AS 9/19

The idea of absent-minded observation stuck with me from the last class. An even more frightening notion is that we are absent-minded consumers. We consume a constant diet of sights and sounds. Driving along, a herd of cattle moving in unison, we drink in signs telling us to buy enormous greasy breakfasts (no fork or knife needed), buy gas at obscene prices, buy a pack of smokes, buy a better body, buy a date...every choice presented in larger than life, modern day murals that celebrate capitalistic consumption. Look around you at the people driving the same road. Vaguely angry expressions barely registering that the three-car pile up slowing things down is something more than entertainment, listening to Zombie Nation without the slightest awareness of irony.

The radio spouts nonsense commercials: terrifying pitches for new cars at the best prices, lasik surgery for new, better eyes at a discount, the cost of laser hair removal is a wise investment because shaving eats up too much of your life. Everything is available for a price. My morning companion, someone I’ve never met but listen to every day during a thirty minute drive, talks about the list of experts she needs to fix her poor cable reception. First a cable guy, then a tree trimming specialist, then the electric company because the tree has grown around her power lines. She doesn’t have to come face to face with any of them, she just leaves a check for work well done. One problem, multiple fixes, zero human contact. I need a check up and go to a family practitioner; I see the nurse practitioner who is like a doctor, but just gets paid less. I go to a dentist for a teeth cleaning; I see the dental hygienist. My transmission is acting funny, but my mechanic doesn’t do transmissions. Instead, he sends me to a “guy” he knows. Tap water tastes funny, so I go to one of three different grocery stores in a two mile radius and look down a never ending aisle filled with different shapes, sizes, and brands of water. There’s even smart water. Huh, intelligent beverages, what’s next?

This class makes me tired and pissed off and just a little scared to drive down the road.