Mad Atoms

Unemployment used to be strongly associated with laziness.  When a family member asked, "why don't you get a job," the response was usually, "I'm working on it!"  This prompted a groan or a sigh.  Now when you say you're unemployed, family members respond with, "these are hard times."  Thanks, bad economy? 

Unemployment today is no longer simply a reflection of individual ability -- it's part of a national economic trend.  So by being unemployed, and participating in a national trend, it means you're also being fashionable.  When Tamagotchis became popular, if you had the thing on your keychain, you were fashionable.  Unemployment is a lot like Tamagotchis in 1997: annoying, depressing and affected the lives of many people (like the children who cared for them and the teachers who had to confiscate them during class). 

I was in a room with twelve friends the other day, many of whom I know used to have jobs.  When we found out that less than half of us were currently employed, the jobbers felt kind of embarrassed.  They felt weird for having a steady job, as if they weren't wearing a pair of sweatpants with the word "JUICY" on the butt.

By no means is this the first time unemployment has been fashionable.  In the 70s, England was suffering through a major economic recession.  In response, unemployed and dissatisfied youths created the earliest punk scenes.  Will punk come back in America from its Bowling For Soup pop coma?  Maybe hipster culture will fuse with early 80's punk, and Deerhunter shows will be full of spike nosed, rainbow mohawked freaks.  In this economy, anything is possible! 

Maybe homelessness will become cool.  Tin cans, bindles, eating food from the garbage -- all these things will be "in."  Remember the homeless fashion show in Zoolander?  It'll be like that joke, only when we watch it, we'll be like, "what's so funny?  I really wear a safety cone bra."  The hippest restaurants will start serving food "A la hobo": half-eaten and with pigeon shit sprinkled in for decoration. 

The only good thing about this would be if rich people co-opted the trend, and decided to give their money away, so they can become authentically poor.  I'll take it!  (At that point, I won't be cool enough to be poor.)  However, other than that, I'm not looking forward to seeing dirty cardboard box shirts at Urban Outfitters.  Not for $48 dollars anyway.