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Rhetorical questions on materialism

I find often in media, specifically meta media, that we are told materialism (and its association to capitalism and greed) is a sickening disease. A disease that traps us to our boring, normal and sometimes if we are lucky enough, corporate lives. Lives without schizo episodes of terrorism, young boy play things, and massive bank heists. But I’m not so sure it IS a disease ...It can’t be a disease. Or maybe it's precisely that because our lives have been shortened by the disease, that I may expand my pathetic record collection into something bigger and continue making ‘investments’ on my epic, old school pokemon collection. “The things you own end up owning you"   -Tyler Durden. I fucking hope not, I’m this: |_| close to filling my new display case with action figures and I will not become batman's bitch. To see the opposite side of views we subscribe to, is not a difficult thing these days and yet my desire for materialism is supported by very fucking few (comedically, academically and socially). If weed and alcohol is supported and opposed, then why the fuck is no one arguing about my main poison materialism? A case for making your own homestead or even starting that epic #vanlife is so constantly supported and yet the lives we first world masses occupy is celebrated…when? Or maybe it’s truly as the pedos say? “The greatest wealth is to live content with little” -Plato. You’re right Mr Pedo, at least everyone believes that to be right, but in my first world society what most would consider “the greatest wealth” I’d consider “little”. Is it so much to ask for a massive one of a kind library in my house that's sitting on a few acres of fertile land? The kind of library that says, “My cock may be small, but my ego more than makes up for it!” -No, it isn’t so much to ask for, and if I could have it my way, it wouldn't be “so much” for anyone. (See! I'm a humanitarian!) I stumbled across this account on Instagram that seems to be going against the trends of #vanlife and homesteading with his reels depicting a ‘normal life’.The user romanticises the stability of a 9-5 office job (or rather the stability of HIS 9-5 office job.) that America seemed to adore so much, and kinda still does???  For a proud capitalist he makes me surprisingly sick to be honest. Preaching his trademarked phrase, “Normalise the Norm” along with well edited windows into his unsurprisingly grey life. When did the ‘norm’ become so fucking colourless? He isn’t nearly as exciting as or even palatable as a Japanese guy travelling around and living out out of his Kei truck or a big bearded man and his funny dog building a homestead. I must say though. It is nice to see someone defend our collective desire to hold onto our stones…Like an otter! And don’t worry (My teachers always taught me not to begin a sentence with “And”, but I’m a big boy now so you can go get fucked) - I do still romanticise the other side - The other political side if I may indulge even more actually.  The idea of shedding it all and running away, Hopping from person to person, bed to bed and adventure to adventure (STI to STI) is fucking fantastic! A dream perpetrated by my favourite explorer (Indiana Jones) and my favourite slave trader (Sir Francis Drake). Even now after discovering how accessible it is for me to have the comfy materialistic life, I find myself thinking about that badass ‘Heat’ quote: "Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds if you feel the heat around the corner.” - Not Al Pochino. Hmm, nah fuck all that. Materialistic people shouldn’t have to worry about “the heat around the corner” anyway.  I’m not sure I truly believe in materialism, only that I hope it’s not as bad as people say it is, because I have no intention of stopping.   – You, the reader, should tell me what you think (without forgetting that the title says my questions are rhetorical of course). -I won’t change my mind, but maybe I’ll discover someone as arrogant as me, and that would be cool.

@Grimeshaww

Jan 5, 2025

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image without metaphor

“Dune Part Two and the Return of Socialist Realism” didn’t agree with everything in this essay, but osterweil makes some fascinating observations about contemporary cinema, the rising tide of “lore” & relative ebbing of ambiguity, abstraction, mystery

@elisug

Mar 25, 2024

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YES AND…

i think it’s paired with anti-intellectualism - we’re getting to a place where nearly everyone wants immediate gratification so they need a constant stream of consumption. i think this is particularly true in capitalist countries and in the west. i do think superficial interests in culture by the masses are the historical norm, partly bc historically that media was often the most accessible, but i think, combined, the internet and trends changing so rapidly nowadays has exacerbated the issue. everything is cheapened, there’s little respect for craft or appreciation of Doing. many people want everything fast fast fast, so it’s tiktok instead of movies, AI summaries instead of books, chatgpt instead of research (or simply google), fast fashion to keep up with trends, etc. many of us are privileged enough to be able to access an impossible amount of information through the internet and yet so many people are simply using that resource to mindlessly consume whatever content. also, with the internet i feel we’ve lost subcultures’ uniqueness because it’s easier to find them - you can quickly learn about the symbolic aspects of basically any subculture and adopt those (ie fashions, slang, media) without having a personal relationship with whatever community it is. which basically means (tongue-in-cheek) we’re in a poser renaissance. i think as living conditions gets worse for most people, there’s a lower ability to think as clearly and increased desire to escape, so most of the people who can live so mindlessly, do it. plus throw in the American dream (which i think is just the myth of success that exists in all capitalist societies) and there’s this other group of people who prioritize “hustle culture” or whatever and that takes up time they could’ve used to really engage with art, film, reading, etc (alienation as the other Marx once said lol). which is its own unique depreciation of art and scholarship! in his essay on ur-fascism, umberto eco notes the opposition to most artistic and intellectual pursuits as an aspect of fascism (which we can observe in the right-wing movements of many countries today), in part that, to fascists “thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes.”

@marxinista

May 18, 2025

Top Recs from @_aidan

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10 Minute Chili Garlic Silken Tofu

the only thing I make where I'm like, yeah I can just straight up eat this whole block of tofu. take silken tofu (i usually do straight out of the fridge or shelf stable packaging), put some green onions, garlic, chili (flakes, crisp, whatever), soy sauce, sugar, and pour hot oil over top. kind of feels like a science experiment and takes 10 mins to make. ingredients don't have to be particular, sometimes I just do cold chili crisp or ginger scallion oil on the tofu. good over rice with stir fry veggies or by itself I linked a recipe from Sarah's Vegan Kitchen, she has a lot of cheap, easy, filling, vegan recipes

@_aidan

Mar 3, 2025

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her name is Puzzle (Crossword puzzle for Long)

@_aidan

Mar 2, 2025

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offline games

A collection of classic phone games, 2048, solitaire, water sort, plus so many more. The best part is the app works fully offline in airplane mode so you can play without any ads personally I like solitaire or chess

@_aidan

Mar 6, 2025