I've finally started paying attention to the fact that every generation of Americans has some idealized picture of what it means to Get Back to Nature. It used to be hanging out with your relatives who owned a farm and maybe working there for a summer; then it was fishing/camping/hiking/etc.; and there was a brief point of time where things seemed to stagnate and mostly the National Geographic took care of nature before this new thing. Organic.
Obviously, the old stuff is still around. I'm talking about what's in the spotlight.
So, what do you think of when you hear 'organic'? It's always directly associated with being 'natural' and 'pure' and 'free of parabens' (or whatever the latest carcinogen/endocrine disrupter is), all in a convenient pre-packaged format!
It seems like society's gotten to the point where we'd rather have nature in our own homes. Definitely explains the creepy obsession with Indian culture (what bright clothes and smelly incense have to do with being more primitive--in the anthropological sense--I don't know, you white people have some serious issues to work out is all that's clear). And how we're all about things that smell like nature (just got a sampler of "happy" Nivea lotion; orange blossoms and bamboo), like dish soaps that are 'spring blossoms' and detergent that's 'spring rain' and 'ocean breeze' shampoo....
Organic is just the culmination of this need to draw out the pretty bits of nature without ever leaving the comforts of modern civilization.
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