Proving A Point

As some of you know, I'm something of a sucker for truckers. And by that, I mean trucker hats, of course. So when I recently stumbled upon this limited edition argyle meshback created in collaboration by the design crews at Spiked Punch and Evil Monito, I decided to splurge on what, I believed, for certain, would not be scouted about town, adorning the crowns of the local hipster gentry. The last time I bought a scarf, for example, I ran into another person wearing it within minutes of leaving the shop where I'd picked it up.

To my surprise, when my hat arrived this afternoon, the following essay by Ricky Kim (editor of Evil Monito) was printed on one of the box's panels:

Mao is indeed a good friend of ours, and that there's probably a little of Mao in all of us. That's right folks, you can forget about Blue Eyes and all that jazz, the real Chairman is Mao and will always be Mao. Now before you get antsy and decide that you happened unto some clandestine anti-capitalist-red-in-disguise socialist movement, let me be loud and clear when I say that I'm not a Communist and Mao is not my great-grandfather (although the similarities are striking). So why ramble about Mao you ask? Well I believe that if Mao were still around and looked at our globalized culture, he would be convinced that everyone was his comrade minus the green uniforms. And from looking at the reality that surrounds us today where anyone and everyone is a commodity, it's no surprise he would conclude so.

We're living at a time when the term "individuality" is being defined not by actual individuals, but by large conglomerate corporations seeking to capitalize on anything that promises hefty revenues. Corporate titans are swift in employing their advertising strong arms to grab ahold of untapped viable markets, resulting in the "I'm a believer-of-self" demographic, the people who claim to be at the forefront of what's hip, the "alpha consumer" as often labeled by economists; a title which one should discard rather than proudly tote, as irony is riddled within. Yet this is just the beauty of it, the society that we inhabit today frankly could care less that we are consumerist driven, one mob in unison for kapitalism in the taking. And to think this is all coming from a group of people who haven't even touched Mao's little red book is astounding.

If Mao were only alive, I'm sure he would rest easy, waking each day overlooking the towering skyscrapers from his red carpeted pad with one hand behind his back and the other over his brow, smiling in that broad iconic expression convinced that his "great plan" finally was realized. Of course Mao wouldn't need to remind everyone of his success, let alone we have spin doctor firms who churn bundles of propaganda per day. With information being dispensed at levels of expediency as never before, often times we are inundated with decisions leaving us restless and helpless as to the mode of life we should exercise.

It's a shame that Mao had to go before he saw the world today. But then again, maybe it's for the better since it's never too healthy to have a leader of cultural awakening to exist alongside a pool of ready applicants for conformity. In the past McCarthyism thrived upon just such circumstances, and thank goodness McCarthy isn't around to see the conditions of our working democracy today. Otherwise we would all find ourselves heading toward the courtrooms in hoards condemned of practicing "un-American" ethics. And the scary thing is, this time the Senator wouldn't be completely off his rocker. Let's face it, we're residing amidst cultural revolution where the majority of its participants don't even know they're involved. It's the kind of scenario which would make any socialist father proud.

I'd like to return your attention to the second paragraph, which notes that capitalists thrive upon "untapped viable markets," and thus seek to commodify the cultural trends advanced by those "at the forefront of what's hip." These individuals are known as "alpha consumers," which the author states is "a title [...] one should discard rather than proudly tote, as irony is riddled within."

Yes, well, speaking of being riddled with irony, I find it just a tad ironic that a limited edition hat, created by in-crowd designers, would be packaged along with an essay which, essentially lectures the consumer for being such a sucker for buying the hat. It's like saying, "You asshole, you so fell for it. Limited edition my ass! You just wanted to be the coolest kid on the block. You bought into that alpha consumer shit, hook, line and sinker. In your oblivious state, you are your own worst enemy." Man, talk about alpha-hipsters (a title once bestowed upon me by Open Ground's co-curator, Patrick May, in response to my anti-hipster trucker hat collection)!

I'd say I've learned a lesson from this experience, but I'm just as confused as ever. Clearly, Evil Monito isn't a glorpish corporation; but still, they are appealing to the consumer's individuality to market their product, by offering it in a limited edition and trumping up that fact by stating that "it is in extremely limited distribution of 10 hats available per select city," which screams, "yes, be one of 10 people in your entire city of 8,000,000 to own this hat!" Well, what the fuck? You package that product along with a statement that makes us both look like assholes! I'm guilty of buying the hat, and EM's guilty of marketing it. Well, fuckin' a. Will the paradoxes never cease? I can see the fnords! I can see the fnords!