Tuesday, June 9, 2009



ON MODERN VAMPIRISM

The Bloody Latte,Vampirism as a mass movement - Ian Svenonius

Vampirism is a mass movement enjoyed by every conquering race. 1

Each imperial culture has in some capacity a liquid memento as a trophy of their rein of power and glory. Tea has become quintessentially an Englishman’s hot drink of choice and is attributed to Britain’s invasion of India. Coffee the conquest of Italian dictator Mussolini’s over Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee and Coca Cola the all American liquid procured it’s initial flavour from the coca plant of Central America.

The strong and privileged have always had this blood sucking ability, this is not a new concept, what is in question is what the blood represents. Svenonius casts an interesting light on origins and growth of specific beverages, however these origins sparked by war and conquests have little to do with the current popularity and longevity of the beverages in question. The connections made between a drinks popularity in relation to wars and conquests, may have been relevant at the time, but consumers of these products today could not be further removed from the initial links of their vanquished foe. An adopted or stolen beverage may have represented the blood of their vanquished, now consumption of the beverage in question represents habit, comfort and the familiar. If any blood is shed or devoured it is that of the earth and it’s haemorrhaging of natural resources.

When Starbucks sells a bag of beans, it’s always marked with the region from whence it sprang, making the consumer an imperial cannibal connoisseur.2 Those who chose to drink coffee at Starbucks are not the most intelligent, discerning or aware of coffee drinkers or of society, (with the exception of it being the only coffee shop in ones vicinity). The modern day consumer purchasing from large chains like Starbucks where product is imported from an under privileged country, are actively taking part in the exploitation of both the land and the people.

Vampirism is alive and well but the rules of the game change with the times. The earth and it’s resources is the new blood of the modern vampire.


End Notes

1. Svenonius, Ian. ‘The Psychic Soviet.’ 2006. p 43

2. Svenonius, Ian. ‘The Psychic Soviet.’ 2006. p 39

2 comments:

  1. Lol at starbucks drinkers i agree they either aren't aware of what they support or are just plain stupid.

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  2. read recently and found it strange whilst starbucks, generic as it is actually funds design that tries to set itself apart from its other stores unlike mcdonalds and kfc etc who are happy to just have identikit stores, replicated perfectly to order throughout the world. devious old starbucks, trying to trick the consumer that they are ingesting anything other than homogenous kitbox crap and drinking smudgy "coffee"

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