The Truth about Golden Brown

The Truth about Golden Brown
And other, great, All-American, lies

Pictures are everywhere, of everything. You can’t turn on a television, open a magazine, or drive down the freeway without seeing them. They come in all shapes, all sizes, and leave no stone unturned. You can see perfect hair, ‘The Worlds Greatest Cheeseburger’, a smiling, happy looking, and mostly toothless children, smiling about beating cancer. They’re all quite well meaning in their designation. They’re advertisements for business, for a better tomorrow, for a world where meat really is perfect when it sits under a heat lamp for three hours, stewing in water lettuce.

The problem kicks up when we apply these models to the immediate, to the here and now – which is really only natural when we’re inundated with it from just about every conceivable angle. We expect anything and everything to be exactly as we envision it and we’re trained not to look too deep or too hard, at just what it is we’re consuming.  It’s a cosmetic cover up that, in its own way, is really a black spot on every day that starts off with a Ludovico Treatment.

It drove little Alex crazy, and how’re we any different? It’s a vicious cycle. We truss up the truth, treating it like a cheap and useless whore in some New Jersey back alley, and then we all take turns stranding in line to train it, the whole mad scene ending like some hideous snuff film. It’s enough to make you sick if you stare at it long enough and it’s powerful enough to render you helpless as a deer in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler. All you can do is close your eyes, wish you’re a kangaroo, and try and jump out of the way.

It’s also a large part of the reason why I see so many disheartened faces around me. We’re not reinforcing any kind of ethic about achievement. People used to work for these things, to take steps to see the right thing, or at least the thing that they wanted, come to light. It’s become all ‘Now Now Now’, and if it’s not, then ‘Why Bother?’ We’re just animals in the zoo, doing clever little parlor tricks to great treats from the cosmic handler. If the immediate gratification isn’t there, then it’s not worth the trip.

I know these are general, blanket, statements, and that they don’t apply to everyone. For the sake of perspective seeming fair I will say that I know a lot of hard workers. I know people who are willing to stretch out the extra mile, dragging themselves over the finish line with their fingernails if they have to, and who do on a continuous basis.

That doesn’t change the fact that there are those among us, and they’re not small in numbers, who are using these models of perfection as a sense of what is – and they’re truly starting to suffer for it. It’s the Golden Brown lie of The American Dream. Everything is evenly toasted, everything is ripe, everything is perfect, and all you have to do is reach out and take. Nobody’s going to mind. Nobody’s going to stop you. There’s plenty of it for everyone.

It’s another great picture that, unfortunately, is just as much a fake. We’re not in a land of limitless opportunity; we’re not in a fair, free, or just land, not now. We’re still plugging away at putting up billboards, milestones of achievement to prove to each and every American roadster that it’s really not as bad as it seems. There’s hardly enough work for everyone, we’re all struggling, and yet we’ve bullshitted everyone into a sense of complacency about it all, like it’s all okay.

            If we’re going to start allowing that kind of drug to be hand crafted and spoon fed to us, then why not open up the flood gates and let it all just hang out? We’re consumers by social design in this country. We’re designed to consume everything, so why put limits on it now? Those perfectly airbrushed pictures on the front of all our food packaging would be a whole lot more appealing if we had more than a diluted hope to season it with.

            These kind of pretty packages and perfect images are really the hallmarks of American Society now. Everything, and I mean everything, is perfect. If it’s not, then don’t look at it. If you’re not, deny it. Imperfections, the things that are wrong, are only fit to be seen in dark rooms through pin holes in the blanket over your head. They’re not meant to be scrutinized, because they’re just not the way it is, and when we start looking at the cracks? Well, that’s when the whole damn thing falls apart.

            It’s in these dark and desperate times, when the veil is stretched so thin it threatens to snap, you can almost count on more carrots tied to strings. Televisions will be littered with celebrity problems; things that make your own life look calm and simple in comparison. Drug pushers will hit their desks hard, doling out prescriptions of anti-depressants like they’re candy and Halloween is right around the corner, and, of course, cigarette and alcohol prices will rise. It’s the tax on escapism that diverts you into something else to be upset about – rather than the fact you’re being lied to.

            It’s sleight of mind Magic, and no one’s immune to it. All the meat is perfectly seared, juicy, and sweet, perfectly seasoned and proportionately packaged for you. You believe it because it makes sense, because they tell you that’s the way it is, and as soon as you take that first bite, before you even have time to process what you’re chewing? It’s a train wreck of flashing images, of funny American families overcoming the hardships of adolescence and dealing with the Uncle, who everyone knew was gay, coming out of the closet.

            Chew your food in front of the television and don’t think about what you might be eating. Fast food restaurants everywhere will thank you for your patronage. Corporations everywhere will salute you for your patriotism, they’ll throw ticker tape parades and let you wave from the back of the limousine. Children and Adults alike will love you. You’ll have friends because you have cable T.V...

And, above all else, you love what is you’re swallowing.