Birdcages and Vitamin-C: a few thoughts on the impulse to embellish

A forward: looking back on this post I wish I could say that I was high at the time, or extremely sleep-deprived, or convinced that I was a manic, unintelligible genius, unfortuneately this is not the case. All I can say in my defense is that it made sense at the time (and sounded seriously less pompous in my head) This will undergo major revisions...I promise.

Please go on to the next post.

Seriously.

-S.


When did the idea that basic nature was not sufficient to supply our basic needs? I understand the anthropological roots and the strategic necessity of the city as a citadel or center of trade and commerce. But its very appearance, glass-faced obelisks that compete with each other for attention on the skyline, seems to be an attempt to mimic a forest; impersonalized, efficient, birdcages stacked one on top of another till they tower above the streets. Their inmates kept to produce "revenues" and "results" to "marginalize fiscal attrition" and maximize "quarterly gains". These ends are seen in today's society to be representative of happiness. Money = Enjoyment. And perhaps, to some extent this is true, but how then, are we any different than songbirds, singing for another's pleasure, each song a transitory moment of gratification.

This raises the question of whether or not birds themselves appreciate their songs as an artistic embellishment to basic existence or whether they understand only that their music is only a language used to communicate the desire or achievement of the basic necessities for survival? I would be inclined to believe the later as today's biologists categorize birdsong as an iteration of "bioacoustics". And there is little if any evidence of the prior. How is it that we are so egocentric and yet so naive? I suppose one is a function of the other...

This leads me to the original reason for this post: VitaminWater. I know, how banal, ludicrous even, but still, the stuff is everywhere. The local family-run grocery store, the big chains, the gas stations, hotdog stands, even the local cafes and the library at _ College. Why is it that so many people, myself included, have bought into the idea that water in its most basic form, H2O, is somehow lacking? It is one of the essentials for life, and sustained countless civilizations before the 21st century. Why is it that all of the sudden we feel compelled to engineer a "better" water, one that is flavored and color-coded, in packaging complete with prominent logo, witty quips and pop culture references? The label claims that the drinks are made with "vapor distilled, deionized, and/or reverse osmosis water," and yet it also claims the "the inside is natural." Personally I differentiate between a component that has been modified by chemical (or other) process, and a component that is presented before you as, essentially, it appears in nature.

If birdsong is, scientifically, the pursuit of basic communication; then the introduction of VitaminWater and the ideas that it rides on, are like birds marketing their conversations to philosophers and intellectuals as podcasts. (This analogy is still under construction...)

Now I'm off to dink my Multi-V lemonade with vitamin supplements from a-zinc.