Blog #2- Geeks and the Supermarket Pastoral

         In his essay “Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die” Patton Oswalt examines the words “geek,” “nerd,” and “otaku” to prove that while their definitions have not changed significantly over the years, they have an entirely different role in society today than ever before. Oswalt describes an “otaku,” “nerd,” or “geek” as someone who has an interest, and even obsession, with something that is completely unknown or unpopular to most people. He defines these terms, with numerous examples, to show how in today’s time everyone has interests that used to be called “nerdy.” However, these quirks in people today are so common that the term geek isn’t used to describe them like it used to. Oswalt illustrates his point by saying that in the 1980s he himself was considered a nerd, but today, even though his interests and personality haven’t changed greatly, he isn’t considered one. 

         In my opinion, I think he is totally off-base with his analysis of the geek over the past few decades. To me, being a geek or nerd has nothing to do with a secret obsession because we all have them, no matter how far back in history you go. Rather, it’s what your secret interest is. In the eighties most people were just as obsessed with popular, trivial details as they are today. The curveball is that those geeky habits of the past are now popular today, and the old ones have been simply been replaced. In the end, there are still “nerds” in today’s society, making his argument void.

          Supermarket Pastoral, in the author’s eyes, is a literary genre composed of the rhetoric used by marketers and advertisers of “organic” foods in supermarkets like Whole Foods. The sentences describing the foods and their paths to the shelves are eloquent and conjure images of wild produce raised on sprawling farms. This type of literature even has, “the hero (American Family Farmer), and the villain (Agribusinessman.”) Pollan explains that this genre is utilized to steer the consumer into believing their higher prices are being used to ensure the happiness and freedom of animals everywhere.

         Pollan is talking about Supermarket Pastoral not because it really intrigues him how groceries market their foods, but because of what it represents. The literature used by Whole Foods is what sells the product, not the product itself. People cannot see the farms, or animals, or conditions in which they live. However the words, tone, pathos, and glowing definitions, are all used to illustrate a magical dream farm in the consumers’ minds. This is important to the piece because as the author continues to explain, what the store is depicting, and what is really happening, are two very different things. Rather than raised on beautiful local farms, the produce is mass-generated on “industrial farms,” the same industrial farms that organic food was supposed to stop. However, the brilliant descriptions and lovely posters triumph over the farce that is organic foods and go on to create another multi-billion dollar industry.