Things Fall Apart

November 5, 2007 | Filed Under Moment of Truth, Random 

Since when does change mean decline?  The two are almost exchangeable at this point.  Rarely do I eat pizza, but yesterday I had a taste for it.  Not being familiar with any of the local pizza places over here, we order Dominos.  I get my medium sized mushroom and onion pizza…it’s warm, smells delicious, but it’s hand-tossed.  You know what that means?  It means I shouldn’t have ordered the pizza.  There was a time when pizza had tomato sauce and cheese on it in addition to the bread.  Now, it’s just bread.  But you know what?  The joke’s on me.  I should’ve expected disappointment when visiting a chain (they make the most money and cut the most corners), namely one that became insanely popular with their 30-minute delivery guarantee.  Dominos’ success and status as a household name has nothing to do with them making good pizza because they don’t.  They just simply don’t.  Should I ever choose to go down that route again, it’s nothing but thin crust.  Maybe the ingredients won’t be clouded by a mass of plain-tasting crust. 

While I was in for it from the very beginning by choosing cheapo Dominos, my ultimate dissatisfaction does represent a decline.  Dominos is around the corner from my mother’s house.  We ordered from them all the time.  Back then it wasn’t just a lump of bread.  Decline. 

We’ve got all kinds of fancy homes, cars, phones, cameras, computers and digital music players, all designed to fall apart after a prescribed amount of time.  Gotta ensure continued profits.  You might not be happy about buying a new whatsit, but you will.  And once you gain possession of your shiny new item, you’ll be kind of happy you got a new one…because it’s new.  Doesn’t matter that it’s really no good.  So it turns out that very little in life really appreciates, despite the alleged worth.  They’ve found out how to make houses in days–that have slightly more reinforcement than thick cardboard boxes–that start at $150,000.  I guess the little guy is always the sucker. 

…UNTIL there’s a peasant revolt.  Thing is some peasants don’t realize they have power and the others that think they do don’t realize that they’re peasants.  Talk about a catch-22.  Just to offer some insight, making $300,000 a year still qualifies you as a peasant.  It’s the age-old struggle, proletariat versus aristocrats.  There is no middle-class.  Get over yourself.  If you still have a boss, amass sick/vacation time, work for bonuses, you are a prole.  Specifically, petty bourgeoisie, but when it all boils down to the dichotomy, you wear the badge of a prole.  The square footage of your house or the year of your newly leased car mean nothing.  Hell, if you make $1,000,000 a year, guess what group you’re still a part of?  Yet, the inability of the bourgeoisie and the proletariats to recognize their plight in the other’s means that the status quo will stay in place with regard to the current power structure. 

Paris redesigned itself to be able to squelch peasant revolutions and most cities designed afterwards use Paree as the model.  I’m hoping for a revolution.  For bold, daring, and spirited people to emerge and change the trajectory of this lost, lonely, pathetic, and hateful planet.

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