The claws of the western consumption culture

Current location: Espresso House, Central Stockholm, SWEDEN 59°19’60’’N 18°3’24’’ E

Although I lived in the suburbs of the capital of Costa Rica, a city very comparable to Stockholm in terms of size, the pulse of Stockholm is beyond comparison to that of San Jose’s calm rhythm. It plays in a completely different league, and Stockholm, as any western metropolitan city, breathes money and has consumption as the key stone of it’s very core. Fashion, style and a better standard of living is the norm, and all that does not fit the frame is frowned upon. Or rather, it causes bewildered looks of confusion and discomfort. And now I am back in this boiling pot of western world culture, where I dare to say Sweden takes the lead at least in the ‘appearance’ category. Appearance and facade is everything and I can feel myself transforming back into my Swedish me from a more laid-back and down-to-earth immigrant minority. Or is suppose I would be called an expat, because after all no one would ever call a foreigner from an economically stable and admired country an immigrant. I feel this need to consume. I want to buy things, a desire I have not felt for months. Recently the streets of Stockholm have been ‘flooded’ with Romanian beggars, much to the population’s discomfort, and a distressing trend is spreading in the country. The fear and discomfort of seeing poverty is as real to the swedes as the six months of darkness we have to endure in the winter months. A man just walked in with holes in his shoes and a remarkably thick down jacket. He is surely one of ‘them’, and his entrance to this coffee shop of quality and upper class caused many raised looks and discomfort for the potential of him sitting down next to them. He is also drinking fair-trade coffee, like everyone else in here. I also looked up surprised and I instantly felt ashamed into my bones for having thought ‘isn’t this coffee a little to expensive?’. I am turning back into the norm, the average swede, a citizen bred on consumption and the fear of sticking out, and it scares me to death.