Monday, July 21, 2008

Sameness

If you've ever heard me rant and rave about the innately generic culture that makes up this sprawling Dallas metroplex, feast your eyes on a commentary that couldn't say it any better. Although he goes on to argue that cities don't actually need a sense of identity... I'm not sure I agree. Consider this quote from the end of his article:
People, the vast mass of people, will live in more and more generic and mass-produced environments in fewer and fewer truly unique locales, because that's the relentless math of population growth, pollution and politics. A chicken in every pot and a unique code on every titanium tube.
I don't know about you, but that just sounds damn depressing to me. There's something about picturing everyone and everything as indistinguishable that just makes me extremely uncomfortable. It's kind of like going home and realizing that your hometown suddenly looks like every other hometown in the country--a mall with a JC Penney, a Cracker Barrel and McDonald's. Maybe a Hampton Inn or a Best Western. Are we supposed to be OK with that?

Granted, he calls himself a "refugee" from this, but still argues that sense of place or history really has no meaning. I couldn't disagree more. I think those elements are some of the keys to nurturing and driving culture and new ideas.

Maybe it's the wannabe creative in me, the one who sees people who look at the world differently and try to create a different experience, who believes that their refusal to conform moves us farther along. I don't believe that sameness is something we should strive for. Is Dallas really the view of the future? Homogenized, bland, uncaring?

I was listening to the radio this morning on the way to work. Just as I was pulling into the garage, one of the deejays was talking about her experience at the movies, and how things have changed. She reminisced about how fun it used to be to try to sneak in outside food--how we would bundle them up in our coats and purses and hope no one checked. But today, no one seems to care. She actually saw one woman walk up to the ticket counter and then into the theater--carrying a full, steaming pizza box.

What?!

No, it's not about the pizza. It's about this decline into people not caring what others around them do, even if it is their job to care. We're adopting this laissez-faire attitude about everything--our jobs, our personal lives, the broader community... We've gotten so comfortable with the status quo that people have forgotten (or been discouraged from?) shaking things up, trying something new. We're letting other influences drive our fates, dictate to us what we will wear, where we will shop, what we should buy, where we should live...

Is originality dead?

I know, of course, that I am as guilty as anyone in getting sucked in by American pop culture. I listen to the same music, watch the same TV shows, go out in the same Dallas bars and shop in the same stores. I'm not living originally, and I am as big a contributor to the death of our culture as the stereotypical Dallas dude down the street. But I can tell you this: I don't believe becoming invisible is inevitable, nor do I think it's something we should celebrate.

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