Traveling across borders at a frequent rate eventually becomes an exercise in observation of different applications, rituals, tastes and ideologies, among many others. Although exceptions to the rule may apply if staying at the same five-star property and ordering the same club sandwich without leaving the hotel room, in each new foreign territory.
Luckily, equivalent to the amount of club sandwich folks are the omnivorous life passengers that subscribe to a different mentality. These travelers, on the contrary, engulf themselves in the local culture, meditate on its subtleties and observe their implications across the board from savings and divorce rates to abortion policies.
In this discovery of social psychology, the easiest way to pinpoint a normcore is to single out an object or a product and study its use.
For instance, it is not by sheer coincidence that dumbbell usage in a gym is lowest per member in Japan, and the highest in the States; or the waste per household is 72% percent less in Copenhagen then in St. Louis. Neither, should, the direct correlation between the number of colorful candy pills sold under a vitamin label, and the percentage of obesity levels in a country, come as a surprise.
As if the unnecessary variety of products in countries like America and its wannabes are not offensive enough, the way in which people are brainwashed to best use them is a matter of ridicule at best. I wonder how many people question the directions on a shampoo bottle to wash their hair twice. At an age where google knows the sex positions we prefer, are we unable to produce a shampoo that can clean our hair at a first go? Where more than half of Indians defecate in their backyard, is it not human duty to stop this madness of lies?
Every time I need a reality check I look at my hands, a shiny coat of red nailpolish that looks good as new after 8 days without the extra dollar spent on each of the extras that includes, yet not limited to, the base cost, the second coat, the topcoat, the dry oil, the infrared machine…all the steps advised on top of the packaging as well as the manicurist.
We have gone from consumers to monsumers, working aimlessly in order to waste our resources, hence our precious time on earth, on things that are not only senseless, but, destructive to our mental, psychological and physical health and happiness. A return to basic common sense in the midst of self destruction is a necessity not a choice.
