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MADE WITH REAL INGREDIENTS
Most of my headlong rush toward maturity consists of getting used to the joy and terror of Juxtaposition.
You know, Juxtaposition—that creepy humanity thing that allows me to hold within my head every contradictory fact or factoid or false fact or fake factoid at the same moment. Thoughts and ideas that have nothing to do with each other pretend to reside side by side. What a neighborhood.
Things that don’t seem logical or plausible whirl about in an admixture most puzzling.
Take the smallest thing, for instance. A packaged food label boasts, “Made with Real Ingredients.”
How am I to interpret this? Shall I take it for granted that this slogan means the food is safe, harmless, wholesome and nutritious? That it is edible? Doesn’t sound scientifically vetted, does it?
Made with real ingredients. Shall I pick apart the existential meaninglessness of the blurb and show off my superior knowledge of semantics and context and literacy?
Made with real ingredients. Shall I research the phrase and try to understand it by determining what kinds of food containers harbor Unreal Ingredients?
Imagine a world where just one person creates phrases like Made with Real Ingredients. This person no doubt also created the disclaimer, “This Material Contains Adult Content.” This phrase essentially reminds us that said material contains content.
Don’t most things contain content? Does this mean that there is a greater Big Content in the Sky that encompasses all other Little Content?
Or, to simplify, is this just a stupidly meaningless idea that has not been examined or corrected by the boss of the phrase-creator…possibly a boss who is no more literate than the underling?
A more entertaining food label: Contains Adult Content Chock Full of Real Ingredients.
But then, what would Adult Content be like? Is this grown-up food that kids are not interested in eating? Are there other products containing Child Content?
I’ve lost my way here. I suppose you have, too.
Let’s take a break and raid the refrigerator in search of a snack containing adult childlike contents filled with ingredients of the real kind
© Jim Reed 2018 A.D.
http://www.jimreedbooks.com/podcast