zeitgeist

[MarkG]

in light of the current crisis...

[EPW]

summary

[MarkG]

Originally posted by EPW
summary

everything you think you know is fake

[Agathon]

Originally posted by MarkG
everything you think you know is fake

That is not true.

Everything is in plain sight. It's just that people invent stories to prevent themselves seeing it as it is.

Exhibit A: people complaining about consumerism and commercialization who then shop at organic supermarkets.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Agathon
Exhibit A: people complaining about consumerism and commercialization who then shop at organic supermarkets.

they do have to eat to continue living. should they go live in the jungle instead?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by MarkG
they do have to eat to continue living. should they go live in the jungle instead?

You do you what I mean by organic, right?

Why don't they buy ordinary food instead of buying organic vegetables? The whole point of organic vegetables is for upper middle class liberals to feel morally superior to other people. Yet, these are the same people who decry consumer brainwashing when it comes to kids buying the latest rap record or people buying fashionable clothes.

The anti-consumerism movement is a walking contradiction. It's exactly the same thing as it pretends to oppose, and in some cases is worse.

Yet much of our social discourse is based on the notion that acts of "individualism" are somehow anti-consumer and big business. This is complete BS. "Individualism" and "authenticity" are the chief drivers of competitive consumption, which produces what the same people whine about as "consumerism".

Vast numbers of books have been written and theories crafted in order to mask this obvious truth. It's a particularly insidious form of class warfare.

Or how about another one? Large numbers of people believe that 9/11 was an inside job. The truth is more mundane: the government can't really protect people from things like this, but people want to feel protected, so politicians pretend they can keep them safe. Moreover, people who whine that there was no airport security on 9/11 are the same people who would have screamed bloody murder if they had been inconvenienced by it.

Or the one about Al Qaeda being this super network of incredibly evil geniuses, when in fact, they are a bunch of unprofessional putzes who mess up half the time.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Agathon
Why don't they buy ordinary food instead of buying organic vegetables?

because organic is better?

[Asher]

It's not.

[HalfLotus]

Woah, MarkG pushing Zeitgeist!? Apolyton gets a gold star today.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Sometimes it depends on the organic. Organic Skim Milk tastes far better than the "regular" kind, IMO.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by HalfLotus
Woah, MarkG pushing Zeitgeist!?

i'm just posting some food for thought and discussion. it's what i usually do on apolyton

of course we are so far discussing organic milk but that's also usual for apolyton

[Agathon]

Originally posted by MarkG
because organic is better?

They have no nutritional improvement over non-organic foods, and they don't taste better either. Dozens of studies have proved this.

I would say it is a con, but it isn't. People buy them as a form of competitive consumption and just work themselves into believing there is a difference.

[MarkG]

A study made on Imran shows otherwise

[OneFootInTheGrave]

No idea where Aggie lives, but in UK it makes a difference, it's still crap comparing to real food, but not as bad as "normal" plastic stuff that people buy in the grocery section...

[Agathon]

Originally posted by MarkG
A study made on Imran shows otherwise

He's a lawyer, and thus a liar, so don't believe him.