for 03 december 07

The aspect of why people live in New York City is probably the most interesting thing in the writing from Baudrillard. I love the statement, "There is no human reason to be here, except for the sheer ecstasy of being crowded together." It is just as appalling as the statement in the film "shortbus" that say that young people only come to New York is because of 9/11; so that they can feel alive. I refuse to believe that New York is filled with a life of people that have no sole purpose to be here except to feel the crowded nature of a city. I can swear to you now that the youth in this city did not move from thousands of miles away to feel crowded. People come for many things, the simple opportunities, the wind through tall buildings that some have never felt before, the snow in central park that many have never touched or felt or seen. The labels that have been instilled to many for as long as they can remember, can be disintegrated with the face paced life of being anonymous in the city that doesn't do napping. The "magical sensation" that Baudrillard talks about is not from the feeling of living around so much, it's from living around everything you could ever want, the problem for some is just grasping at the dream that lives outside their door.