My fascination with our "throwaway" culture.
I assume that just about everyone I know has heard of the Confucian curse- "May you live in interesting times." Regardless, I believe that this wish has been fulfilled. We contend with global warming, a looming oil crisis, bad government, a general rise in fundamentalism, nuclear proliferation, economic globalization, etc. There are certainly plenty of bleak indicators to worry us. Writing about these challenges could keep me busy for the rest of my natural life. Fortunately there is at least one offsetting benefit that our contemporary life offers us- something that can help distract us from the malaise of our modern times. We have an unprecedented access to just about anything ever recorded. This includes music, film, news, television, internet sites, literature, and art. In a very short period of time, we can locate the particular piece of media that we desire. Modes of communication have multiplied and accelerated.
I think that this only truly hit me when I discovered Amazon.com. Never before had it been so easy to locate and/or discover any of the endless creations of man- whether the work in question was primarily characterized as information, education or entertainment. It was an astounding expansion of availability to the minds of our contemporaries, as well as those in our recent past. Many people alive today have never known a time before CDs, videos, PC's, DVD's and the multitude of other recording devices. They can't remember a time of limited choice. Although I am by no means an old man, there was a time in my youth when people relied on the rather limited and arbitrary collections of local libraries. That's not necessary today. I also remember television before the spread of cable. Home viewers had to settle for whatever was being offered on network television. That sounds incredibly quaint now that we have ON Demand.
Nowadays the only restrictions we face are imposed by our own financial resources. We choose from the vast number of media platforms based upon what we can afford. I don't have any fancy cable. I have a dial-up internet connection. But I can still get the items I want delivered to my home within a reasonable period of time, and I own the devices necessary to enjoy them. That's a far cry from 200 years ago. Back then wars were needlessly extended due to the slow pace of communication. People actually relied on horses to deliver the mail. On the other hand, we can conceivably learn what happens in any part of the world in as short of a period as it takes to transmit digital data via satellite. We are still adjusting to the ramifications of this Information Age. It's easy to feel overwhelmed.
But there's a more relaxed, almost atavistic way to deal with all of this. For as long as there has been a settled human population, people have used the marketplace for the exchange of ideas, as well as other types of consumables. And here I'm talking about the most organic and loosely organized marketplace- the "swap meet" or peddler's fare. At these gatherings, ordinary f0lks gather to participate in the immediate and most localized of economies. They are not restricted by the conventions of corporate sales. Here we can discover the cast-off detritus of media platforms that are no longer in fashion. The progress of technology is so swift that the recordings of yesterday's formats (8-track and cassette tapes, VHS, vinyl records, laserdiscs) can be had for almost nothing. What better and more economical way is there to take stock of where we've been?
While it's true that the elements of local taste and a dose of random chance define the available selection at such markets, the experience of shopping in such places can be akin to a treasure hunt. If you can transcend the strange sort of technological bias we have become accustomed to (arising from new gadgets that make us turn our nose up at the grainy quality of analog recordings), you can discover gems that you were never even aware of. If you can open yourself to the serendipity of "fate", and engage this most disorganized of marketplace- you can avoid the varying degrees of marketing manipulation that define our throwaway corporate culture. It's a fascinating exploration that rewards the seeker with a unique sociological perspective and a wealth of insights about our postmodern age. And it might even put that old Confucian curse in a new light.
I think that this only truly hit me when I discovered Amazon.com. Never before had it been so easy to locate and/or discover any of the endless creations of man- whether the work in question was primarily characterized as information, education or entertainment. It was an astounding expansion of availability to the minds of our contemporaries, as well as those in our recent past. Many people alive today have never known a time before CDs, videos, PC's, DVD's and the multitude of other recording devices. They can't remember a time of limited choice. Although I am by no means an old man, there was a time in my youth when people relied on the rather limited and arbitrary collections of local libraries. That's not necessary today. I also remember television before the spread of cable. Home viewers had to settle for whatever was being offered on network television. That sounds incredibly quaint now that we have ON Demand.
Nowadays the only restrictions we face are imposed by our own financial resources. We choose from the vast number of media platforms based upon what we can afford. I don't have any fancy cable. I have a dial-up internet connection. But I can still get the items I want delivered to my home within a reasonable period of time, and I own the devices necessary to enjoy them. That's a far cry from 200 years ago. Back then wars were needlessly extended due to the slow pace of communication. People actually relied on horses to deliver the mail. On the other hand, we can conceivably learn what happens in any part of the world in as short of a period as it takes to transmit digital data via satellite. We are still adjusting to the ramifications of this Information Age. It's easy to feel overwhelmed.
But there's a more relaxed, almost atavistic way to deal with all of this. For as long as there has been a settled human population, people have used the marketplace for the exchange of ideas, as well as other types of consumables. And here I'm talking about the most organic and loosely organized marketplace- the "swap meet" or peddler's fare. At these gatherings, ordinary f0lks gather to participate in the immediate and most localized of economies. They are not restricted by the conventions of corporate sales. Here we can discover the cast-off detritus of media platforms that are no longer in fashion. The progress of technology is so swift that the recordings of yesterday's formats (8-track and cassette tapes, VHS, vinyl records, laserdiscs) can be had for almost nothing. What better and more economical way is there to take stock of where we've been?
While it's true that the elements of local taste and a dose of random chance define the available selection at such markets, the experience of shopping in such places can be akin to a treasure hunt. If you can transcend the strange sort of technological bias we have become accustomed to (arising from new gadgets that make us turn our nose up at the grainy quality of analog recordings), you can discover gems that you were never even aware of. If you can open yourself to the serendipity of "fate", and engage this most disorganized of marketplace- you can avoid the varying degrees of marketing manipulation that define our throwaway corporate culture. It's a fascinating exploration that rewards the seeker with a unique sociological perspective and a wealth of insights about our postmodern age. And it might even put that old Confucian curse in a new light.
Labels: Consumerism, Corporate Excess, Corporate Media, Generation Gap, Political Rant, Technology
posted by Merge Divide at 3:11 PM
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