Blog #2: Definitions

Oswalt defines nerd, geek, and otaku as terms of the past.  He said 30 years ago, he may have been referred to as a nerd, but those terms don’t exist anymore.  Otaku means people who “have obsessive, minute interests”, and they live in their own worlds.  Oswalt defines these terms to prove his point that no one is really a geek anymore, or everyone is a geek.  In the 80’s, he says he had his own obsessions and everyone had their own little obsession to look forward to the new issue or episode of.  Today, because of technology, everything is available online.  Popular culture is everything, there’s no popular, no nerd, no athlete; its just all popular things.  There’s nothing that’s strictly your obsession anymore, because you can find millions of people who enjoy the same thing. 

            I think Oswalt’s main point is that there is no “nerd” anymore.  Either nerd doesn’t exist, or everyone is a nerd.  Even when the definition of nerd was being obsessed with something like Star Wars, he makes the point that someone that loves Desperate Housewives has the exact same obsession, just with something different.  So would that make someone who watched Desperate Housewives a nerd?  Oswalt has to define the term nerd because he talks about otaku and how he just wishes it were still around for his daughter to experience her own obsession and be individual instead of liking what everyone else enjoys.  Geekiness in Oswalt’s opinion has definitely become normal. 

            Supermarket Pastoral is the depiction on the labels at whole food supermarkets.  Everyone buying there feels better about himself or herself already for shopping at a Whole Foods supermarket, so the depictions on the label make them feel even better.  Pollan says the labels offer the consumer a visual pastoral that seems perfect.  For example, the one label about cows stated that they live “free from unnecessary fear and distress”, unlike a regular grocery store that just states the name and price of the milk.  The shoppers gain a visual, also known as the supermarket pastoral, of cows grazing grass and living a wonderful stress-free life.  But, are the cows really living a stress-free life or are they just saying that to make you buy the milk?  Pollan is talking about this supermarket pastoral as fooling the customers, and making them buy their product instead of another company’s.  Organic culture is becoming more and more popular, Pollan states that the organic industry is an “$11 billion industry and it’s the fastest growing sector in the food economy.”