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The Revolution will be ... stinky?
Dec. 8th, 2010 08:29 pmSo, lately I read about a new movement amongst the young and upper middle class to forego daily bathing/showing/spit baths and to eschew the deodorant/antiperspirant. I haven't heard whether they've given up toothpaste. I am beginning to smell the trend in our undergrads.
Okay, yes: green. Less water usages, less chemicals, less consumerism. Okay, yes: picking something that makes the old folks nuts (peeyoo). But I also think there is a slight status postering going on as well. Here's how I see that:
So, being old, I object to being subjugated to close proximity of unbathed bodies - those pesky kids - and the grounds on which I object comes from the fact that I date from an era where people did not bath daily, and status was indicated by the wherewithal to afford bathing daily - the indoor plumbing, the free run of water, the luxurious soap and unguents, the machinery for washing and drying clothing on demand[1]. To me these unbathed youth smell like homeless people.
Aside from the green rebellion, the person who is willing to smell like a homeless person is subtly saying that they are so up-status that they have no idea what a homeless person smells like.
Which, hey, things are never simply about one thing, I get it.
But: hey, you stinky kids, get offa my olfactory bulb. :)
[1] - I remember my mom getting a second-hand wringer washer - she was delirious - and if any of us now had to work that hard to get clean clothes, we'd burn the dirty ones and buy new.
Okay, yes: green. Less water usages, less chemicals, less consumerism. Okay, yes: picking something that makes the old folks nuts (peeyoo). But I also think there is a slight status postering going on as well. Here's how I see that:
So, being old, I object to being subjugated to close proximity of unbathed bodies - those pesky kids - and the grounds on which I object comes from the fact that I date from an era where people did not bath daily, and status was indicated by the wherewithal to afford bathing daily - the indoor plumbing, the free run of water, the luxurious soap and unguents, the machinery for washing and drying clothing on demand[1]. To me these unbathed youth smell like homeless people.
Aside from the green rebellion, the person who is willing to smell like a homeless person is subtly saying that they are so up-status that they have no idea what a homeless person smells like.
Which, hey, things are never simply about one thing, I get it.
But: hey, you stinky kids, get offa my olfactory bulb. :)
[1] - I remember my mom getting a second-hand wringer washer - she was delirious - and if any of us now had to work that hard to get clean clothes, we'd burn the dirty ones and buy new.
