Today, you are a member of… Ersatz Love
History is rife with ersatzities, members: compensatory objects that proliferate due to an enforced lack or ban of other objects. All that was butter melted into oleo circa WWII, and the communal pub staggared down to the collective basement still for Prohibition’s duration. Nowadays, it’s ziploc bags at airports instead of carrying on your body weight in liquids and computer generated images instead of guys in rubber suits. The prison shiv, of course, represents an ersatzity that spans generations. This week, though, don’t sit pat with the idea of susbstitution – either seek out the original or, even better, jettison altogether the duality of original/lack. You may find yourself enjoying the flying Ziploc’s streamlining effect, oleo’s oily taste, the 2-D cheesiness of CGI, the quietude of the basement still and the ramshackle humanity of a prison weapon without that nagging sense of loss hanging over your head.
