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I like tropical fruits too much to eschew anything that comes from more than 100 miles, but the "authenticity" movement has a point. Modernity is mostly a good
by pw0ncakes 17y ago
I like tropical fruits too much to eschew anything that comes from more than 100 miles, but the "authenticity" movement has a point. Modernity is mostly a good thing, but it has its pitfalls. For example, eating 150 pounds per year of added sugars-- mostly high-fructose corn syrup-- is not healthy. Nor are hydrogenated oils good for the body, at all. Suburbia has been mostly a mistake (intended to be the "best of both worlds" between rural and urban life, but closer to the worst of both for the poorer 90%). Wal-Marts are generally bad for communities, as they eviscerate their business-owning middle classes. Finally, although I don't foresee "peak oil" in the immediate future, it's becoming more expensive (economically and environmentally) to produce it.
When the chips are down, almost no one wants to get rid of modernity. The anti-vaccine morons and the creationist loons and the Tea Party slobs are out there, but they're on the fringe. On the other hand, the concerns being voiced in the "authenticity" movement are legitimate; is it really good for us, as a nation, to have an economy that relies on an environmentally costly fuel that we have to import from religiously bigoted and psychopathic despots?
- Qwe679 17y agoYou do realize that those Walmarts not only create thousands of new jobs for their communities, but also several more from anchoring other multi-national stores that come because of Walmart?
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago>Finally, although I don't foresee "peak oil" in the immediate future, it's becoming more expensive (economically and environmentally) to produce it. Peak oil precisely means that it's becoming more expensive (economically and environmentally) to produce it. We've used up most of the cheap, easy-to-reach oil and now we're paying more (and producing more pollution) to get at the expensive, hard-to-reach oil.
- iskander 17y agoWalmart and suburbia have leveled American living standards. Now any old slob can own a house and fill it with the same sorts of things as their richer compatriots (though it will be made in China rather than Germany). Things didn't used to be this way-- and people complaining about the change are often rich enough to not need Walmart to maintain their lifestyle.
- GFischer 17y agoAnd we in the third world think that someone who owns a car, a house and lots of china-made products is filthy rich. (seriously, over here owning a car is a huge measure of wealth, even if it is a 1994 clunker like mine)
- thwarted 17y agoIs quantity of crap you don't actually need (admittedly, Walmart sells a lot of necessities but the phrasing "own a house and fill it with the same sorts of things" doesn't scream "required for living a good, comfortable life"), how living standards are measured? This is sad.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoAmerican object lesson, post Reagan Era: if you throw enough trinkets at the poor, they forget about their miserable lives for a while and consider themselves middle-class, despite their humiliatingly boring jobs and inability to advance in life. You don't even have to increase wages; that's what credit cards are for. Bonus points if you can drive them tens of thousands of dollars into student debt pursuing degrees that don't get them anywhere.
- iskander 17y agoWhat exactly is "required" for living a good comfortable life? It's easy to set the standard as long as it either doesn't apply to you or cuts out things you don't personally like.