[WITI No. 81] $75k for 3", are you part of the culture of what you purchased?, $600 a month for an online girlfriend, a cat does what it wants
hello and welcome to the 81st edition of What is the Information? My weekly writing exercise where I share with you what I’m reading, not too much this week, and what I’m thinking about as I read this stuff. As always, thank you for reading!
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The most interesting read of the week (longish read, 30 min)
How did we get here? Plastic surgery to make you taller? Can you imagine shelling out $75,000 to be just 3” taller? That height cannot be used athletically, its strictly aesthetic. There is research that suggests that taller people earn more. Over a 30 year window, it can be as much $5,500 a year - which isn’t nothing.
I immediately thought of the so-called Napoleon complex where they say Napoleon overcompensated for his short stature by seeking power through war and conquest. You might not know, Small Man or Napoleon complex is a myth. That myth is persistent as hell - the mind worm has drilled though my brain.
This seems like a strictly first-world problem: I perceive that I’m not “X” enough so I use my affluence to fix “X” where X can be height, lack of hair, bust or butt size, or whatever physical feature can be surgically altered. Frankly, I’m ready for the metaverse to happen already - at least, we’ll be at home with testing out these changes instead of doing something irreversible, painful and in some cases deadly.
Is culture jumping the shark?
I was fascinated reading a piece by Tobi Shorin about DTC (direct to consumer) brands and the monetization of different tranches of the subcultures surrounding a lifestyle or product preference. Immediately, I tried to enumerate the brands with which I participate. Since I’m over 35 years old, I tend to look at DTC offers with a jaundiced eye. Subscription models seems to me like a scheme to separate me from my money.
from Tobi’s article…
“Cultures have their own language, objects, and knowledge; their own stories, aesthetics, practices, people, and places that all make sense together in a coherent way. They have behaviors they condone and reward, and behaviors they deem unworthy. And each has its own moral sensibility. “
This reminds me very much of the quote from David Brooks from one of his books, The Social Animal, which inspired the title of this newsletter. "
“The information from hundreds of years ago, we call culture.”
I’m afraid, in the US, we’re starting to live in the long-tail of culture where the groups that share language, objects, knowledge and stories are isolated from each other and are having a harder time finding common ground with those who don’t share those things.
This article paired well with this article entitled Sugar Babies of Stanford by Nicola Buskirk. She tells the story of a women attending Stanford extracting (receiving?) money from male fans who can ill afford to pay for digital companionship. There’s no nudity (or sex) involved the article says. Many men in US have hard life ahead of them with limited economic opportunities without the education needed to harness those opportunities. The distraction apparatus that social media has created has been weaponized now allowing them to think that by paying, they might have a chance with these savvy and upwardly mobile girls.
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I spent a part of my weekend at our local botanical garden - this used to be one of my favorite weekend activities until it turned into an excessive money grab. Where, previously, the garden charged you an entrance/parking fee by the car or van load, $15 or $20, now they are charging non-members individually - that means bringing grandma and grandpa to the garden costs $46 additionally now. The family plan increased from $109 to $149. The other annoyance in visiting is having to show your membership papers to enter - it’s a freaking garden, not Checkpoint Charlie.
I understand inflation and the loss of revenues from corona virus shutdowns but I’m upset at this excess. The garden is a great spot - especially because there is almost zero commercial activity in the garden itself. There’s one spot for buying a drink but that’s it. After paying $149 to restart our membership, I was pleasantly surprised to spend just $15 on a four drinks at the rest area.
Words of the week: Brolic & Satra
This word appeared in the GQ article about leg-lengthening surgery. I’m not a fan of using modern slang in writing but I suppose I’m no longer in the GQ demographic.
This word appeared in a Kyiv Daily article referring to some of the Putin courtiers as satraps. I had to look it up immediately and was not disappointed.
Find of the week: As a cat owner, I found this hysterical…
Prefer to buy a Tesla (and forgo 6 weeks of surgery recuperation) instead? Believe that DTC brands are evidence of your market of one? Perceive Onlyfans as a societal plus? Let me know here…
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That’s all i got this week, have a great week!
-George
No one has what they want. I’m 6’2” and wish I was 5’10.”