You know, I don't have enough Dire Straights in my life
You know what, I started writing a long-winded, drawn out post on work, but screw it. I had already written a few mind-numbing paragraphs about writing, working, students, yadayadayada...It was crap.
That's what happens when I decide I "should" try to take the more "intellectual" approach to Blogging! Why? It's my Blog and no one else is reading, so Screw It!
Let's, instead, just follow the rambling pathway that is my thought process wherever the hell it might lead. I even changed the title of this post.
"You know, I don't have enough Dire Straights in my life." So spoketh my buddy at the bar last night (and by buddy I mean the guy buying/serving me beer). Two things about this story are disturbing: first of all, my only friends are all people that work in the bars where I spend most of my money; secondly, the fact someone could actually not have enough Dire Straights in his life.
Now don't get me wrong, I, in my day, was a big Mark Knoffler fan. But that was awhile ago. The utterer of the above statement was a kid barely into his 20's that was probably still shitting his diapers when Mark was grumbling about "money fo' nothin', an' his chicks for free" (man, where can I get me some of those "chicks for free"?). Makes you wonder about the cyclical nature of cultural preferences.
Actually, I wonder why cultural trends/preferences shift at all? Yes, yes, I know, modern Western society is driven by crass consumerism and marketing, and we are all convinced that last year's lawnmower isn't gonna cut it by money-hungry, faceless manipulators hell-bent on selling us this year's model, but come on, is this answer good enough? What I mean is why are we susceptible to this? Is this an evolutionary response of selective pressures driving a larger, more inquisitive brain? Evolutionary Psychologists, of course, would have us believe so, but they're full of bunk, so that's no good (I took an Evo Psych class as an undergrad from a man, I was later informed, was originally an Occupational Psychologist that switched to Evo Psych after his wife caught him cheating on her in defense of his actions-cool, hah?).
So why do we do it? Other organisms don't shift their cultural practices with such rapidity-Chimps, perhaps the most cultural of the non-human organisms, do reflect changing regional cultures, but at best, this occurs between generations, not model years.
Who knows? Maybe it does have something to do with selective pressures and adaptive responses of the brain. Afterall, a larger, more facile mind which would make for more intricate and exquisite social and cultural interactions, as well more adroitness and deftness in innovating and exploiting technology, would, in all likelihood, make us more responsive within our lifetimes to changing stimuli, resulting in more rapid acceptance of social/cultural innovation.
This still doesn't explain my young friend's interest in Dire Straights, though.
That's what happens when I decide I "should" try to take the more "intellectual" approach to Blogging! Why? It's my Blog and no one else is reading, so Screw It!
Let's, instead, just follow the rambling pathway that is my thought process wherever the hell it might lead. I even changed the title of this post.
"You know, I don't have enough Dire Straights in my life." So spoketh my buddy at the bar last night (and by buddy I mean the guy buying/serving me beer). Two things about this story are disturbing: first of all, my only friends are all people that work in the bars where I spend most of my money; secondly, the fact someone could actually not have enough Dire Straights in his life.
Now don't get me wrong, I, in my day, was a big Mark Knoffler fan. But that was awhile ago. The utterer of the above statement was a kid barely into his 20's that was probably still shitting his diapers when Mark was grumbling about "money fo' nothin', an' his chicks for free" (man, where can I get me some of those "chicks for free"?). Makes you wonder about the cyclical nature of cultural preferences.
Actually, I wonder why cultural trends/preferences shift at all? Yes, yes, I know, modern Western society is driven by crass consumerism and marketing, and we are all convinced that last year's lawnmower isn't gonna cut it by money-hungry, faceless manipulators hell-bent on selling us this year's model, but come on, is this answer good enough? What I mean is why are we susceptible to this? Is this an evolutionary response of selective pressures driving a larger, more inquisitive brain? Evolutionary Psychologists, of course, would have us believe so, but they're full of bunk, so that's no good (I took an Evo Psych class as an undergrad from a man, I was later informed, was originally an Occupational Psychologist that switched to Evo Psych after his wife caught him cheating on her in defense of his actions-cool, hah?).
So why do we do it? Other organisms don't shift their cultural practices with such rapidity-Chimps, perhaps the most cultural of the non-human organisms, do reflect changing regional cultures, but at best, this occurs between generations, not model years.
Who knows? Maybe it does have something to do with selective pressures and adaptive responses of the brain. Afterall, a larger, more facile mind which would make for more intricate and exquisite social and cultural interactions, as well more adroitness and deftness in innovating and exploiting technology, would, in all likelihood, make us more responsive within our lifetimes to changing stimuli, resulting in more rapid acceptance of social/cultural innovation.
This still doesn't explain my young friend's interest in Dire Straights, though.
posted by Fool Ishy at 9:01 AM
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