considered normal make people uneasy and uncomfortable because it's not what they're used to –especially when they don't understand it. If they don't understand it or the purpose of it, it makes ostracism inevitable. For example, the Tomkeys are ostracized because what they do is out of the ordinary and no one understands
This was one of the things you were supposed to learn simply by being alive, and it angered me that the Tomkeys did not understand it” (Sedaris 2004), “normal people” trick or treat on Halloween. This shows that doing things that aren't considered normal make people uneasy and uncomfortable because it's not what they're used to –especially when they don't understand it. If they don't understand it or the purpose of it, it makes ostracism inevitable. For example, the Tomkeys are ostracized because what they do is out of the ordinary and no one understands