Why don't we just change the name of Salon to Scold and be done with it?

The message here and throughout Salon (to its primarily upscale readership) is that I should eschew consumerism because it damages human rights and the environment.

I should view people rather than things as important.

But I should buy expensive, well crafted things (but just the right amount to avoid consumerism of course) because not doing so somehow damages our humanity. So in this sense things are part of our humanity (but only things that are deemed well-crafted).

I shouldn't buy into the disposibility culture. So should I buy second hand things or not? Weren't they disposed?

The anti-consumer crowd seems to have liked this piece based on the comments I'm reading. But this was not well thought through.

It says something unflattering when our modern version of craftsmanship is reduced to "durable goods" that are expected to last three to five years. The old craftsmanship that went into building modest homes that are still structurally sound 100+ years later, with no unexpected maintainence, has been replaced by slap them up "durable" houses that last the same amount of time for all practical purposes. People are often still paying "craftsmanship" prices for "cheap" goods and houses.

Having said the above, sometimes we desire more craftsmanship for certain things and not others. My IKEA chair and desk hutch are crafted well enough, and are comfortable enough to have outlasted the current definition of a "durable" good. They don't look bad either.

didnt people used to rent furniture back in the day? sturdy pre-1950s furniture costs bank.

the whole disposible lifestyle is as flawed as chemicalized environments. the big qustion is if the substanence farmers living in remote corners of teh world will be able to pick up the pieces after this whole "modern" world collapses.

the most aggressive export commodity needs to be education. not crappy fake lifestyles that are toxic.

Such pretention is what caused the break between the working classes/poor and the "liberal intelligentsia" recently partly mended by Obama.

If it were NOT for WalMart, a good 20% of this country would suddenly find its living standards decreased by at least a level, from working class to poor, from poor to destitute.

If you think I'm exaggerating, then you live in an economic bubble from which you are shielded from the life experiences of those outside your economic strata, and if so, you should just shut up about where "other people" should shop.

Yammering on about NOT shopping at Walmart to the working class and poor is no different than telling them to eat dirt, and use rags for clothes, for that is all they could afford without affordable walmart products.

Finally it's time the Left to get its head out of its collective ass when it comes to WalMart, and realize 1/2 the reason you hate it is due to "it being common, lacking in status" and very little to do with better quality or where they make their stuff.

Anyone who brags they shop at Target rather than WalMart is a true ass clown.

Target only rebrands the same shit Walmart sells, and charges 20% more, and gets most everything from China or Asia just like WalMart.

What's worse is Target's WORSE employee benefits record and hourly scheduling, but hey things cost more at Target so they must be better employers right?

WalMart is what it is, and one thing it is NOT is evil.

It's the most successful retailer for a variety of reasons, but one is NOT that it skimps on benefits or imports, because ALL its competitors do the exact same damn thing.

There's a man in my community who is a "sound designer." This doesn't ring any bells for me but he apparently did quite well and bought an aging movie palace that no one knew what to do with. No expense was spared in its loving renovation. The original lobby chandeliers were tracked down and repurchased. Now it's used for films and concerts.

But we can't rely on those who've done well to give back and save our cultural heritage. One of the few places I know where the downtown shopping area has survived the arrival of Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town is Paso Robles, halfway between SF and LA. It didn't really survive so much as it was reinvented.

In the surrounding hills, vineyards sprouted like "bamboo shoots after the rain" as the Chinese say. The town, which retains its Western layout with a central town square surrounded by period architecture, was reborn as a wine capital with tastefully decorated tasting rooms and restaurants serving tasty fare.

Luckily the country roads in that neck of the woods are too windy for limos (unlike Napa). I always eat there when I pass through, cognizant of the fact other dying towns will not be able to replicate its rebirth.

I still have furniture I bought at IKEA way back in 1999...

If this is your frame of reference, little wonder you nominated my post for most idiotic on this thread (while neglecting to mention the many other commenters who seem to agree that IKEA furniture is not built to last). Durable furniture made of real wood lasts far, far longer than 10 years and it can be refinished any number of times, including those times when movers ding it up.

You really think IKEA goods are going to end up at Cooper-Hewitt or the Met seventy or so years from now, lacking hermetically sealed storage? Not likely, not at all.

I still have furniture I bought at IKEA way back in 1999...

If this is your frame of reference, little wonder you nominated my post for most idiotic on this thread (while neglecting to mention the many other commenters who seem to agree that IKEA furniture is not built to last). Durable furniture made of real wood lasts far, far longer than 10 years and it can be refinished any number of times, including those times when movers ding it up.

You really think IKEA goods are going to end up at Cooper-Hewitt or the Met seventy or so years from now, lacking hermetically sealed storage? Not likely, not at all.