4 ms·

Well if this isn't late stage capitalism, then I don't know what is. In a couple hundred years, I could see this magazine cover being hung up on display in a "m

Well if this isn't late stage capitalism, then I don't know what is. In a couple hundred years, I could see this magazine cover being hung up on display in a "museum of capitalism". As other commenters have pointed out, it's certainly better than celebrity gossip, and probably not any worse than the other crap they would be exposed to. Entrepreneurship is a fantastic thing to promote, and being a social media star is certainly more fun and lucrative than being a 9-5 office drone with health insurance. But there's something insidious about priming teenagers into this materialistic mindset, that the way to "make it" is to gain a large social media following competing in a shallow clickbait-ridden space, where only the top 1% or so can ever make it anyways (not everybody can be a social media star, just like not everybody can make a living as a musician. Our attention span is limited). I don't have a problem with this magazine. This magazine is simply a sad reflection of our hypercapitalist reality.

rayiner 9y ago
Strongly disagree. It’s a reflection of our hypercompetitive society. It’s not shallow; it’s realistic. Look around: everyone is embracing consumerist capitalism (China, India, etc.) The societies that appear to have some reservations about it (Western Europe) are irrelevant—they won’t exist in their modern form a century from now.
- whatshisface 9y ago
  Consumerism doesn't make you any more effective as a nation, in fact it makes you quite a bit less efficient. Driving in circles with cars you can't afford wastes money and resources (and all of the manpower that went in to you being able to do that) just as fast as it wastes your soul. A culture designed to maximize productivity and minimize inefficiencies would probably look a lot like Soviet-era state sponsored art: valorizing labor and industry.
  - rayiner 9y ago
    Except Russia is collapsing faster than anywhere else.
    - losteric 9y ago
      Right, because they switched to the American version of crony capitalism.
- losteric 9y ago
  Consumerist capitalism is "realistic"? That's laughable. It's popular, but the cargo cult of capitalism has humanity blindly sprinting towards ecological collapse. Socially-strong European nations are the most likely to survive the next 100 years of turmoil. Modern China is a house of cards held together by capitalism, Xi and his successors will grab for power but they can't hold it together by sheer force of will.
  - rayiner 9y ago
    Europe is in the midst of population collapse. Societies built on having higher levels of social cohesion aren’t going to survive in their contemporary forms over the next century as the European population dwindles.
    - losteric 9y ago
      Why do you think Europe will collapse because their native reproductive rate is going down? What do you think about Japan?
      - rayiner 9y ago
        You need a stable population to keep the economy stable, because a lot of your expenses are not per capita (infrastructure spending, debt repayment, etc.). To keep Europe's population stable, you need massive annual immigration (more than you have now). I don't think it's possible to maintain a high-trust, cohesive society with that level of immigration.
        JDiculous 9y ago
        The suggestion that these countries are doomed due to population decline is complete nonsense, as Japan has shown. Automation is enabling less people to have to work to maintain the same standard of living. As you said worst case scenario immigrants could fill in the gap (certainly no shortage of people trying to immigrate to western Europe). Social cohesion could go down, but that doesn't mean the only option is American style "every man for themselves" hypercapitalism.
BadassFractal 9y ago
That's an interesting perspective. I wonder how far that kind of publication would go in a Sweden or Denmark or any other successful democratic country with high standards of living and a lot of socialized services. Is the marketed purpose of life for humans out there to just have a decent, modest and enjoyable life with plenty of vacation and time for friends and recreational activities? Vs the US's "rise to the top, you must become a star, make billions, write a memoir!" mindset?

rayiner 9y ago

Strongly disagree. It’s a reflection of our hypercompetitive society. It’s not shallow; it’s realistic. Look around: everyone is embracing consumerist capitalism (China, India, etc.) The societies that appear to have some reservations about it (Western Europe) are irrelevant—they won’t exist in their modern form a century from now.

whatshisface 9y ago
Consumerism doesn't make you any more effective as a nation, in fact it makes you quite a bit less efficient. Driving in circles with cars you can't afford wastes money and resources (and all of the manpower that went in to you being able to do that) just as fast as it wastes your soul. A culture designed to maximize productivity and minimize inefficiencies would probably look a lot like Soviet-era state sponsored art: valorizing labor and industry.
- rayiner 9y ago
  Except Russia is collapsing faster than anywhere else.
  - losteric 9y ago
    Right, because they switched to the American version of crony capitalism.
losteric 9y ago
Consumerist capitalism is "realistic"? That's laughable. It's popular, but the cargo cult of capitalism has humanity blindly sprinting towards ecological collapse. Socially-strong European nations are the most likely to survive the next 100 years of turmoil. Modern China is a house of cards held together by capitalism, Xi and his successors will grab for power but they can't hold it together by sheer force of will.
- rayiner 9y ago
  Europe is in the midst of population collapse. Societies built on having higher levels of social cohesion aren’t going to survive in their contemporary forms over the next century as the European population dwindles.
  - losteric 9y ago
    Why do you think Europe will collapse because their native reproductive rate is going down? What do you think about Japan?
    - rayiner 9y ago
      You need a stable population to keep the economy stable, because a lot of your expenses are not per capita (infrastructure spending, debt repayment, etc.). To keep Europe's population stable, you need massive annual immigration (more than you have now). I don't think it's possible to maintain a high-trust, cohesive society with that level of immigration.
      - JDiculous 9y ago
        The suggestion that these countries are doomed due to population decline is complete nonsense, as Japan has shown. Automation is enabling less people to have to work to maintain the same standard of living. As you said worst case scenario immigrants could fill in the gap (certainly no shortage of people trying to immigrate to western Europe). Social cohesion could go down, but that doesn't mean the only option is American style "every man for themselves" hypercapitalism.

BadassFractal 9y ago

That's an interesting perspective. I wonder how far that kind of publication would go in a Sweden or Denmark or any other successful democratic country with high standards of living and a lot of socialized services. Is the marketed purpose of life for humans out there to just have a decent, modest and enjoyable life with plenty of vacation and time for friends and recreational activities? Vs the US's "rise to the top, you must become a star, make billions, write a memoir!" mindset?