So, this one image brings up so many talking points that I don't think that I can even express them all in one blog. This pretty much says it all. This is America, people. This is where we have gotten ourselves.
On the one hand, we have poverty and hunger and awful conditions going on right here in what many would consider the most successful country in the world. The amount food we have access to in this country is ridiculous, yet we still have people that are hungry? I DO NOT understand this.
We have corporations that do not care. They literally sell something that could save people's lives (before it eventually kills them). These billboards could cancel each other out. But instead, these chains just present a bunch of different options that are all terrible. Make sure you try our 'petite Mac'. It only costs you the price of a barrel of oatmeal that could be breakfast for a couple of hungry kids for a week. AND it'll clog your arteries a little bit slower than the Gigant-O Mac. But you should probably get the big one. Bigger is better. America.
Oh, and while you're here, donate to Ronald McDonald House. We give a penny to hungry kids right after we throw out all of the shit food that no one dared to eat today. Gotta make sure those hungry kids are in your mind while you shovel grease down you gullet. Guilt! Shame! Instant Gratification! Corporatization! McDs!
Don't get me wrong. I love me some McDonalds. I'm part of the problem. And that's why we can't really blame McDonald's. They have survived in an enviornment that allows them to. They are just here to make some burgers (the cheapest way possible, don't worry about local farmers or products, whatever) and make some money. As long as that's the priority, some of these things will never change. As long as the businesses that we hold up see us as consumers rather than customers, as commodities to be fought over and won rather than people with lives and choices, they're not going to change the game. They are winning. WE have to change the game. We have to remember the idea that burgers and money are both awful and shouldn't be a thing at all anymore. I'll start. I love both burgers and money, but I'm going to stop worring about them.... soon. Just let me finish this itty-bitty Mac. I paid good money for this.*
And the apathy. O lord, the apathy. Did no one but me notice, or care, about the unintentional (?) hilarity of this pairing? Holy shit. this is not a meme. I took this picture. This is down the street from Em's house. Did the workers who put up these billboards care so little that they didn't even pass along a message to the management about what was happening here? How bad this looks? Or does everyone think that it is hilarious as I do? I hope that we are all laughing because I know that I am laughing. Someone involved with ONE of these billboards has to have seen it by now, and they've been there for a while. Is this a weird attempt at some kind of social commentary? If so, bravo. You've got me thinking. But if it is what I think it is, which is just America being disgusting.... well, also bravo. Nice job.
*Mcdonalds did actually report a slowing in sales last year for the first time in their history. So things ARE changing. Slowly.
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