We’re flying out of Las Vegas today after a week vacation in Utah and Arizona. Neither Sue nor I gamble, but we did walk down The Strip where the major casinos are. Acres of neon. Bigger is better is the ethos. Enormous hotel / casino complexes try to create a simacrulum of something else. Even more than Hollywood, Vegas is based on artifice, simulation, and phoniness. At least Hollywood has a core, but there’s no There there in Vegas, everything pretends to be something else. I mean, the New York New York facade, with its portrayal of a skyline that never existed in the first place is quite possible the most ridiculous looking building ever.
The hotels have thousands of rooms, all air-conditioned of course. Arizona and Utah are currently mounting campaigns to stop Nevada from grabbing their water supplies. The power grid is straining to meet demand. Yet, mindlessly, hotels get blown up so newer, gaudier ones can be built, apparently without the slightest concern for energy and water consumption or for building efficiently and with green concepts.
How anti-green is Vegas? Walking down the Strip yesterday night at 9pm when it was still 100 degrees, some of the sidewalks had air conditioning ducts blowing cool air onto passersby. Is this not insane?