5 ms·

Ah see this wasn't in the article, glad to read thrift stores are cool again.

• BlackDeath3 13y ago
  People are so damn silly. "Hey, celebrities are buying overpriced things. Let's buy overpriced things and make fun of those who bought the same thing for less!" ... "Hey, a musician sang a song about getting stuff cheap at the thrift store. Let's get all our stuff at the thrift store now! It's the same stuff, for cheaper!"
  • untog 13y ago
    This just in: people are influenced by prominent celebrities and like to fit in.
    • BlackDeath3 13y ago
      I didn't say that it was surprising, I said that it was silly. Why be so worried about fitting in, especially in such superficial and arbitrary ways?
      • untog 13y ago
        Why be so worried about fitting in Because we are (largely) social animals and being accepted by a group is a powerful motivator (for most).
        • BlackDeath3 13y ago
          It just doesn't make any sense. And people often pay such high costs in the pursuit of acceptance that I wish that more people would just stop, think about what they're doing, and realize how ridiculous it is. They don't need to worry so much about it. They don't need to spend so much time thinking about it. It just seems like you would have so much more time and energy to spend on other things when you stop thinking like an animal.
          • untog 13y ago
            Well, sure. But "being lonely" doesn't make any objective sense either- yet it is still very much an emotion that many people feel. I'm not sure of the value in examining human behaviour while also dismissing the motivators of that behaviour as being silly.
            • BlackDeath3 13y ago
              Is there not a large, wide spectrum between "being lonely" and "fitting in"? In fact, I would imagine that there are so many alternatives that the phrase "spectrum" is simply too one-dimensional. The value is that I imagine (no data here, just conjecture) that many people could be much happier and freer to focus on other pursuits (that I feel are more worthy but I realize that this is entirely subjective) and not be so worried about "what do they think?". Because humans will be humans (as you've pointed out) I don't expect to change any minds here, but this is the way that I think. If nothing else, I'm simply giving away some food for thought.
          • JonnieCache 13y ago
            The thing that motivates people to buy expensive clothes is exactly the same as the thing that's motivating you to write these comments. People don't really want to fit in with others, they want to fit in with themselves. For some people that involves being the kind of person that buys expensive clothes. For you, that involves being the kind of person that doesn't buy expensive clothes. There is no difference, except that your thing is not externally visible, so you have to tell us about it. And you get to keep all that disposable income I guess. You're also avoiding the identity equivalent of running your whole business on a 3rd party API, which is what people who base themselves on brands are doing. So you're probably ahead. But not really any different.
            • BlackDeath3 13y ago
              I think that you may have missed my point. This isn't about buying expensive clothes, or being one of those people who doesn't buy expensive clothes. I'm not making my decision in order to fit in. I try not to worry about it, because I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't make much sense to worry about it.
• cptskippy 13y ago
  Thrift stores haven't really ever gone out of fashion, its actually growing in popularity due to stored like Urban Outfitters whose business model for the last 15 years or more has been to purchase thrift and second hand stuff and resell it at outrageous markups along side designer stuff.