"The Real Deal is a very old idea whose time may be coming back. This is how prudent people everywhere used to buy things before the postwar consumer boom -- and how many Europeans, pressed to reconcile elegant taste with limited space and money, still shop. You bought the very best thing you could afford, and used it until it fell apart. If you were rich enough, you bought the very best one there was -- not to show off (though that's a perk, too); but because it was an investment, a piece of family capital. You spent the money right the first time, so your kids wouldn't have to go out and spend it again.
"[...]
"In other words: The rich didn't buy this stuff to show off their money. They bought it because they were cheap, and taking the long view. In this downscaled era, it's a consumer ethic that those of us looking to get more value and satisfaction out of less time, space, and money can take a lesson from.
"[...] Instead of a dozen shlocky things that waste resources and won't last, I want to save my pennies and buy One Perfect Thing that supports a skilled craftsperson, honors the earth's gift of materials by enhancing their beauty and ensuring they'll enjoy a long and useful lifespan, and will increase the overall level of fabulousness in my life for a very long time."
-- Sara Robinson, "The Real Deal", 2008-01-15
[Note that this does, alas, bring to mind for the umpteenth time, The Samuel Vimes 'Boots' Theory Of Socio-Economic Injustice.]
Huh. I learned something today I hadn't known about the global symbolism of black and white checkered pieces of cloth.
I never realized NASCAR and its fans supported terrorists before. (Or are they going to find some replacement for the checkered flag so at "not to offend"?)
Not intended as insightful political commentary or an in depth analysis of semiotics. Today I am too exhausted for anything more than gratuitous snarkage.
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