had changed. It looked as if it were on steroids.
Little intersections had become huge interchanges with eight lanes and multiple traffic lights. Chrome trimmed pickup trucks, large enough to haul cattle, twinkled in the suburban sun. Built for work but used for play, these gas guzzling behemoths each carried one occupant. Gigantic SUVs sandwiched me in, while miles of vehicles stretched out in front and behind me, idling with the AC on.
Looking down from high above, comparing the scene to 20, 30, or 40 years ago, wouldn’t these areas look similar to cancer? A tumor on the planet?
Tired little strip malls and vacant parcels of nature had blown up into monstrous fancy palaces for commerce. Extravagantly lit, 24/7, each one looking the same, regardless of where I was. Linens & Things, Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Pets R Us, Kids R Us, Gap, Kinko’s, Bath and Body Works, Starbucks, crap food restaurants, convenience stores filled with single serve packaged foods. Nothing was local. I needed my car to go anywhere and everywhere, and meanwhile, the brainwashing continued, ever more seductive. “Buy this. Use that. Come here. Go there. Trust us.” Bah.
Is this progress or is it an infection?
I don’t remember hearing the word “cancer” while I was growing up. When I finally did (in the 70s) it was whispered. (“She’s got cancer. Shhhh”) Cancer has become a common word heard every day—breast, throat, colon, stomach, liver, lung. Ugh. But it isn’t just cancer. It’s also diabetes, heart disease, obesity. Does anyone else think this is all connected? Has the American dream become a nightmare? Is it a runaway train, out of control?
How have we allowed this to happen? Who is responsible? We have become a society spoon fed by corporations. We are addicted to convenience, seemingly at all costs. We want everything and we want it yesterday or at the very least, now. Nature doesn’t work that way and neither did the world, not 50 years ago.
Through relentless advertising, mass hypnosis and brainwashing, the public has succumbed. We buy, buy, buy corporate services and goods with hard earned money made from unfulfilling jobs. This new phenomena has rendered many folks neurotic, entitled, spoiled, demanding, unsettled, sad, and sick.
Somewhere along the line, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had reached my threshold. I took a rather extreme course. I cashed out, sold the farm, the house, the Mercedes, 95% of
The Convenience Culture
Issue 6 | July/August 2010