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I shop at Whole Foods all the time. I mean, they are at the corner of several major subway stops — they are inevitably always where I’m getting off the train: glowing, incandescent, irresistible. I have an Amazon Prime card, which gives me something like 5% off on all purchases. How can I resist? Why would I resist! It’s so shiny and easy and there’s always chill indie music playing and I can get a butter coffee and bone broth and other trendy foods I like to eat. I’m on my way to becoming a lifetime customer; a quantum-sized cash generator for Amazon — who I will assuredly give a massive portion of my lifetime earnings.
I can only think of Kierkegaard:
A revolutionary age is an age of action; ours is the age of advertisement and publicity. Nothing ever happens but there is immediate publicity everywhere. In the present age a rebellion is, of all things, the most unthinkable. Such an expression of strength would seem ridiculous to the calculating intelligence of our times. On the other hand a political virtuoso might bring off a feat almost as remarkable. He might write a manifesto suggesting a general assembly at which people should decide upon a rebellion, and it would be so carefully worded that even the censor would let it pass. At the meeting itself he would be able to create the impression that his audience had rebelled, after which they would all go quietly home — having spent a very pleasant evening.
