if_you_dig_disillusionment somebody Dipperwell suggests you go and peopel watch in a mall. 060228 ... dipperwell Well, (by way of explanation) to me, there is not one redeeming thing about a mall. A bunch of people rushing around impatiently spending lots of money. Tweens squeezing themselves into thongs, starving college girls blowing their loans at brand name shitholes with exposed piping, sweatshop-supporting merchandise as far as the eye can see marked up by 500%, teens making out apathetically on the few benches (stand, it'll make you shop more!) and overenthusiastic salespeople who look at you lovingly, like they can barely stand you. Everyone milling around getting poorer just to have that temporary high of satiation before capitalism swoops down and riddles you with new holes. You can keep it! 060301 ... LS Oh, I don't know...alot of that might be true, but I like the mall. I like to watch people. Young love, family outings, pizza pretzels, asian fast food, the padded play area, the video arcade. I suppose if I was having a bad day I might decide to hate everything about it, especially if I ended up there without wanting to be there. Personnally, though, i don't see much differance between malls and the market places and bazaars(sp?) that we've had for thousands of years. 060301 ... dipperwell I'm not sure that historically people went to those things to make themselves feel better about themselves. But I would say that the overflowing majority of mall-shoppers do. 060301 ... : ( the mall is a great place to spot zombies. 060301 ... Ptolemy DCLVIII The malls contain all of the above "society", and much more, no? At the mall, I always am amazed by the varied vibes I get after making eye contact with miscellaneous persons (or not making eye-contact, for that matter). Now and then I see another person who appears as skeptical of the social-wart-upon-the-collective-unconscious-developing-via-the-mall as am I. Yet there, at the mall, we be. I must note that I found myself much happier when I became very particular about things, and began selecting my environments with greater care. Apathy to one's surroundings - a fast track to misery, if you ask me... the apathy soon cedes to unpleasant disillusionment when one realizes one has preferences that have been suppressed. 060301 ... michael so the teens make out "apathetically" these days? 060301 ... dipperwell Yes, like they are only doing it like that for their audience. 060302 ... michael that's an interesting observation, but i doubt it. most public displays of affection are done with awareness of an audience, whether or not those public displays are made at malls and whether or not the participants are teens. also, i think some if not all teens make out and even have sex with a certain self consciousness that is absent in older individuals to whom such acts are not a relative novelty. audience awareness and self consciousness in public displays of affection do not denote apathy, however. i am not a teen anymore, but as a teenager i never once remember feeling indifferent toward a make-out session, especially one pursued in public. then again, i never made out on a mall bench. 060302 ... dipperwell I think it is something in their eyes. 060302 ... no reason oh, stop with it already you've got the wrong fucking person 060303 ... dipperwell I'm sorry... 060303 ... no reason no no, not you. 060303 ... michael but that's just it though. i think you're misreading their eyes if you really believe that. the irony of teens is that they look bored while experiencing intense, hormone-induced mood swings. this is not to say that teens aren't prone to apathy, but making out is not one of those things teens are typically apathetic about. 060303 ... derrikk sometimes the teens are making out at the mall for attention i know it because not so long ago i was a teen who went to the mall w/ my gf and we made out for attention lots of times. were exibitonist. we liked it though at least i did. 060304 what's it to you? who go blather from