Sometimes on a hot day for the short period the kid's napping I find myself at Home Depot searching for this or that tired from the work week under pressure as the clock ticks down having no idea what I'm doing and I make it to checkout tired no exhausted and I see the ice cold cooler the Coke its last moments before it's soaked with condensation open the door scan it rush to the car twist it open it screams wow sometimes there's nothing like an ice cold Coke.

There's two takes on America.

One: It's terrible that you're shopping at a big box hardware retailer instead of a local hardware store and drinking high fructose mass market soda.

The other: Home Depot usually has what's needed, at a decent price, nearby. And Coke from the cooler next to the cash register is convenient, cold, and delicious.

Neither of these are wrong, and they're both worth keeping simultaneously in mind: life should be both aspirational and satisfying.

The French, I guess kinda the paragons of mom and pop (well along with Italy and Japan) still built out lots of carrefours where lots of people go shopping for stuff while still enjoying the corner pastry shop and non-chain coffee shop.

As you say it’s not one or the other.

Just went to my neighborhood HW store yesterday. They didn't have any of what I needed, so now I'll be going to Home Depot.

I just wanted some landscaping rocks. I didn't think I was asking for much....

Home Depot Coke. $3, and in a plastic bottle. The worst Coke.

At least the grocery store sells cups at the register and there's delicious fountain Coke to be had on your way out the door.

What region are you in that grocery stores sell fountain drinks? Never seen this in the NW US.

Washington State has grocery stores that sell fountain drinks. Yoke's:

https://shop.yokesfreshmarkets.com/store/yokes-fresh-market/...

...also WinCo Foods. Or at least the closest one to me does, right next to the in-store pizza counter.

Publix in the southeast and Wegmans in the northeast both have fountain drinks.

Midwest. Kroger, Meijer, plus Costco and Sam's Club.

Indoctrination via decades of advertisements in clear demonstration. The imagery from this description are taken directly from coke advertisements. Either that or this is a parody.

Or, humor me, bubbly cold sugar water tastes good when you're hot and tired.

I suppose but fizzy drinks while not as popular today were yet pretty popular before the aftermath of WWII unleashed a vigorous advertising industry. Sure before then you had roadside painted signs (T bar style) but it’s not attributable to saturation.

> Indoctrination via decades of advertisements in clear demonstration. The imagery from this description are taken directly from coke advertisements. Either that or this is a parody.

How can you be so sure you've broken free of the indoctrination, when what you have written is also the product of indoctrination? The only practical difference is the banner under which the indoctrination happened under.

> There’s nothing good or desirable about any of it unless you’ve been indoctrinated into thinking that.

Ah, that's too harsh.

Sugar water tastes good. Fast food is made quickly and it tastes good. There's no "indoctrination" that happens to make people realize that.

I agree that coke has 0 nutritional value. However, the flavor is agreeable to most people.

You were addicted as a child to something unhealthy, and that's why it's indoctrination.

> However, the flavor is agreeable to most people.

Only because most people have undergone that indoctrination.

You can't imagine that people could try Coke and think "what is this ridiculously sugary shit?" The reason you can't imagine that? Indoctrination.

Coke is amazingly popular around the entire world, though. You can go to China, India, South Africa, and find Coke for sale and selling well even though they have their own traditional beverages. Obviously sugar water isn't very good for you -- it's liquid candy, but the idea that people only drink it if they've been "indoctrinated" isn't very likely.

No.

I have a son with severe autism. Indoctrination doesn't work on him because he doesn't even understand it.

We have actively kept soda away from him because it's bad for his teeth.

And yet, he absolutely loves the stuff (family members gave it to him). He even has severe food aversions limiting what he's willing to try.

You can't convince me that the only reason people like sugar water is because of indoctrination. That's just silly.

The turn-off with Coke is usually the carbonation. The appeal of sugar is quite primal.

> You can't imagine that people could try Coke and think "what is this ridiculously sugary shit?" The reason you can't imagine that? Indoctrination.

You are replying to someone saying "agreeable to most people" (emphasis mine).

Very clearly, they are perfectly able to imagine what you claim they can't imagine.

Coke Classic is much better as a cooking ingredient than it is a soft drink, IMO. Diet Coke is a different matter for me.

Modern US coke doesn't taste much like the coke I drank growing up (late 70s, early 80s, before they switched over). I remember drinking "a perfect coke" on a hot day, it tasted almost "botanical". These days, the closest thing I can find is Mexican Coke (which they sell at Costco), it's a lot dryer (less sweet) tasting to me than US coke.

That's because Mexican Coke has sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

People have been drinking syrup mixed with water for centuries, maybe even Millenia.

Wikipedia dates the popularity of soft drinks to the medieval middle east, but the origins of sweet fruity water are thought to be ~400 BC Persia at least.

Absolute shit take. Coke provides untold joy to countless people. You can psychoanalyze why until youre blue in the face, but the joy is real.