-ism

Ok, so it's not exactly a word, but it's a word part, so it works. I promise.

Anyways, my daily muse today was about three -isms: capitalism, materialism, and individualism.

Wondering how those three words connect? I understand. When this idea first popped into my head I literally had to turn off the car radio and tune out the screams of the three children I ran over to piece it all together. (The second part of that was a joke, a joke people.)

But here's my train of thought. (Choo Choo!)
1) "It sure is nice to own a car! I have so much more freedom to go, see, and do whatever I wish!"
2) "Wait, someone[1] had to buy this car. Why the heck do we have to buy something to gain this freedom?"
3) "I'm gonna call this freedom individualism, 'cause it sounds right."
4) "It's funny how the way we become individuals in our materialistic society is to buy mass-produced materials that many people have to buy in order for their production to be worthwhile." [2]
5) "Capitalism sure did its job."
6) "I'm sure she... they'll be fine" (A JOKE!)

So I, being the antiestablishmentarian that I am, made a decision to try and break that uniquely capitalistic habit as much as possible in my own life, albeit with a few exceptions. That's right, my hat collection will continue to evolve into a history of Washington baseball logos. I'll let you know when it goes on exhibit to Cooperstown.

I say to hell with owning a car, living in a big house, eating out every night (OK, that's probably not going to change either, but I'm a dreamer). Bring back the counterculture! Haight-Ashbury! The Bee-Gees!

And screw nostalgia!

1- My parents
2-This revelation was made prior to this car ride, and was generated courtesy of the late David Foster Wallace. If you want to know which of his essays I got it from, leave your question in the comments section.

Postmodernism

Now for the hard part: actually blogging.

I think my posts, going forward, are going to be in a stream-of-conscious style. For example: this article was actually going to try to talk about the shallowness of a postmodern society. But then I realized that 1) I didn't fully grasp the concept from the start and 2) postmodern is a pretty stupid term for a time-period.

Modern: of, or pertaining to, present and recent time. (Thank you dictionary.com)

That would make postmodern "of, our pertaining to, the future", correct? (Wait, this is MY blog! Of course I'm right!) So how do you describe a current time period as one in the future?

I digress.

Remember that cutesy allusion to Taylor Swift's "22" yesterday? Postmodernism.

When you hum the Luna phone number hook? Postmodernism.

When Jay-Z uses a lyric from one of the shallowest lyricists of all time, REM? You guessed it!

Hey, I've been born and raised in this materialistic society. I even break out a song lyric corresponding to the small-talk of the day from time to time. Doesn't mean I dislike it any less.

A favorite quote of mine, courtesy of the transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, is, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

So how do we achieve this in such an impressive culture? Well, simply, we don't. It's akin to Christianity's view of sin. You're going to be biased towards a product, environment, and/or idea at some point, but the goal is to have that affect your actions and views as little as possible.

(End example)

Well, take what you will out of this post, I promise I'll try to be more on point tomorrow.

Also, if anyone wants to look over my posts with me (before I send them out to the never-ending sea of criticism called the internet), please let me know.

Enjoy,
Jack

Excited

It's time for a summer project. I've been subjecting myself to the obligatory teenage apathy for far too long.

Why not get up and shout my opinion from the lofty heights of the internet? Why not learn to write how I see fit? Why not subject you to my daily thoughts? I don't see it.

So, let's do something. I'll write, you'll read, and we'll just keep dancing like we're... people! Sound good? Excellent.

(And, with the boring logistics to hopefully entice repeat readers, I'll try to do this daily. Short, long, factual, full of crap, whatever. Still daily.)

Enjoy,
Jack