Step In and Stand Clear of the Good News

OTTAWA — Lululemon Athletica, the retailer of yoga pants and hoodies, has long decorated shopping bags with slogans that appear to have been lifted from self-help books. But this month its bags have asked a question that some may find more provocative: “Who is John Galt?”

In the December issue of Esquire, there is a tribute to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park. This struck a chord: “With religion I was always like, Does it matter if it’s true if it makes you happy?” “As storytellers for fifteen years, we started looking at religions for their stories,” Parker said. Stone illustrated the idea with the Parable of the Hipster Coffee Guy.

Recently, Stone was at a New York hotel that was trying very hard to be cool. It had stuffed animal heads on the walls and exposed brass pipes. “I don’t know if Luddite is the right word, but it was back-to-basics. The guy making the coffee had a beard and tattoos. And I’m sitting there going, ‘What the fuck. I’m too old for this. This is not my scene.’

And then I drank the coffee, and I’m like, ‘Holy shit. That’s amazing.’ “And it made me think there’s something about dressing up and playing the part. To me, that’s religion. You can write down how to make the perfect cup of coffee. But to make it really good, you have to play something fictional, you have to dress up, you have to think, This is the most important thing.” He continued, “The pride of the hipster food movement is sort of annoying, but it fascinates me. And the by-products are fucking great.”

Good point. And I say Don’t Stop Believin’.