The McDonaldization of Society

After reading Naomi Klein's latest opinion piece, "Geoengineering: Testing the Waters", I started thinking about the night I saw the little bandit. 

It was dark. I was headed towards the campus library. I did not expect to see him: a raccoon, crunched near a garbage-can eating remnants of a left over McDonald's meal.

courtesy of clker.com

When people saw him, they started snapping pictures. Perhaps, they intended to show the world. Look what I saw! Look what I saw! Even raccoons like Mickey D's! And that was tragic. This wild animal was familiar with our garbage, dependent on it for a meal.

The natural diet of a raccoon is berries, acorns, apples, corn, cherries and so on. But these foods are not readily available for the "suburban raccoon". Therefore, this creature resorts to foods that we leave behind. This includes high-cholesterol fatty treats. Still, this is not the most nutritious diet. Urban growth has destroyed this raccoon's natural habitat and diet. Now, our bad eating habits are influencing the look of the food chain. 

After photos were taken and the last shriek of surprise was screamed, everyone walked away. Everyone expect for him. He was still snacking for survival, but on his unsustainable diet, how long will he survive? 

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion." - Henry David Thoreau

images created by melissa fockler 2012

Stop It before It Starts: Bullying

The schoolyard is a site of struggle: a space where "the bully (the powerful) learns to subordinate and exclude "the other" (the powerless).  

Why has bullying become the norm? 

I had my first contact with bullying when I was in elementary school. I say, "contact with bullying" because it was common for my classmates to throw garbage at me and push me into bushes that were planted on school grounds. I was tossed about and picked on so often that even my teachers turned a blind-eye. No one spoke up for me and I was taught not to speak-up for myself. Don't rock the boat, so-to-speak. With more and more teen suicides due to bullying, it is time to speak-up against bullying. It is time to undo the silence. 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

       Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- 

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

- Martin Niemöller

I have been told not to take what people say so personally--that I need to "grow thicker skin". But, why is this? Why is a victim of bullying expected to consent to emotional (and physical) abuse? It's time we (as global citizens) started rocking the boat and reclaimed our right to "freedom, justice and peace".  

"We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far." -- Swami Vivekananda

                 

Photos taken by melissa fockler 2012