19 Dec, 2006 in
Uncategorized by
KevinP
praxistheologia.com
Look Up.I recently made the marathon trip between Durham NC and Palm Harbor FL. Driving through North and South Carolina is a beautiful mix of urban and rural settings. Road signs clearly warn drivers of the impending cities with their bright lights and billboards advertising cheap(er) gas and the best apple pie in the country. As the cities fall behind, the countryside takes over unannounced. I began to enjoy the wax and wane of urban insanity. The ubiquitous green signs advertising the next city in X miles marked my progress south. I noticed, however, that the further south I drove, less countryside existed. Then it hit me…
Be afraid. Be very afraid!
Florida, specifically the west coast of Florida, is where they grow strip malls.
I’m serious.
The closer you get to Palm Harbor, the more the earth is covered by strip malls. The closer you get to Palm Harbor, the more trucks with oversized loads you see. You do the math. They aren’t mobile homes. I think they’re baby Gaps and small 7-11’s bound for regions previously un-poisoned by the culture of mass consumability.
I remember now, Gibson’s descriptions of brand allergy in his book “Pattern Recognition.†If I leave my parents house I am assailed with images and brands ranging from starbucks to cheap chinese. These aren’t just billboards, but advertisements trying to out advertise the signs around them. My favorite is the sign just down the road from my parents house advertising the religious bookstore and planned parenthood. Beneath the sign are temporary signs for emergency contraceptives and a sale on King James Bibles. Is it cynical to think that those two go together rather well?
Jared | December 21st, 2006 at 12:37 pm #
I think monty python had some things to say about that last bit.
So the ancient strip-mall breeding grounds have been discovered, eh? What now?
Really though, I think you’re focusing on the wrong enemy. What we *need* to find is where all the McDonalds’ and Wal-Marts come from. If we can then introduced the aforementioned emergency contraceptives during the corporate mating seasons, perhaps we can (over time) decrease their relative population back down to a reasonable ratio.
~PS