71–80 of 88 posts
Black Friday is one of those imported things we could do without. Did you know shops in the Netherlands are now massively participating in Black Friday? We didn't even have this 'event' ten years ago. Because of our Sinterklaas gift giving event on 5 December people would have been out shopping for presents in any case (like Xmas presents, just earlier and with the OG Santa instead of the Coca Cola dude), so in terms…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except when it's not. Like CSAM or McMansions or lifted trucks.
One of those things is not like the others?
Perhaps I should have phrased it differently.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of those things is not like the others?
I was trying to point out an absolute, like consumption always being good, doesn't hold with widely different examples. After all, there is nuance when things are consumed. Perhaps I should have phrased it differently.
Seems like you might be approaching this from a different perspective / this is a confusion over the mutual meaning of words. But the GP is basically a slogan or an axiom, not worthy of serious rebuttal.
The problem with consumerism is a function of money and capitalism, in a perfect world where everything is made 100% free and fair and with no environmental impact the consumption behavior would be the same (or even worse). Would we still consider it a problem then? In Star Trek there is no money and you can replicate whatever you need/want. Is that utopia or are we still doing something wrong?
It would at least be significantly less of a problem, if items purchased didn’t have such negative externalities as part of their production. I don’t see why a culture significantly less prone to desiring items that aren’t actually all that beneficial, would be incompatible with capitalism?