Funny you should bring up food, because it was front and centre in my mind when I think about Americans' philosophical lust for homogeneity. The perception that your food is at its very best when it's been ultraprocessed, perfectly measured, efficiently wrapped and, most importantly *exactly* the same every time, is a strong metaphor for the wider mindset. And that wider desire for factory-produced conformity is exactly what robs people of real freedom.Gavster wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 10:20 am On the point of isolation, when I was in NYC I went to some debates at New York Uni about food policy and it's incredible to see how isolated and inward-looking they are as a country. Whatever is happening in other parts of the world seems to be of little interest (apart from Mexico, which is kinda like their back garden). Definitely a sense of them only considering their own country and their own practices, which therefore means they also believe themselves to be the best*. It's a stark contrast to the UK where we've been hugely reliant on other countries for our food supply and therefore really engage with many other countries, especially the EU.
Going back to your original point that a one-dimensional money-focused social hierarchy necessarily produces only 1% winners and 99% losers, it's not just about the wealth itself and the conspicuous consumption it allows, it's also the reins people are forced to put themselves in to engage with the merry-go-round. I understand that work culture is very different in the US - far more hierarchical (your boss *owns* you), far less autonomous, and far more fordist (factories and offices are set up like drone farms, everyone with individual tasks far removed from the end product).
Hell, if I lived in a pop-up wooden house on a vast estate of identical pop-up wooden houses, ten miles from the next identical town, with only a mall full of the same shops selling the same plastic stuff, spending 10 hours of my day doing the same self-referential drudgery, with the only recreational respite being to follow the same local field sports team and watch the same mass-produced TV, I'd go fucking postal too. I might try and distract myself with a dedicated meth addition or a bit of religious extremism first, but postal is almost certainly where it would ultimately end up.
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