...in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
--Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Feel free to email me at JennyDC-at-AOLdotCom, but if I don't know you and you don't say otherwise, I assume that what you send is open to be quoted at this blog. :-)
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Friday, September 05, 2003
Greetings all--yes, after being scanned, searched, and other unpleasant things at the Frankfurt airport "US flight security wing" I am back home, and only intermittently online. I enjoyed Ash's post about consumption below, as I am going to be working on the culture industry next year in grad school *fingers crossed*...and let me tell you, after a year abroad, a visit to a South Texas grocery store nearly sent me screaming back across the Atlantic. They have stuff like "synthetic squeeze-bottle garlic! never touch cloves again!" And recycling of everyday plastic goods? Glass? Forget it! And FOX News, whom I mock constantly but never can watch in Europe, has caused my eyes to pop with their coverage of "World News in 90 Seconds!" 90 SECONDS of world news?
posted by Jenny at 6:38 AM |
It seems like a culture of hypnosis...mesmerizing itself through the compulsion to buy, acquire, pull in six figures...I thought it was bad in Germany, but it's a lot more pronounced here. And the scary thing is that people are losing their ability to do anything, to cook, to fix their own things...the magical wares on supermarket shelves, imbued with a talismanic force somewhere between the factory floor and the commercial, will simultaneously provide us our identity, and divest us of our desire, much less our ability, to make something with our own two hands...
But remember: it's those damned foreigners who got us this way--those soft liberals, Saddam-loving UN Frenchies...we certainly have no agency in our own downward spiral!
Somewhere, Marx is shaking his head.
On the flip side (and there always is one...) Al Franken's book was placed more prominently than Ann Coulter at our local bookstore (the one with a huge Christian section, with ample copies of the Left Behind series, and one shelf devoted to "Judaica and World Religions"), and locals are pissed about redistricting, Republican propositions which are "aimed toward fat cats" but will end up reaming small-town law practices like my father's. The only problem is that it seems--generally--to be a helpless anger, one which we can shake our fists at, but do nothing about...except drive to Chili's or the mall, and gripe about it over a Big Mac. The real currents of politics and power in contemporary Western and North American society, I submit, are nowhere near the Capitol...but reside in the purchasing power of citizens, and the corporate idols they unwittingly worship.
On that note, then...if a politician pisses you off, then track the corporate hand that feeds him...and get your boycott groove on!
Am headed back into the Texas heat...and will be online again soon. In the meantime, enjoy Ashleigh's posting and have a great week, and stay tuned!
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