Back to nature in wrong way!
Back to nature in wrong way!
JAKARTA (JP): Everybody nowadays is getting back to something.
Religious organizations are returning to their old philosophies.
The military is getting back to basics. Music lovers are tuning
in to the 1960s, bringing a fortune to recording companies
reproducing oldies in the millions. Engelbert Humperdink and
Julio Iglesias are back on track as their songs are on the
Indonesian market again. Karaoke places are dominated by old
songs such as Falling in Love, My Way and Teluk Bayur.
In the back-to-something phenomenon, the most popular phrase
is back to nature. Indonesians are taken by anything claimed to
be natural. They eat natural food, drink water advertised as
natural spring water, and live in natural surroundings.
Natural is big business. Real estate companies sell expensive
houses they allege have natural atmospheres. "Use our products
and have natural beauty," screams a cosmetic company. A food-
producing company asserts that their product contains natural
fiber. A slimming center advertisers its ability to make you
slimmer in a natural way.
What does natural mean, anyway?
Most dictionaries describe natural as free from artificiality
and affectation; present in or made by nature. This denotes that
natural beauty is beauty without the slightest touch of
cosmetics. Natural water should be from the nearest spring
without preservatives being added at a factory.
Now, take a look at these natural things. If you want a girl
with real natural beauty, you'll have to search in a remote area
not touched by the marketing people. That is almost impossible,
what with the high mobility of people and the improvement in
communications.
For natural surroundings, you will have to find a virgin
jungle. The surroundings advertised by real estate agents turn
out to be a concrete swimming pool, semi-paved roads, potted
plants, and an artificial waterfall thrown in for good measure.
Try asking for natural vitamins at a dispensary. You'll
receive factory made tablets. The advertised natural fiber is
found in health drinks made in a factory by mixing various
substances. Natural water is taken from one of Indonesia's
grossly polluted rivers, treated at a water plant and then
bottled in a factory.
When I asked an attendant at a slimming center that claims to
"make you slimmer in natural way", if the diet food they
suggested was made in a factory, she answered casually, "Yes,
sir. Naturally."
-- Carl Chairul