(Download) "Epicurus at the Food Court." by The Humanist * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Epicurus at the Food Court.
- Author : The Humanist
- Release Date : January 01, 2004
- Genre: Reference,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 318 KB
Description
When my tax return arrived this year, I drove out to the large mall that used to sit on the edge of town but is now surrounded by full-throttle "growth" or "sprawl," depending on your politics. A Sears Automotive Center resides in the middle of the mall's parking lot, next to an Olive Garden restaurant (imagine that aesthetic misalignment anywhere but in the United States). I walked to the mall and wandered around. I hadn't shopped there for awhile and slowly a thought dawned on me: although no one wants to admit it, the United States is a country run by teenagers. Behind lifeless store manikins inevitably hang posters of smiling youths ranging in age from fifteen to twenty-one. Look where you will in the mall and almost every image you see is that of an adolescent. With their $90-a-week in disposable income ($141 billion annually, according to Kipp Cheng's 1999 Brandweek article, "Setting Their Sites on Generation 'Y'"), teenagers dictate style and, in turn, "economic growth" to the companies that then dictate tax incentives, tariffs, and the easing of environmental restrictions to the politicians whose election campaigns they bankroll.