On the road to concur.

I am drinking coffee, but I am longing for a glass of orange flavored soda, so I think I will pour the coffee down the drain and get out a tall glass and ice cubes. I have treated my mind to caffeine, and now it's time to treat my body to something cold and bubbly. I think I'm sufficiently activated to think straight and to be in a good enough mood, so now it is of the utmost importance to take care of the physical needs. My thirst is overwhelming and I feel a huge need for something sweet and carbonated.

 

Plain old water would never fulfill me, although if I lived in a barren desert with only one oasis in sight, I would appreciate a cold drink of water very much. The accident of my birth has determined that I don't, and I get to go to the refrigerator and get out the drink of my choice. I do live a luxurious life. Actually, when it really comes down to it, I wouldn't mind a Bailey's Irish Cream on the rocks, but I have not stocked up on that, so I have to forego that pleasure. Besides, except for the great taste of Bailey's, getting high on alcohol is not a high priority right now.

 

The Campina Dairy campaign would have us believe that the whole world is waiting to drink milk from cows that have grazed on the green grass of Frisian meadows. The world's population suddenly has to turn into dairy consumers and also learn how to eat cheese, please. There is a Campina commercial on television that I know is made for the Asian and Arabic market. This comes at a time when many of us have come to the realization that grown ups don't really need to drink cow milk and that many people develop a lactose intolerance when they grow older. Go figure. How to create an artificial need.

 

We try to westernize the rest of the world so we will have a market for our products, but also to make those people more like us, so we can accept them more easily. We try to remake them in our image. Capitalism has no respect for culture or boundaries, be they personal or regional. The Netherlands has always been a nation of traders, that's how we always got our wealth. Socialism has been a pleasant side effect of that, because at least nationally, people did have a conscious.

 

It was also our Calvinism that made us care for our fellow citizens, but if we colonized a foreign place, it was mostly to make money out of it and not at all to be of a great social influence. Our concern was with what profit we could make.

 

I went into the little Arabic market around the corner and looked in vain for milk. The idea had not caught on yet.