Happiness, broadly conceived, is the predominant endeavor of human existence. It is the state we tell ourselves that we fundamentally want yet fail to achieve. It is what progress promises yet fails to deliver. And […]
Consumerism - Culture - Drugs - Dystopia
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Stoned in the USA
On September 30, 2008 the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer aired an essay by Richard Rodriguez titled “Mexico’s Violent Drug War Wreaks Havoc on Innocent Lives,” in which Rodriguez characterized the relationship between foreign trafficking […]
Consumerism - Culture - Fashion - Philippic - Politics - Technology
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So Green, So With It
As an editor, I’ve always advocated for less paper, more recycling and digital delivery. I’ve always turned off my air conditioning, lights and power strips before leaving the office. I’ve recycled anything that could be […]
Consumerism - Culture - Dystopia - Technology
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Telephonic Purgatory
It should have been quick and simple, establishing a telephone account for a new place of residence. As Verizon was my existing provider, I saw no reason to take the business elsewhere. So I navigated […]
Consumerism - Culture - Politics - Technology
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The Cell People
A woman reading a book raises a gaze of exasperated woe. Next to her is a dude whose one-sided babble runs something like this: “Nah, ain’ fuckin’ that bitch no mo’…Crazy-ass bitch be fuckin’ Shafon, […]
Class - Consumerism - Culture - Politics
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Liberty: Tied, Beaten and Blown
Awhile ago I was flipping through the New Yorker and saw an interesting cartoon: two men in uniform, guns trained on a pedestrian, behind them a van with “Fashion Security” on the side. The caption […]
Consumerism - Culture - Politics
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Self-Reliance: An Exorbitant Delusion
If anything in this essay reflects badly on Empirican white-collar culture, I do not absolve myself of hypocrisy. On the contrary, I admit that I have practically benefited from that culture and, rightly or wrongly, […]
Art - Consumerism - Culture - Politics
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Cars and the Power Cult
I’m going to get me a carAnd I’ll be heading on down the roadThen I won’t have to worryAbout that broken-down, ragged Ford —Chuck Berry, “No Money Down” The automobile is the Empire’s most popular […]
Consumerism - Culture - Politics
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The Rise of the Jerk in Tights
A guy with a couple of decades of office avoirdupois pumps up on his $3,000 touring bike, sporting about $500 worth of highly flammable stretch material in 15 garish colors, covered with the logos of […]