August 13, 2006
meh.
Quite often, we read flaccid comments like "Oh, the rampant consumerism in America..." with very little exposition that should naturally follow such a statement. Even the "counter-culture" is getting to where it's nothing more than a manufactured image. There are even stores that cater to the goth/punk/emo/alternative crowd.
Read that last sentence again.
A goddamn store that caters to punks (fuck the establishment), goths (fuck everything happy and shiny), emo kiddies (fuck this razorblade for not slitting my wrists faster because MY JUNIOR HIGH GIRLFRIEND LEFT ME), and alternative folks (fuck, man, this is some really good weed).
News flash, folks. When you see a shirt with a stencil of Che Guevara on sale in a franchise store, you'd better realize that our culture has not just made a mockery of the counter-culture, but has killed certain aspects of it and is preparing to go in dry on the corpse.
People comment all the time about how self-destructive our ways of living (as individuals and as a collective whole) are. We make half-assed attempts at recycling paper and glass bottles so that we don't feel as guilty about the fact that all of our efforts to clean up the air, clean up the water, and clean up our minds are largely in vain. We donate to the various animal rescue efforts because the advertisements showing the baby pelican as it struggles to escape from the plastic six-pack ring gets us every time.
But, overall, people just aren't willing to make the drastic changes needed to ensure our survival as a species. We're in just as much deep shit as that baby pelican, but we're pacified with our series of tubes known as the internets, we're assuaged by television and prescription drugs telling us that it's all going to be okay, and if that doesn't work, there's always double-mega-grande bacon and lard cheeseburgers and Coca-Cola right down the street to make us feel happy and satisfied.
In our never-ending quest for convenience, we've lost sight of any true notions of self. We've tossed aside burdensome things like manners and common sense. We make these lofty expectations for everyone else, and when they don't live up to said expectations, it's all their goddamn fault. Most of us don't realize that, ideally, you have to be the kind of person that you want to interact with if you really want to get along with people.
We live by the idea that most people will bore the living shit out of you, and if someone's not boring, then they must be an unbearable asshole, and if they're not an unbearable asshole, then they're probably too meek and unassuming to be interesting, and if they're not interesting then they're not worth my time so it's better just to stay caged away from everyone else. We're isolated.
We look at another person, and we see a walking, talking, pain in the ass rather than a human being. I'm guilty of the same thing. I go grocery shopping in the wee hours of the morning on the weekend because I can't be bothered to deal with big crowds of people shuffling zombie-like from aisle to aisle, getting in my way, and generally sucking.
And that sort of sentiment is a by-product of our culture.
Maybe that's why social networking sites such as StumbleUpon, Myspace (*shudder*), Friendster, Flixster, Humanster, Blenderster, Cockster, Hamster, Rooster, ad nauseam have become so popular. They're working to bridge the gap between potentially isolated people by...e-mail and instant messages.
And in all honesty, I've met some great and interesting people on all of these sites and the Intertron in general. It's just a matter of moving past adding someone to your friends list and trying to make the connection, especially if they're a hot sexy Hispanic mail-order bride (read: lonely 42 year-old balding pedophile from Iowa) named Arugula. Or Barugula.
And by "make the connection", I don't mean rabidly messaging every person with a vagina or with a woman as their display photo...I mean saying "hi". Give them a genuine compliment, even if it might come off as sort of lame. People like that shit.
Solutions for our growing quandary? They're few and far between, other than enjoy life and don't be satisfied with merely existing. Find the beauty in mundane crap. Don't hold everybody to such high standards, unless you're on the 405 or the 10, then be the biggest condescending asshole possible because that's the only way you're going to get from point A to point B.
And don't drink soda pop, because that shit's bad for you. And try to be nice.
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Oh, the rampant consumerism in America...
Posted by Jake at August 13, 2006 10:06 AM
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