Seen the recent Volkswagon advertisements? No, not the guy from the Cohen brother’s films asking you to “un-pimp” your ride. The ads I’ve been seeing are of “radical” types mid-poem, or protest, when suddenly an ugly VW drives by and the driver shouts that you can get one of three V-Dubs for under $17,000.00 and everything stops. The subject then either runs off to get a new car, or changes their tune from protest to happiness.
That’s pretty much what they think of you. And it fairly well sums up the paradox of our society. The assumption is that when you haven’t got money or prospects it’s natural to assume that one might be a radical, or a liberal. As life rolls on, people’s needs change, and now you’re one of “us.” Volkswagon is only letting us know that we can have it now, why wait? Heck, it’s only $17,000.00 (before tax and license.) Awesome!
So I ask you. Where are the Democrats, the Liberatarians, the Greens, the Liberals, the Independents with money and prosperity in their lives? Who really represents you? Does anyone?
9 Comments
does it run on biodiesel as advertised ;)
interesting point. i really miss nothing by not having TV.
i can’t believe you brought this up in exactly this way, because i’ve been having an interesting conversation-slash-panic attack in my head lately about suddenly feeling i’ve become middle class. this started when i bought… my VW. it’s like my shitty corolla was the last visible evidence that i was a struggling artist who only *worked for the middle class, but took her paycheck home to a bohemian, found-object decorated flat in the mission. (the found-object thing you’ve heard me mention, too). i caught myself thinking, “i can’t park in the mission, my beautiful *car* will get dented.” i don’t know anybody who doesn’t want more money, for whatever reason, and i’d still like some more - to travel, to buffer - but isn’t it a challenge to think of yourself as one of “them” and sort of be one of those “us” people you mentioned?
(and, it’s not that i think the mission is the bohemian wilderness, but it’s where i lived when i was not at all close to driving a vw. it symbolizes my early fantasies of being some kind of underground gypsy.)
well, my friend Dean Zimmermann is a green. he’s actually the father of a couple of my friends. Does he have money and prosperity in his life…well.. enough to get by. But he still biked to work about 10 months of the year.
He was on the park board and made it to the city council, of Minneapolis. But lost the last race because of redistricting (he was redistricted out of his own district and had to move into his ‘new’ district before the election) and was framed for taking a bribe in a development deal. (I firmly believe he was framed.) Just as I was starting to develop faith in participatory democracy, Dean is blown out of his seat. I am an anarchist who votes and will even get into a (verbal) brawl with the Zerzanites about the importance of voting, but it is not because I think that anyone I vote for will win, or if they win that they won’t be run out of office if they are at all effective. I want anarchists to vote, presumably non-republican, because if enough of them do, the supposed-lesser evil will win and everyone will see just how fucked up everything still is.
Can you be prosperous within capitalism if you have a solid conscience? That is exactly what I am trying to figure out. Can I charge a ‘fair’ price for the fruits of my labor and not ‘fuck people over to survive’, within the capitalist framework I am stuck in?
hmm… that’s interesting that you see that ad that way. I see it in a slightly different light. The idea of starting out as a radical or a liberal when you are young and naive and then eventually morphing into a member of the middle class when your needs change - isn’t that the story of American boomers? The generation that started out protesting and singing songs of love and peace is now seemingly more interested in gobbling up second homes across the country (and probably cars too). So in my mind I read that ad as trying to get the younger generation to espouse the materialism of the older generation and abandon their ideals as members of the older generation did - maybe even sooner than they did.
Yes.
How is that different from what I was saying?
Maybe i was too sleepy to say it clearly… bad sunshine, no more 3am diatribes for you!
: )
nobody.
Only I represent myself with my actions.
I’ve got to do something.
I’m brainstorming. Non-violent resistance? No, not with not voting in elections, but there is something else we vote with- dollars. I’ll tell you one thing, I’m sick of lining their pocket-books. I’m making an important choice for me this year, and that is who I’m NOT giving my money to. I don’t have another ethical choice.
I second that!
Yes! I have always said that the only real democratic power we have left in the united states is what we do with our money.
It’s working in certain areas:
I heard from the manager of a wonderful organic, raw restaurant in San Francisco that in meetings with expansion experts they, the merger scumbags, expressed that “unless you use organic produce, you can’t expect to stay in business for very long.” This means that because of demand for organics in high end restaurants, the bankers know that it’s no longer optional.
crazy-revolution! change the fucking world!
Last night I watched Sara Silverman’s “Jesus is Magic” and laughed for the entire film. I mention it because of the excellent song she sings about Jews buying German cars. It’s painfully funny and incredibly offensive (as only she can be - I think I’m in love). Anyway, through the magic of YouTube I can show you it too. Please watch/listen, it’s sheer genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9b3_05qL7k
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