the old normal
I had this dystopian dream last night (shut up I'm just getting into it) where there was this theme park where I went to this theme park and it was absolute insanity and everything was trampled and destroyed and there were too many people
It was a mock up regular town with houses and stores
but it was all 80s and 90s
the banality of it
with bikes you could ride around the town or you could walk (no cars)
and there were rides
(one scary one where you went around in a huge open tube rotating up down)
It was like Disneyland but not garish and grandiose
just a banal suburb of anywhere, everything in tones of beige and fake wood paneling
It was the old normal
It was expensive to get in
but still it was overrun
It was a world before Covid
a world before climate change was an existential threat
bf the prevalence of smart phones and the internet
Let's not say it was perfect
but it was a respite
And you could go into these houses
and eat food cooked in a microwave
and sit on a couch
and play a video game
and I think when you got in you drank this serum
that only lasted the duration you were there (when you left did you drink an anti-serum?)
and it made you forget the past 30 years
and it was the old normal
The old old normal
not just this one where Covid subsides so now we're back to the constant anxiety about climate change
swapping one existential crushing dread for another
but before existential fears
back when you could just exist
you lucky middle-class American
back when the middle-class led middle class comfortable lives
(My dad told me last night, he had a friend's family growing up in the 60s, the dad was a milkman, the mom stayed at home, they had seven kids, a house, a car, the dad was a milkman, he said, the dad was a milkman. They didn't have a lot of money, but you could do it. Look at it now, he said, look at it now.)
(How did it get this way? How did our economy tilt so hard in the favor of the ultra-rich?)
It was a mock up regular town with houses and stores
but it was all 80s and 90s
the banality of it
with bikes you could ride around the town or you could walk (no cars)
and there were rides
(one scary one where you went around in a huge open tube rotating up down)
It was like Disneyland but not garish and grandiose
just a banal suburb of anywhere, everything in tones of beige and fake wood paneling
It was the old normal
It was expensive to get in
but still it was overrun
It was a world before Covid
a world before climate change was an existential threat
bf the prevalence of smart phones and the internet
Let's not say it was perfect
but it was a respite
And you could go into these houses
and eat food cooked in a microwave
and sit on a couch
and play a video game
and I think when you got in you drank this serum
that only lasted the duration you were there (when you left did you drink an anti-serum?)
and it made you forget the past 30 years
and it was the old normal
The old old normal
not just this one where Covid subsides so now we're back to the constant anxiety about climate change
swapping one existential crushing dread for another
but before existential fears
back when you could just exist
you lucky middle-class American
back when the middle-class led middle class comfortable lives
(My dad told me last night, he had a friend's family growing up in the 60s, the dad was a milkman, the mom stayed at home, they had seven kids, a house, a car, the dad was a milkman, he said, the dad was a milkman. They didn't have a lot of money, but you could do it. Look at it now, he said, look at it now.)
(How did it get this way? How did our economy tilt so hard in the favor of the ultra-rich?)