05 March 2010

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Really, when it came right down to it, it was the pizza that reminded you that something was outta place.

Cold winter day, the kind where it seems the sky can't decide if it wants to let off a little snow or not. Every now and then it hesitantly drops a few flakes, testing the situation before deciding no, not yet. Greys dominate; everything hashed out in charcoal, with the palest of pastels managing to slip through.

Not an ugly day really, all things considered. Not the kind you'd see in a postcard, not the kind you wake up to with a yawn and a smile and a little extra bounce in your step. But not that bad either. You had to give them that. There was nothing you could put your finger on directly and say there, that's it, that's what's off.

Everything except, perhaps, the pizza.

I don't know what it is about the pizza that makes it stand out for me. Maybe others notice it. Maybe others have their own 'pizza.' If they do, they don't talk about it.

That's probably for the best.

Regardless.

I say I don't know but I do have a running theory. I figure it's one of those sum-of-all-parts kinda things. Say you have some cheese. Good sharp cheddar or stringy mozzarella. Now, take away just a little bit of what it is that makes that cheese the cheese you go for. Maybe the milk's watered down a bit more, maybe it's not aged as long, I don't know. I'm no food scientist here. Point being, corners get cut. Get cut without anybody really alerting you to it. You pick up a bar or a bag, you try a little and think hmm, not the best batch, but good enough. Next bag's the same. Soon this new sub-standard becomes the baseline. You can't tell the difference.

Now apply that effect to, say, deli meats. Pepperoni for the sake of argument. And produce. Tomatoes perhaps, pineapple if you're feeling daring. Taken individually you can't tell much difference. Add them all together though......Something's gotta be missing. This just isn't the way pizza was.

The cold and the lack of colors follow me into my apartment, as do the remains of my subpar pizza. TV's still on, sitting on a chair in the kitchen corner, image slightly snowy. I figure some of the neighbors are stealing cable; I can't really work up enough energy to care. If they want to watch their shows so badly I'm not going to begrudge them. Not like there's much variety lately anyway. I toss the pizza box onto a shelf, edge coming to rest against the curling faux-wood top.

President's speaking again on all the channels, which isn't really anything new in and of itself. Like an election year, only that was last year. But those times, you got used to seeing politicians on half the available channels. Didn't matter how high in the thousands your sattelite dish let you reach.

Still, when the President's speeches are pre-empting shows on ESPN or The Cooking Network or whatever, it's one of the few other times you're blatantly reminded of the changes taking place.

George Orwell got it wrong. Newspeak wasn't the future. You couldn't control people by 'restricting' their ability to express complex, 'thoughtcrime' ideas. You couldn't create a language of purity, lacking subtext or implications. You could not control the masses in that manner.

Politicians and linguists had that figured out long ago.

Makes sense, looking at things now.

Anyway, quite the opposite proved to be true. How long have people railed against political doublespeak? Your common everyday city board chairman knew just enough to sound suspicious, before 'Nine On Your Side Local News Investigative Reporting' would discover his insider trading, unsavory connections, and transsexual mistresses. National-level guys were a bit better at the game, able to make nebulous, easier-to-reach-than-they-sound promises that kept their base happy.

But none had ever been as good as this guy here. Newspeak is a dull butterknife next to the precision instrument that was his speechwriting. Democrats, Republicans, athiests, Southern Baptists, white, black, male, female, you could throw any and all people into a room, play one of his speeches, and 75-90% of those people would say they were being spoken to directly; their needs at the forefront of the speaker's concerns.

There's power in the flexible word and no one person had put that to use quite as well as our President. He has the nation convinced that what's going on is in everybody's individual best interests.

I'd believe it myself, listening to him now, if it weren't for this damn pizza.

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