Exiled to Suburbia

The suburbs are human farms. Quite literally, considering they often occupy land which formerly would have been used to raise crops. So why else would we have come to accept the re-assignment of this valuable, fertile land for what seems like such a waste of space? Are we to gather from this that it is far more lucrative to plant families in neat rows one by one for acres and acres than it is to plant wheat or rice?

The irrationality of suburbia does not stop here. No, starving half the world's population so we can have a nice, safe and quiet place to sleep after coming home from work in the city is only a fraction of the havoc wreaked by the unnatural order of suburbia.

When we see the highways stalled at rush-hour for miles in every direction filled with idling cars, it is because the working class have gained a placation for their comforts. This is one of the only 'improvements' on the evils of the purer Capitalism of yore. Instead of having to live in the midst of the clutter and filth that our industrialized world has created, or being faced with actually having to change things from the very root of the problem we are alloted a high enough wage to buy an automobile and a small 'carpet-sample' of a yard to maintain. This gives us the mere illusions of mobility and of a connection to nature. However, we are still chained to the machine.

There is no logic to the lifestyles of the suburbanites. It's baffling that everyone feels the need to own a heavy-duty, gas-powered lawn mower and snow blower when each house only has a small area of a few square feet to tend. Am I crazy for questioning this? Is this such a huge afront to the individuality of the residents to suggest they perhaps buy those old fashioned push-powered lawn mowers with the rotating blades, or even pool resouces in order to share a single machine between a small number of neighbours?

These statements likely will fall on deaf ears. For, they are drowned out by the many angsty misguided pop-punk-emo-new-metal bands who can't deny the horrid state of the suburbs, but market their music to the teens of suburbia. Though, they never delve much deeper than the surface level of malaise. Capitalizing on social problems is a multi-billion dollar industry after all; so why would anyone encourage change?