Living Out Loud

Abstract

The term consumer culture is thrown about with relative ease these days, but it is our appetite for deconstruction that is most voracious. We have developed a tendency to break the issues of our time—and our time is precious—into the simplest, handiest terms and phrases and ideas. Now, an argument that can fit in your pocket does travel well, but constant snacking on sound bites can leave us with a real mess on our hands, especially when, seeking clarity, we have carved away the nuances of an issue as a whole. Even worse, pockets full, we may forget that we have pulled the world into a puzzle of our own design, and that the cuts, made for the sake of convenience, are actually quite arbitrary. We then may assume that the world falls to pieces of its own accord, and find ourselves standing idly by, wondering at the rumble.