> buying things in general is bad -- bad for you, bad for the human race, and bad for the environment
Do you mean to qualify this in any way? This is quite the radical statement that I'm not sure how you can reconcile with human existence any time the last X thousand years.
Not really. I think we should operate such that consumption is slightly negative to begin with.
imo, buying something you need is good, but then you don't need an ad to tell you to do it. Buying something you want is good. Buying something you neither need nor want is bad. Allowing something to manipulate you to want more stuff seems bad compared to it not happening.
> Buying something you neither need nor want is bad. Allowing something to manipulate you to want more stuff seems bad compared to it not happening.
Okay, those are the qualifiers I was looking for. That makes sense. It sounded like you were taking a stance against all purchases and not just excesses.
I sort-of am: I'd say it seems most reasonable to assign a negative reaction to any purchases, so the positive reasons need to be enough to justify it.
Not so radical. See the minimalist movement and related themes.
Specifically, there's the prevalence & overabundance of low-quality manufactured products made possible through economies of scale and mispriced environmental externalities.
In fact I think it's a good thing for one to question once in a while if they really need to buy that new thing.
Do you mean to qualify this in any way? This is quite the radical statement that I'm not sure how you can reconcile with human existence any time the last X thousand years.