It's All Performance Art 8

If you really believe that you are a fully self-reliant individual who doesn't need anyone, then please take a moment or two to think about your bluejeans, if you happen to be wearing bluejeans, or if you happen to own at least one pair (chances are that you do!) Now, try to imagine what it would take for you to make those jeans, from absolute scratch, without help or intervention from others. Ready, Gentle Reader? Okay, here we go! First, you would have to source the cotton that makes up the jeans. You would of course, be expected to grow it yourself, which means finding the money or the means to obtain a plot of land large enough to grow enough cotton to make one pair of jeans. By the way, it takes nearly 2000 gallons, or ten thousand litres of water, to grow that much cotton. So, you would be needing a fair parcel of land. You would be expected to find, or make your own fertilizer, even if that means shitting in the field. You would need to find enough seeds. That's right, you would not be allowed to buy them at the garden shop. You would have to roam around finding other cotton plants or fields and find a way of stealing the seeds without getting caught. Growing the cotton, you would need to invent your own tools. If you have no talent in metallurgy, then there would be no point in making your own garden tools. You would still have to dig your own mine to extract enough metal to make a shovel and a hoe, at least, or you might just have to break off a tree branch and content yourself with relying on a digging stick. Now, you would have to get through the growing season, then hand pick whatever cotton bolls have survived bad weather, insects, fungus and disease. Once you have picked and harvested enough cotton, you will still have to spin it into thread. How are you going to do that without a spindle, or a spinning wheel. Do you know how to build one? are you ready to cut down the tree in order to obtain the wood? Once you have learned how to spin cotton into thread, you will have to make enough thread to weave the canvas fabric on a loom. Don't have a loom? You might have enough wood leftover from the spinning wheel for your own hand-built loom. Once you have woven enough thread into fabric, you will still need scissors to cut and fit it, as well as a measuring tape. Remember, you are doing this all from scratch, you rugged individualist, you, so how are you going to make your own scissors and measuring tape? So, now you have your hand-sourced canvas fabric all cut and ready. But you forgot to dye it. You have to find your own indigo. Now if you live in a hot or tropical country, you can grow your own indigo, provided you have enough room in your field after the cotton. Then you have to work at processing the indigo in order to make dye. Are you ready for this long and arduous task? So, you have enough dye, and I am sure that you have found a way of making your own vats for holding the dye and fabric, and that you have found the right materials, perhaps clay, that you have molded yourself and fired in your own hand-built kiln. What did you do, without matches or cigarette lighter, in order to light the fire and keep it hot? Now that you have dyed the fabric you have to sew it all together. Where are you going to get needles? Have you obtained mining rights, and found a way, all by your own rugged self, to mine the metal, probably iron ore, then smelt it and make it into steel, and cut it into tiny little needle shapes? If you are exhausted from reading this, as I am from writing it, then perhaps we can stop here, darlings, but you know, Gentle Reader? I expect that next time you put on your blue jeans, just as you start feeling pride in your proud rugged individualist self, that you are going to take a few moments to offer up thanks and gratitude, for the people who made your bluejeans possible, all the hundreds and thousands of usually overworked and underpaid exploited workers, labouring in fields, mines and factories just to clothe your arrogant sorry ass, and just as you are finally making a good effort to pull your inflated head out of it.