John Updike once said, “Americans have been conditioned to respect newness whatever it costs them”.\u00a0 I think he’s right – after all, newness is a part of our heritage.\u00a0 For one, we live in what was referred to by Christopher Columbus as “The New World”\u00a0 We’ve got several states and cities given names that are a combination of the word\u00a0 “new” with names brought by the pilgrims\u00a0 from the “Old World”.\u00a0 New Jersey, New Hampshire, and New York are on the “new” list of states.\u00a0 The cities list includes New Orleans, New Haven and New Brunswick.\u00a0 Yes we do seem to be attracted to all things new.<\/p>\n
Our music is saturated with references to newness.\u00a0 We all remember the big Disney hit, A Whole New World<\/em>.\u00a0 And can you imagine even for a minute that James Brown would have sung, Poppa’s Got A Slightly Used Bag<\/em>?\u00a0 You Make Me Feel Brand New<\/em>, Brand New Day<\/em>, New Kid On The Block<\/em>….the list goes on and on.\u00a0 In fact there is an entire genre of music known as “New Wave”.\u00a0 Of course classical composers have jumped on this bandwagon too.\u00a0 Dvorak penned the New World Symphony<\/em> and he wasn’t even American..go figure!<\/p>\n Our politics (The New Deal), our literature (Brave New World), our advertising (“new & improved!”), and our vernacular speech (“turning over a new leaf”) all attest to our love of new. We compliment others when we say, “it’s the new you!” And when someone has been ill we give encouragement by telling them that in no time they’ll be “good as new”.<\/p>\n Nothing displays our love of new more demonstrably than the celebration of New Year’s Day.\u00a0 We mark it as a fresh start, an annual genesis, a time to initiate personal improvement.\u00a0 We make New Years resolutions, we begin a new calendar year.\u00a0 It’s “new” at it’s best.<\/p>\n Politicians understand Americans and their love of “new”, and they use it as a very effectively campaign tool.\u00a0 With each election cycle and with debate on major issues like health care, taxes, banking, finance, the military, etc, we are told new is good and old is bad.\u00a0 Political candidates who successfully market themselves as a part of “new” and completely disassociate with “old” usually stand a pretty good chance of being elected, especially if “old” is unpopular.<\/p>\n In many instances we embrace “new” and equate it with “better” even though most of us have had experiences with new versions of something that does little more than make us long for the old version (software!).\u00a0 And who hasn’t picked up a familiar food product in new packaging to note that there is now less of the product inside the package, but it costs more!<\/p>\n But “new” is NOT always “better”.\u00a0 And we need to learn that lesson once and for all. I think John Updike is right.\u00a0 However, this time the price tag on “new” is costing us more than we or our children can ever afford to pay.<\/p>\nShare this:<\/h3>