Same Old, Same Old: Mass Production Clones

Over ten years ago, a heated debate went back and forth over Walmart's presence in my small town. Papers and local shops complained that they would lose the charm that people drive for great distances to experience on our Main Street. The other side claimed it would bring jobs!

More stop lights and cars each day pollute the once walkable streets (and we don't even have it half as bad as other parts of Northern VA). We now have 3 CVSs, a Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Walmart, Staples, Home Depot, 2 Starbucks, rows and rows of postage stamp yards balancing mass constructed homes from Ryan Home and whoever elsemaybe 9 or more banks, probably around 2300 gas stations, Border's, Ruby Tuesday, Longhorn Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse, Applebee's... Blah, blah blah. They all look the same and offer the same damn thing as the store 233 miles away.

Target has the same plastic plates in Sherman Oaks, California as it does here in Fairfax, VA; trust me, I know. Just do a store locater! Applebee's has the same menu here as it does in Lynchburg, VA. Who has something special anymore? Something different? And why do we struggle so in school to be like everyone else? Why can't we celebrate our differences and the things that make us who we are!? What happened to the character and charm of a small town?

This sameness has become comfortable to us. Everything made, from chicken breasts to bedspreads, is a clone of something else. But let me tell you, after working in a restaurant after college, this sameness does not mean you are safer. There are real people cooking those shrimp for you and they are subject to error, and running noses and forgetting to wash their hands, and they might have even eaten off your plate before they took it to your table. And think about it the food before it even gets to the restaurant... how many people touch your food before you put it into your body. You've got a lot of trust, my friend.

So save yourself with the toxic chemicals of Purell. Let's all kill the virus, because we are human and we control things! Alcohol is never the answer.

Our local camera shop in town can't compete with the low low low prices of its corporate competitors. This kind of thing makes me sick. Customers come to them consistently complaining about the quality of photos they had processed at Walmart or Walgreens, and ask for the local shop to help. Unfortunately, the quality was in the developing of the film, and the beloved photos are forever in memory books as cheap, ill-colored messes; all for about 10 cents savings. Take that great-great-grandchildren!

In the midst of this all, I find it intoxicatingly interesting that among all the corporation empires that have taken over the world in the last 30 years, there are now so many little "mom-and-pop" businesses sprouting as home based businesses. So many of my friends are crafters and jewelers on Etsy or free-lance photographers for weddings and portraits. Is the small town entrepreneur uprising our cry out against sameness? Are we now hungry for the quality we once knew? Homemade mashed potatoes and gravy instead of that oh-so-convenient "instant" box?

Are we now tired of the over production and sameness that we see in the common areas of our lives; schools, the office, other people's home? I must saw I am tired of the mass production we consumers are fooled for time and time again. I need quality, not quantity in my life.

Wake up world! Take a look at Lady Gaga. She's different and she's not afraid of it. Okay, you don't have to go that far... but say no to processed foods with no nutritional value that are actually making you fat. Buy something, or better yet make your own, handmade! Don't eat at corporate restaurants! Go antique shopping! Support our the little guys in your hometown... they might even get to know you and give you deals, unlike the workers at a corporate place who can't because of the black and white policies of the corporation.

Do what your 3rd Grade teacher said and, "Dare to be Different".