At the grocery store there are about twelve kinds of 
orange juice. You got your “Super Healthy,” you got 
your “Kids Love It,” you got your “Fat Free,” “Extra 
C,” “No Pulp,” “Extra Pulp,” “Medium Pulp,” “Double 
Pulp,” “Low Pulp,” “Home Style,” “Country Style” 
and “ORIGINAL.” I can’t drink any of them without 
getting an allergic reaction. But, if I squeeze an 
orange into a glass, I can drink glass after glass of 
orange juice.
There is a store at the mall which sells thrift store 
clothes at $30 a piece. For the purposes of this 
piece, I’m going to call it “Aberration & Filth.” 
Don’t get me wrong. I am very much into the layered, 
faded and torn look. But, isn’t there something 
incredibly illogical when a brand uses nudity to 
advertise clothing? One has to be over 18 just to get 
a peek at their two inch mass of catalogue. Aberration 
& Filth’s advertising strategies may be illogical, yet 
they are frightfully effective.
So, I went into the grocery store looking for oranges, 
and I went to the thrift store to buy clothes. I was 
bombarded by a barrage of: EXPANSION! CONVENIENCE! 2 
FOR 1! EXTRA! BONUS BUY! HEALTHY! VALUE! SUPER! 
FASTER! BETTER! LESS HASSLE! IMPROVED! EASIER! NEW! 
NOW! BUY IT! BUY IT! BUY IT! Well, I got my healthy 
oranges and I got my socially acceptable clothing. I 
went home, and turned on my various electronic 
connections to the world. I was promptly informed that 
all that I owned still wasn’t enough to make me an 
adequate human being.
They say young people are confused, without goals, 
clueless, reckless and incomplete. They say young 
people are out of control because we have no sense of 
purpose or direction. Here is my question: How is a 
young person supposed to feel a sense of purpose when 
the only purpose society creates for us is to buy? And 
buy?