I used to enjoy visiting my local market, back in the days when markets were
markets, not the zombie changeling bourgeois emporiums they've become today. I recently
went shopping (and probably for the last time) at my local market, the Atwater Market, which I now dub the 'Atwanker Market' 'cause only a wanker of epoch proportions would think about spending their hard earned rupees buying massively overpriced fruits and veggies.
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| "I'm trying to determine, if what I see in before me, poses in any way, a threat to my existence?" |
One woman in line in front of me had an assortment of exotic and not so exotic
fruits and vegetables positioned on the counter, enough to feed perhaps six hungry vegetarians or a Sasquatch on a high fibre diet.
Her purchase consisted of an assortment of exotic mushrooms, probably grown only on the roots of Bonzai Banyan trees from Madagascar, a dozen mini pearl lemons, no doubt a genetically altered byproduct of our space program, some strange looking martian lettuce, and an assortment of multi-coloured broccoli which must certainly make ones faeces turn a pale shade of aquamarine. This collection of food items barely fit into two grocery bags, total price 72.85$!!! Later, when I tried to buy a dozen corn and was scared away by the 6.75$ tariff and levy, I was forced to settle for five ear of corn for a whopping THREE bucks... not six corn, FIVE!!!?
Then there was the old hag, dripping in gold jewelry, who walked in and bought that last listless wedge of seedless watermelon, a quarter melon packaged as a 'half' (half of a half is a quarter..I guess?) price: 4.95$!!! actual retail price: 0.95$!
This unscrupulous lady would have better served humanity had she decided to give her money to the foot stomping' toothless harmonica player busking for change out in the corridor.
It takes some nerve to charge these kinds of prices, but when faced with the desperate
reality of annihilation (in this case at the hands of the major chain grocery stores), humans have the capacity to project strength and confidence, as a measure of last resort, in order to convey the image of prosperity and success.
We also see these kinds of desperate public relations stunts and distortions of reality with regard to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Libya.
Stories of the 'enemy' being 'on the run' to be replaced by inspiring slogans like those of 'hope and change', give one the impression that victory is at hand, but it's not, and the situation in those countries are in fact actually deteriorating rapidly.
When the entropic forces of economic collapse entrenched themselves in 2008, America's dubious elected officials, and ultra-dubious non-elected officials, once again elected to project confidence, no doubt to assuage fears. They claimed the 'fundamentals' of the U.S. economy were 'fundamentally sound'. After the events of 9/11, Bush Jr. told everybody, with a folksy smile, to 'go shopping'. Now the Euro goose is just about cooked, yet the 'brainiacs' in the old country, those 'Euromeisters' who once projected this type of confidence, are beginning to look like some kind of 'Eurodazed-Euro-Disneyed mouseketiers.
Once upon a time these champions of European Economic Un-emancipation looked not unlike a bunch of giddy sailors after a reefer binge on the reeperbahn. Now the leaders of Europe look more like the Jagermeister deer trapped in the headlights of a Trabi! However they continue to proceed with a course of action which takes the form of outrageous breaches of their own 'Lisbon Treaty' by virtue of government bailouts to cover for reckless bank induced financial fraud. Now these measures are putting pressure on Europe's most powerful economy, Germany, which threatens to derail even them, like some inevitable financial ICE Rail disaster'! I, and many others see this as a mathematical certainty, yet confidence among the elect continues to reign supreme!
It's one thing to project confidence when facing down a foe, another human in combat, or a weight watching Sasquatch, but to do so in the face of a financial meltdown, given the capricious economic indicators, serve no one's best interest except perhaps their corporate masters… oh, and also not unlike a nuclear meltdown, and the good folks at Fukushima serve nobody except themselves by choosing to project 'confidence'. Calmness is understandable, yes, but confidence??? Oh, and let's also not forget the arrogance of BP's Tony Hayward, remember when he tried to sooth us with his straight talk by downplaying the Deep Water Horizon gulf oil disaster of 2010?
Confident people should always be looked upon with suspicion. It's often an individual or group's way of communicating to you they have no idea WHAT the fuck is going on, or HOW in the hell they plan on solving it. Yet we all too often 'buy into' the confidence trick, because nobody else seems to know what the fuck is going on either, except perhaps those marginal individuals whose voices are usually drowned out by the 'pundits' and 'intellectuals', and have resolved not to stick their head up their arses too, just so they can be on the same 'wavelength' as these people. The result of this is abuse, which usually comes in the form of a personal decision to remove oneself from the 'engine of ridicule' which dominates this type of maddening discourse, but I digress.
It's also not unlike, how as children, when afraid, we would look up to our parents for guidance and strength…followed by a soft lullabye and a tuck back into bed. As we got older though, we eventually came to the stark realization just how 'loony tune crackers' our parents had all been all along, and probably still are.
This is what happens to the deer who gets trapped in the headlights, he's trying to make sense of what's coming, trying to gauge if what he's seeing is a threat, and what course of action he should take. The comic tragedy of this is, until he can figure out what's coming, and how it poses a threat to him, he will remain immobilized... and once correct action becomes necessary, by then it will probably be too late!!!
Dirty CT September 2011
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