Distributism
This was posted a while ago, but it's excellent, so I thought I'd link to it. Chesterton had quite a keen eye for the essence of modern life. I'm with Chesterton in the value of hard work (in the abstract, of course -- if you've seen my room, you'll know the truth). But still, what I want to know is how in fact is it possible to change things?
posted by Whiskey at 8:31 PM
3 Comments:
He's so right. But so are you--how do we start to live life as producers instead of consumers or self-aggrandizers? It seems that it's got to be an effort of small steps, transforming one part of your life at a time. We probably can't take it to the agrarian ideal extreme, where we're living on farms producing our own food and weaving our own clothing, but we can get closer and closer, and further and further away from the velvety lies of materialist culture. No?
Well, it might be difficult to convince Alan Greenspan that many Americans should go back to substistence farming, but I would hope that change would come through the individual choices that we make (ie. choosing our work wisely, sharing our 'wealth' the best we can, spending our leisure time in an enriching way). That sort of thing.
It's good to speak about these things, because it makes me think about them more carefully. But what really substantial thing could I change? If I shop at Whole Foods, I'm still supporting the materialistic culture. If I only buy the most well made cars, I'm still supporting the materialistic culture. Everything is dominated by the supply and demand curve. Whole Foods prices are higher because the people who are interested in organic food are willing to pay more for it. Nothing anymore is produced with the eye to the product, except insofar at that product can sell. How could it be otherwise?
The only thing I can think of is to try to do as much myself as I can. Change my own oil, paint my house myself, mend my own clothes. But economically, it's stupid to act like that. It's not reasonable, from an economic point of view, to spend so much time and money on things like that, when there are people out there who can do the same thing for less money and make fewer mistakes.
But I will make this resolution. From now on, I will never purchase a microwaveable, pre-made meal. And if I have the opportunity, I'll try to grow my own vegetables.
This is really frustrating.
Post a Comment
<< Home