reality, far from it

Blah, blah, blah. With a quick search on Google of this song by Lilly Allen the same thing kept coming up: the buzz worthy, loaded statement “social commentary”. The phrase, although true to its form, is more thrown around encourage people to disregard the lyrics than to emphasize them as truth. While some of the language may not be seen as age appropriate for younger audiences, it is not unlike much of the content throughout the rest of the album. However, we are not talking about the rest of the album, just this song, and it has a lot of good tidbits that can (and should) be taught to young and old adults alike.

The lyrics - they aren’t going to solve all of life’s problems, but they sure do point out a few. First and foremost, the opening sentence about being rich and wanting lots of money. It seems to be everyone’s goal in life. And in the fourth paragraph it talks about film stars being more popular than mothers. There is no denying that. The song also addresses greed, shopping, human rights (diamond trade), nudity, the need for speed, plastic surgery, war, and murder.

The most important message I think this song send is in its title: The Fear. It’s an odd title for a song. And it is a little confusing (at least to me) because it is a blanket statement for something else – a life that convincingly looks like the American dream, but in reality is far from it, and like the lyrics, most people ‘don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore.’

The fear
I want to be rich and I want lots of money
I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny

I want loads of clothes and [many] loads of diamonds

I heard people die while they are trying to find them

I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless

‘Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous

I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror

I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore

I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore

When we think it will all become clear

‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear

Life’s about film stars and less about mothers

It’s all about fast cars and passing each other

But it doesn’t matter cause I’m packing plastic

And that’s what makes my life so ******* fantastic

And I am a weapon of massive consumption

And its not my fault it’s how I’m programmed to function

I’ll look at the sun and I’ll look in the mirror

I’m on the right track yeah I’m on to a winner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore

I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore

When we think it will all become clear

‘Cuz I’m being taken over by The Fear

Forget about guns and forget ammunition Cause

I’m killing them all on my own little mission

Now I’m not a saint but I’m not a sinner

Now everything is cool as long as I’m getting thinner

I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore

I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore

When we think it will all become clear

‘Cause I’m being taken over by fear.

earth hour: turn out your lights

So, Earth Hour is tomorrow. It starts at 8:30 PM local time. What do you need to do? Turn off all your non-essential lights.

You’re thinking to yourself “But what am I going to do. I can’t see anything.” Although the Earth Hour website says it is okay to have your television or computer on I say turn them off, too. The point of Earth Hour is not to lower carbon footprints, as the website states, but to alert “those in a place of power that we as individuals and communities demand action [for climate change].” Well, although I get the symbolic emphasis of thousands and millions of people with their lights out, if the lights go out and there is still the television, a computer, video game, etc. still going on is it really showing anyone that you demand action for climate change? I say turn it all off.

What am I going to do for this hour?

Flash light tag
Candle lit dinner
Read by the fire or candle
Talk with your family or if you are by yourself, talk to yourself
Go to bed, get some extra sleep
Reenact colonial times by doing everything by candlelight
Write a letter
Make up a game in the dark
Look at the stars
Take an hour to be in silence

fyi: saving money is not good

So, I said I wasn’t going to write anymore on the economy, but hey that seems to be the talk everywhere. Well, everywhere except on my trip to Vermont (and that was only because I wasn’t interacting with people). Anyway, I read a title on the NY Times that reads, “Oversaving, a Burden for Out Times” with a little tidbit of the article claiming we are risking an epidemic. First off, I didn’t read the article, nor am I planning to. Maybe the article actually does state that saving money is really a good thing and people having money instead of burning lots of credit isn’t an epidemic. If that is what the article is about though, the editor really should have changed the title on this one.

I know what you are thinking, mainly because I am thinking it too – “Well, someone has to spend some money to get this economy going and for people to keep their jobs.” As someone who has a severe case of survivor’s guilt something does need to be done or happen, or however this whole interlocking global economy thing works.

However, are people saving their money really the problem? A few months back all people could talk about was how mortgages were being given out to people who could not afford the mortgage and how evil that was. Yes, we can blame the lender. We can also blame the consumer for thinking they can afford a $400K dollar house with nothing down. We can blame a housing market where the average Joe-homeowner can’t afford a reasonable house. We can blame the consumerist society for always having to have more, and so on. But, we can’t blame savings.

We can’t blame people for getting out of debt, not investing, and building money in their savings account. Money they actually have. Society can’t be run on credit. Just look at what has happened: people flopped when the economy flopped. Within all the chaos with the economy savings actually might be a bright spot.

a 79¢ bag of chips: food gone bad

There’s something wrong with organic food. No, it’s not the unfamiliar taste of natural flavors. No, it’s not the unfamiliar feeling of no preservatives, Blue 26, or about a billion words I can’t spell let alone try to say. It’s not even the idea that when something is bought organic that it may not last until May 2013.

No, it’s a far bigger problem. It’s the fact that everyone can’t buy organic. It’s an odd thought isn’t it? I mean everything was organic at one time. People farmed. They ate the food they grew, or they got the food from somewhere in their town. There didn’t have to be labels that said “organic” just to make sure the consumer knew that in fact their product was not dumped with unnatural ingredients, hormones, and pesticides.

I’m not even talking about location here. Organic foods are popping up everywhere and are becoming more popular than ever. The problem lies in the price. Not just the price of what it costs to buy something organic, but also what it costs to not buy something organic.

It just costs more to eat natural food. All the chips, cookies, hormone induced meat is just cheaper. The 79¢ bag of chips at the grocery store is going to be a much better sell than the broccoli. In a good or bad economy the healthier food is less accessible to the poor. In a market that says this food is going to be cheaper than that food, this food will always win. What needs to change? First off, the market needs to change so that organic or natural foods can not only compete against others but even be cheaper. Only then will true accessibility to organics be possible. Does this mean that people would switch to healthy alternatives?

Certainly not. Comfort foods aren’t called that for nothing. There is a culture of fast food, junk food, etcetera, and those don’t just go away because of price much like a law may not stop people from talking on their cell phone while driving. Thirdly, in America food is a low priority on people’s plates. Good food will always be trumped for a cell phone, cable television, music, DVDs, computers, video games, or movies. So, until the idea of food over luxury is met nutrition will always be on the bottom of the pyramid.

to spend or not to spend - that is the question

I try to keep my blog away from economics. I don’t talk about it for one because I don’t know that much about economics. Secondly, everywhere else the economy is being talked about and none of it is good news. Well, today I am. And if you have had enough of it like me just skip this and come back tomorrow.

There seems to be a small dichotomy growing about the state of the economy. On NPR yesterday there were two completely opposite views of the economy. The first was a woman who called in to talk about how people because of the economy are now learning (for the first time) that you can save money by packing a lunch every day for work instead of going out to eat. She went on to be outraged by the fact that we could be in a society where people were just now learning this simple little way to save money. (From a sociological standpoint, the woman has completely missed the point of how society and culture of the United States affects this, and not how stupid these people may be - but that is beside the point.) The point, of course, this woman was making was that a collapsed economy shouldn’t be teaching people how to save money. We should already know it and should be doing it.

The second caller was, to say the least, upset at the suggestion that people should stop going out to lunch everyday. The funny part is that the caller was a chef. His living is made on people eating out. Not just eating out, but spending lots of money eating out.

To me this dichotomy seems to be a moot point. No? When the economy starts going up people will start spending money again and the chef will be happy. People will forgo bringing their lunch to work and start eating out again. I could be wrong. But in a consumerist culture our culture depends on it - like the chef said.