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Minding My Own Mind

Sunday, January 15

living in hypercapitalism

One has not the leisure of thought anymore, or, it is hard to come by in this pre-prepared world of channels-always-running and gadgets of capitalism to fill the voids. We don't know the voids exist, or maybe not until we are old and the materials lose their luster to us; then is when we must look around, turn the head from this arm to shoulder to that arm, and see where we stand here, what we're worth, or worthy of. Attention deficit, the object of attention now universally, most chronic with deficiency of is our own mind, and the literature reflects that--not deep delving, polemic, sustained. Not grand, like the human ego is meant to be, in dreams, mythmaking, sentences, especially in expression--that materialization, of art. Since we were children: Now in bursts, like static, sometimes even beautiful showers of sparks but never one, deep, masterful. What if I deprived my kid of the world he lived in, down this continual trend? Would the deprivation prevent the deficit of self? The world changes, and to whom am I to tell it to stop, one says. The command to Stop it!, and to See it! are completely not one and the same, and especially I would advocate more tending towards the latter in preserving the human spirit.

2 Comments:

  • franny and zooey
    what would it be like to raise your kids to know nothing
    i've wondered
    it'll require tivo

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:38 AM  

  • also, that reminds me, since bed bath and beyond visit was today (yesterday)--from the nonsense list:

    XXXXX SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 XXXXX


    Whirl Mart

    Looking for a leisurely way to spend your Sunday afternoon resisting consumerism? Join us. Whirl-Mart was conceived as a way to poetically and peacefully state our collective disrespect for the capitalist world order and to display our opposition to the values of competition, domination, and exploitation imposed upon us by consumer culture.

    Not meant to be an attack on any specific corporation, Whirl-Mart is a ritual of consumption awareness. Reclaiming commercial space through the simple act of not shopping. We target superstores (cathedrals of consumption) because they are symbolic both of the religious faith modern humans invest in material consumption, and of the seemingly inescapable corporate superstructure in which we live.

    In the first Whirl-Mart on April Fools Day, 2001, individuals entered a Wal-Mart store in Troy, NY, and processed as a single-file parade throughout the store for nearly two hours. Now, nearly five years after the first whirl, it is still going on: all across the US, and in Sweden, Finland, England, Mexico, and Canada.

    Whirl with us this Sunday. Arrive at Bed, Bath and Beyond anytime between 1:45 and 2:15, alone or in small groups. Enter the store, find yourself a shopping cart, and start pushing it through the aisles. It's a zen thing -- move slowly, keep your focus forward; don't let the products seduce you into shopping, but be aware of all that is around you. Explore the escalators, which have special lifts just for shopping carts. When you see another person with an empty cart, don't greet her, but do fall in line behind her. And don't be surprised when you start to hear the squeak of other shopping carts behind you. If anyone asks what you're doing, you may calmly say, "I'm not shopping." Relax, enjoy, and try not to giggle.

    Bed Bath & Beyond
    1:45-2:45p; $free
    6th Avenue between 18th and 19th streets, Manhattan
    917 538 7505, 518 573 7947
    http://breathingplanet.net/whirl

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:46 AM  

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