New Poll at left--please vote!

I've created a poll that you can see on the left hand side. I don't clamor for any of these things, but some people really do don't they, because that's how they get bought.

People like things and don't like things. I, for example, like knitting, reading and cooking. A lot. I like reading to myself and out loud to my kids. I, however, can not imagine myself liking to drive a Hummer. I can see how someone would want to feel powerful or strong by driving it, but then they look like they HAVE to drive it to be powerful and strong, like by driving it they can exude a commanding presence that they don't actually possess. It's such a cliche to think they're compensating for something, but really, what soccer mom in my Very-Republican-Town needs to drive an ex-military vehicle? There are a lot of them apparently with unmet commanding presence needs.

What about the electric broom thingy? Have you seen this? I think it's a Dirt Devil product. It is a vacuum and a broom COMBINED! That sounds kind of cool right? It sounds useful. But, when you stop to think about it, you can see that it is just removing one step from the oh-so-difficult sweeping process and that is to bend down and pick up the dust pan and dump it into the garbage. The energy saved by not bending is spent instead by powering the electric broom thingy in the first place. Instead of using your own muscles--and aren't we being constantly reminded to get more exercise and park further away in a parking lot and take the stairs and do extra little things every day to move more--the electric broom user wastes electricity to not bend at the waist.

Do we really need this stuff? If people didn't see advertisement, if they weren't bombarded with advertisement for these things, would they even occur to most people? Would anyone's life feel empty, only to be filled with an electric broom thingy, if they didn't know the electric broom thing existed? Was there really a NEED for that, or the Hummer or the hands-free phone that sticks out of your ear like Lt. Ohura on Star Trek (she rocked, didn't she?!)? Do teen age girls who are a little more chubby really need to succumb to a style of jeans that is not at all suited to their body type because that's what is in? If they wear things that will flatter their body type, will they be seen as not cool, or worse will they feel not cool and not like themselves, even though they are presenting themselves in a way that is most flattering for them?

We are all so entrenched with this lifestyle in the United States. We are mostly unconscious of these ubiquitous pressures and fall right into the trap of buying tons of stuff we don't need and that didn't occur to us until someone suggested we had a need and showed us where it could be filled. Remember my flirtation with the Annie Hall style when I was about 12? I must say that that particular look would never have occurred to me without Seventeen magazine showing me the way and lighting my path to late 70's popular fashion.

Any way, please fill out the poll and we'll see what you all think by next Sunday when the poll closes. Any of the silly answers will do...unless you really are a spoon collector in which case you can choose that answer in all seriousness.

Thank you.