VN AfterTaste

by David Raffin

A sign advertises, “Free Hugs.” It is a protest over the commercialization of hugs.

The dirty secret is – When you sell hugs you become… a capitalist.
There is a question about whether you want a hug from someone “just giving it away.” I mean, maybe it’s not a very good hug. If they have to give it away.
The price of hugs is variable on the market, it fluctuates. Some people make a killing on hugs. Some lose everything.
There is an inequity, an imbalance in the distribution of hugs. Some people get much more than others. They tend to go to the ones who can pay for them. A wealthy man receives, and is offered, more hugs than a poor man. For generations people have not challenged this unequal distribution. It is taken as a part of the natural order.

The secret of capitalism is that hugs cost as much as you are willing to pay, whatever the market will bear.
One day, as a result of a hug, you could lose your shirt.
If you need a hug you will be charged more for it. Some people think that is wrong but it is just business.
The price of foreign hugs are driven up by travel costs and desire.
Sometimes there are two for one deals– these are a rip off– the price of the paid hug is raised to offset the supposed freebie.

Often free hugs are not really free, but a system to sell you something else; a sales gimmick. This trickery hurts consumer confidence.
And a free hug is dependent on someone being willing to accept it. Which is hard, because people are suspicious when it comes to free hugs. They want to know what it means. Especially men.

People who run around hugging everyone cheapen the whole affair.
Millionaires can buy all the hugs they want. This does not exhaust the supply but only serves to drive the price up so the poor can no longer afford it, or forces them to sell. That’s how people start selling hugs. It’s ugly when you examine it.

Like this:
One millionaire buys a painting for 5.2 million dollars, from another millionaire. The artist starved to death. It is a still life.
One millionaire. Two millionaires. Three millionaires. A gated community. Job creation.
Millionaire food is the worst. Purina makes it, it tastes awful. But it’s very expensive. That is what makes it so desirable.
I kid the millionaires, sitting there, eating that terrible millionaire food, wondering how they got themselves in such an odd predicament. I mean, they have to buy hugs. And they always wonder about that. Is a bought hug real? Or just commerce?

When the aliens land I have prepared the following explanation: “We have found evil to be an extremely profitable philosophy. We hope you are kinder than we have been.”
Then I will offer them a free hug, and I will stab them in the back.