Not topical

"Ikeaphobia and its discontents"

Typically, anti-'dumb young leftist' blog posts would make me wary, but I really agree with Greenfield's sentiment. I always resent the guilt pangs I feel when I give my money to Starbucks, which is seldom. Seldom not because it's bad or offensive, but because really it is more of a dessert and milkshake place than a coffee shop. As such it is pretty good, but I'm not as addicted to dessert drinks as the sorority girls in sandals and sweatpants are at Tech.

I'm not old enough to remember the days before Starbucks he talks about, but it sounds about right. I can appreciate the chain's impact on the national consciousness, but other places have now taken the idea and improved on it. By the same token, he ignores the gripe I have always had with Starbucks--its presence in places like Rome and Prague. Why reach for the familiar when you traveled to its inspiration, right? Well, as a girl from Prague countered to me, if she saw a Prague-style coffee shop after being in the States all summer she would go there instead of Starbucks. I should note that after some searching around northern Fairfax county, we settled on Starbucks.

I don't know what Greenfield means when he says Nike is progressive, but if BuyBlue.org is a good indicator of how bad a corporation truly is. In any case, it's going to take a lot more than buying different coffee to turn the tide of global corporate hegemonies.