New Yorkers have an uncanny way of fetishizing things.
When Rudy Giuliani became mayor of New York City, one of his first orders of business was to clean up the town. Part of his plan was to get rid of all the smut that lingered near Times Square and its environs. Soon, out went the dirty toy stores, strips clubs and the nudie bars. If you had a weird fetish you had to take your business over to Ninth Avenue, where the zoning laws weren't so strict.
What Guiliani didn't realize is that even the most straight-edged New Yorker will always find something to fetishize. In fact, as a city, we're pretty good at turning ordinary objects and pastimes into downright obsessions.
The first thing that comes to mind whenever I think of a strange, non-sexual fetish is the iPod. These little plastic cases that cost hundreds of dollars have become a necessary accessory. Nowadays almost everyone has one slung around his or her neck. Apple has found a way to make people not just want their products, but need their products. Sure, you could listen to your tunes on a CD player, but then you won't have the little white player, nestled in your coat pocket, giving even the most grizzled old man instant street cred.
And let's not forget the hipster. Back in 2003 it seemed that everyone wanted to bash on the poor little hipster. It started with the publication of The Hipster Handbook and quickly spiraled into websites such as IHateHipsters.com. The trucker hat became the troubled symbol of this group, who as far as I could tell were often just musicians and other sorts of artists who lived in concentrated (read: inexpensive) areas and had a predilection for indie rock.
Why all the hate? Or better yet, all the attention? I was once told that when you dislike someone, it's because you have the same qualities that you dislike in that person. Following that logic, do all the haters wish they were living in converted factory lofts with three roommates and a useless liberal arts degree? And if hipsters were such loathsome creatures, with their art shows and their emo music, why did Urban Outfitters insist on designing all their clothes in an effort to target them?
New York has always had a long tradition of amazing food, and many a tourist has come to this fair city to try the cuisine in Little Italy or at 21 or Nobu or any of the other thousands of restaurants. What fascinates me is the way people take their food so seriously. I've never doubted the existence of foodies, people who are truly fascinated by the act of sitting down and having a meal, of savoring every bite and flavor. What amazes me is that pages upon pages are dedicated to food in even the most pedestrian magazines such as Time Out New York or New York, allowing your average Park Slope mother to recite the highlights of the entrees at Per Se.
Hell, even the blog has achieved its own cult status. What was just the hobby of a few bored and possibly unemployed hipsters a few years ago has become its own big business. Weblogs. Inc was sold to AOL a month or so ago, and Gawker also agreed to a development deal with Yahoo! to feed some if its content to the popular search engine.
Blogs have even become mildly controversial in the workplace, since people are actually getting fired for writing them and contributing to them. A few years ago, firms started making new employees sign confidentiality agreements, perhaps to stop them from writing juicy books a la The Devil Wears Prada. What they didn't bank on then was a surge of blogs. Those little online diaries seemed so harmless a few years ago. Who knew they would eventually spawn book deals and possibly trump celebrity weekly magazines?
When anthropologists study our culture hundreds of years from now, I'm sure our society will paint a curious picture. Here was a highly educated, sophisticated group that lived in relative harmony despite a lack of space and constant noise. But just as we don't understand everything that the pharaohs did with their pyramids, will anyone ever be able to give an explanation as to why dishes of nouveau cuisine and plastic music boxes became the objects of our affection? I doubt it.
Dispatches from NYC is a bi-weekly commentary on America's largest city and its impact on the wider world.
