florafloraflora (florafloraflora) wrote,
florafloraflora
florafloraflora
  • Mood: sick

Bacon flavored

Sigh. I googled Lapsang Souchong tea this morning, and I found out that tea snobbery is now available to everybody, even pudgy guys with questionable glasses living in Norristown. I honestly can't think of anything left that's not a subject of obsessive consumerist snobbery. Chocolate now has a passport, according to a February 8th article on single-origin chocolate in the New York Times. Wine was over long ago. Bourbons and single-malt scotches have been done, and God knows cigars have too. Garden soil, dogs and cats, drinking water, denim, knives, and toilet paper all have their connoisseurs who know what's the thing to have, what is so five minutes ago, what will never go out of style, what's just a bit much, what is downright trashy, and what is so outré that, perversely, it's in again. There are entire forums for people who collect vacuum cleaners. Even the simple living movement has gradations of snobbery: Clotheslines? Why yes, of course, charming. Coupons? But honey, they might make you buy the wrong brand! Ten-pound sacks of textured vegetable protein? Oh... dear. Dear, dear me. Oh my.

First good taste was the new virtue, then bad taste was the new good taste, then virtue was the new virtue. Through it all, the tyranny of taste is still going strong.

There's such a fine line between connoisseurship and snobbery. See? Even that last sentence might have crossed that line. Can anyone think of anything that hasn't been a subject of consumer obsession?
Tags: a little piece of my mind
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