I’m here to chronicle a mistake. Not a large one, but a miscalculation nonetheless.
So, I sort of ignored my new roommates pretty much the entire semester, and one of them gave me a “talking-to” tonight after class.
I realize it was a mistake to ignore them, and forgot that the only reason that I had such relatively painless interactions with the old roommates was because I tried very hard (against my usual introverted tendencies) to talk to them, to say hi, and all that.
I wanted to be friendly, but I didn’t know my new roommates’ names. Well, I do know, because the names are on a paper on our door, but I don’t remember for the life of me which one is which. So probably ditching the first day to see Charlotte wasn’t the best of ideas, but it’s not going to impact my grades.
And really, the bottom line is that I’m never going to see these people again after this semester. However, I feel like that attitude pervades our culture so much that. The idea that even people are disposable—which Alvin Toffler vigorously asserts—really offends my moral sensibilities. However, I’m a mass of contradictions and I think this is one of them. I absolutely can’t fucking stand the girls in my class that sit in the back and clickity-clack-click on their BlackBerries all damn class long. It’s like, what the fuck are you sending that can’t wait 45 minutes? It’s damn distracting. At least with an iPhone there isn’t that clickity-click nonsense. On the other hand, I’m supremely guilty of connectalysis.
I think that I’m guilty of treating people like disposable commodities too—and I could blame society, but we don’t exist in a vacuum. We exist inside our society, so I am part of the problem. I’m obsessed with getting a Nexus One, even though I know the lack of a keyboard would frustrate me to no end.
To be a disciple of consumerism and to simultaneously revolt against it is itself a consumer product: that of apathy, which benefits the ruling class innumerably.
I view the football players as members of a lifestyle brand opposed to mine. In the future, we will only fight wars because of brand loyalties. The Frito-Lay Republic vs. the McDonald’s Empire.
“In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!” -J.G. Ballard
No Trackbacks
One Comment
Having lived in college land for over half my life, I think I have some insight as to why people feel disposable at this point in your life. It will pass when you are less transient and you realize that the same people are going to be around you for a while and you have to forge something workable (at the least) or even enjoyable (one can hope) with them. But you have to practice those skills. It’s like Patrick never using good table manners at home. He thinks he’ll be able to suddenly fork up his food without using his thumb once we go out for a really nice meal? He won’t because he won’t know how. That said, I know you know how, as far as making friends and being friendly and all that. So it comes down to how tiring it all is. We only have so much gas in our tanks. If you are not putting forth the effort, it could be because your energy is going elsewhere.