Boston Globe writer Johnny Diaz wrote an article, "Being Cheap is the New Rule of Cool."
Oh boy, Johnny, it sure is cool that folks are drinking six-packs rather than going to hipster bars, making coffee rather than going to Starbucks, and shopping at thrift stores. Uh, maybe you forgot that most of the country lives like this and outside of a few condescending, jerk-O rich folks, we've always been cool. So cool that we eat out of dumpsters. So cool that we ride bikes not buses. So cool that we're the first to get laid off, the first to go homeless on the streets.
Look Johnny, what's totally NOT COOL is that folks shopping at screwed up corporate chains like Wal-Mart are considered hot-stuff. This is terrible. It's corporations like Wal-Mart that got us into this economic mess to begin with by screwing over small businesses and local economies. I'd rather see the indignant, broke-ass masses burning Wal-Mart down.
What's not cool is McDonalds burning down the rain forest and bringing heart-attack inducing food into poor neighborhoods because corrupt organic chains like Whole Foods have a monopoly on health and use it to serve rich, white people.
What's not cool is people getting take out and not leaving a tip for the hard-working people behind the counter. Johnny, paying tips IS cool. It fuels the local economy.
Furthermore, if you think that being thrifty is cool, you should check out the escalating numbers of homeless folks, the social service budgets being slashed, the lay-offs occurring throughout the country.
Urgh. Well, I'm off to be cool.
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2 comments:
i was with you at the beginning.. i too am disgusted by all the new cheap is cool talk.. as if there was ever anything admirable about overconsumption. but then you took a turn towards the macabre. why pretend that you're a victim?
you eat out of dumpsters (i guess) and ride bikes because you choose to, and have chosen a culture that celebrates these things. i think that's wonderful..
but this choice is not something you've been forced into by "the man" or whatever.
hmm.. dumpster diving, thrift store shopping, coffee craving, bike riding non-"hipsters".. what culture does this describe?
this culture is not, as you try to paint it, the first to get "laid off" or "go homeless." unless it's the result of an appropriation of poor culture. THIS, in my opinion, is a truer example of cultural appropriation than what you offered in a separate post.. though I can't say I fault these folks anymore than those boulder students.
so yes im sure you are off to "be cool," but no need to pretend that it's a chore!
I tip the hat i don't wear to your astute observations and deft analysis! critique accepted!
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