A Place Just Like Every Other Place. Only Not.
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 8.08
"Kenneth Fry is the president of Scenic America, and organization that works to preserve and enhance the visual character of America's communities. The visual pollution they try to address can be found almost anywhere, including places like Beltsville, Laurel, and Prince George's County, Maryland." -and he is incredibly persuasive in this video from the New York Times
It was part of an article by Dan Barry on a trip he took with Fry and photographer Ángel Franco.
"To the left, the Wendy’s, like a gingerbread house from a child’s nightmare. To the right, the Burger King, like a highway restroom that sells hamburgers. And everywhere, the billboards and neon, the strip malls and parking lots, urging us to look here, here, no here, drive up, drive thru and, remember, drive safely."
"Quite often, though, the two of us find ourselves forging through familiar and hideous commercial stretches that all but dare us to guess the state we are in. True, it can be comforting to know that up ahead there must be, there has to be, a Subway sandwich shop. But why are these stretches almost uniformly ugly, so much so that most of us have conditioned ourselves not to notice?" ::New York Times
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"But why are these stretches almost uniformly ugly, so much so that most of us have conditioned ourselves not to notice?"
We ignore the ugliness created by coal plants, uranium depleted shells, and chain saws. Ignoring kitschy strip malls and fast food restaurants isn't so hard in comparison.
If I had to spend a day in a White Castle or in the White House, which would cause my stomach to turn more? Hmmm . . . I think I'll have to go with option #2. White Castle's toilets are dirtier, but at least I wouldn't risk getting waterboarded in one of them.