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The fact that actual grown ups want to spend money on plastic caricatures of their favourite movie characters is fine in itself, but only if we also take respon

The fact that actual grown ups want to spend money on plastic caricatures of their favourite movie characters is fine in itself, but only if we also take responsibility of the state of the society we live in. Replace "spend money on plastic caricatures" with almost anything and your comment still applies. "playing around with their computers", "reading books", "wasting time on social media sites like Hacker News" and so on.

xorcist 7y ago
That's not comparable at all. Nobody gets hurt if you read a book or waste time with social media. The only practical purpose of a plastic doll is to sit for a very long time in a landfill, with the only exception the short time at the beginning where it sits on a shelf instead.
- halfmatthalfcat 7y ago
  What a narrow minded, cynical and absolutist take on escapism through physical objects.
  - paulryanrogers 7y ago
    While cynical I think it's more narrow minded to consider only the benefit to purchasing such escapism objects. Let's keep in mind the long term costs to future generations as we indulge, shall we?
    - halfmatthalfcat 7y ago
      These indulgences account for the most modest percentage versus other things that could be deemed "wasteful", unless we're throwing relativism out the window.
- sushid 7y ago
  Where do you think precious metals come from for your electronics? Who do you think assembles your iPhone? It’s not always green energy powering the servers that provide you your social media high either. Presumably people buy these objects because they derive some sense of pleasure while viewing/organizing them. I personally hate them and have never owned one but let’s not try and squeeze out some social commentary over a few toys.
  - xorcist 7y ago
    A phone is useful. These plastic dolls are not. That's the difference. Nobody buys them to use them. They are only bought in some post-ironic manifestation of inherent uselessness. The argument could be made that they are art but that's a hard argument to make. The only commentary on society here is the involuntary one.

xorcist 7y ago

That's not comparable at all. Nobody gets hurt if you read a book or waste time with social media. The only practical purpose of a plastic doll is to sit for a very long time in a landfill, with the only exception the short time at the beginning where it sits on a shelf instead.

halfmatthalfcat 7y ago
What a narrow minded, cynical and absolutist take on escapism through physical objects.
- paulryanrogers 7y ago
  While cynical I think it's more narrow minded to consider only the benefit to purchasing such escapism objects. Let's keep in mind the long term costs to future generations as we indulge, shall we?
  - halfmatthalfcat 7y ago
    These indulgences account for the most modest percentage versus other things that could be deemed "wasteful", unless we're throwing relativism out the window.
sushid 7y ago
Where do you think precious metals come from for your electronics? Who do you think assembles your iPhone? It’s not always green energy powering the servers that provide you your social media high either. Presumably people buy these objects because they derive some sense of pleasure while viewing/organizing them. I personally hate them and have never owned one but let’s not try and squeeze out some social commentary over a few toys.
- xorcist 7y ago
  A phone is useful. These plastic dolls are not. That's the difference. Nobody buys them to use them. They are only bought in some post-ironic manifestation of inherent uselessness. The argument could be made that they are art but that's a hard argument to make. The only commentary on society here is the involuntary one.