Toe Tag Diary
An Existential Question
Today's PotlatchFestooned with a cornucopia of photographs depicting a bevy of middle-aged, tummy tucking white people, the Sun-Sentinel’s weekly Society Scene represents a truly unique metaphor of South Florida’s value system.
Basically because Society Scene captures a remarkable array of rictus-grinning folk celebrating themselves for the camera at various “gala events” for those able to waste dollars raising spare change for socially acceptable and politically correct local charities.
Which, as any serious student of Anthropology well knows, is South Florida’s answer to the Potlatch festivals of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest – where members of tribes like the Kwakwaka’wakw gained social status by giving away blankets, baskets, dried fish, and woodpecker scalps.
However…
Possibly the most telling metaphor of the social dynamics at work in the Sun-Sentinel’s Society Scene can be found in the ads featured in the publication.
For example, in this week’s issue (9/28/2011) of Society Scene we find ads promoting:
Top dollar paid for old gold – page 2
“Lose up to 30 pounds in 30 days for $30” – page 8
$595 Dental Crown “Recession Buster”– page 9
“Nose Job Rhinoplasty $2,900” – page 15
“Botox $139” – page 15
Toenail fungus $250 treatment – page 23
“Dental Implants Change Lives” – page 31
“Ugly Spider of Varicose Veins?” – page 32
Which begs an existential question:
Why would anyone gain a sense of status by appearing in a publication hustling discount nose jobs and a cure for toe fungus?
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