Monday, February 01, 2010

materialism

From "In CHEAP We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue" by Lauren Weber, p. 10:
Cheapness doesn’t necessarily require abstinence and austerity – simply a thoughtfulness and care about how we live, and a skepticism toward the messages peddled by the retail-industrial complex. It means seeing oneself as an outsider in a world that values instant gratification and promotes the idea that we can understand and express our identities through the products we consume. It means embracing and even cultivating an adversarial relationship with consumer culture. It means rejecting the belief that spending money is the route to feeling good about ourselves or feeling better than, or the same as, or different from other people, that it can help us fulfill our longings or soothe our hearts.
Sounds like an attitude towards materialism that we should embrace. Maybe a good book to pack and read while tanning on the beach in Cancun for Pesach.

4 comments:

  1. There is a book published by ISI called On Thrift which looks at the virtue of Thift. I have yet to read it, but the review looked excellent. This book looks interesting too.

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  2. Oh, good! So you'll be in Cancun too! See you there! Can't wait to join you on the hill with that dinky plastic slip-n-slide.
    Getting back to reality here: I don't get why you feel that this extravagance is so terrible. We're not talking about Bnei Torah or Baalei Mussar here, these are just frum baaleibatim, for whom enjoyment of life is luxurious food and accommodations and exotic pleasures. Anyway, middle class Jews are famously crass. King Canute already demonstrated that nobody can stop the tide.

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  3. >>>I don't get why you feel that this extravagance is so terrible. We're not talking about Bnei Torah or Baalei Mussar here, these are just frum baaleibatim

    The fact that the adjective "frum" is distinct and different from "ben torah" is what is so terrible.
    You are prob. right, this situation is beyond anyone's ability to change, so read this as cynical social criticism if you like.

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  4. For a sensual life, we could have stayed in Egypt and enjoyed the fish and fleshpots free of the obligations of Torah and mitzvos.

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