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Tcahr Issue 26
TCAHR - Better Living Through Memetics
Volume 02, Issue 02
A Question Of Quality 11/11/01
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I was window shopping at the Brown Elephant. The Brown
Elephant is one of my favorite thrift stores in the city of
Chicago. The greatest reason for my patronage and
continued admiration is that the Brown Elephant's proceeds
are donated to programs dealing with HIV/AIDS patients. A
store like that deserves a plug.
The Brown Elephant also has the best selection I've ever
seen in a thrift store. Whenever I want to move my old man
bones like I used to in the 80s, I go to Brown Elephant to
buy cassettee tapes of bands like The Cure or Joy Division.
The book section has everything from the speeches of
Chairman Mao to Klingon/English dictionaries. The wood
section of the store has a worn statue of a man which
strangely resembles an erect penis due to its mushroom hat.
Dildos as an art form; you gotta love it.
Last summer, I found an item which affected me greatly. It
was a caramel-colored valise of 35+ years. It was the most
charming carrying case I had ever seen. It was more art
than tool with its strong construction, sturdy latches, and
multitudes of wonderful pockets. Its lining is made of
fine, soft cloth printed with blossoms which reminded me of
wildflowers of the American South. It was absolutely
beautiful and made me absolutely miserable.
A few decades ago, mass production was still capable of
quality. Much like the valise which caused me so much
angst, there are many items built in the 50s and 60s which
are still in great shape today. By visiting shops dealing
in antiques and vintage items, you can still find sturdy
furniture, clothes made of rugged fabric and well-bound
books. I even find these and other objects of this time
period in excellent condition tossed out in alleyways. It
speaks volumes about the current state of production that
these abandoned relics last longer than items built more
recently. Quality is dead tech.
Why would the producers spend time on quality when they can
sell you the image which comes with a brand name instead?
We are the same public that pays $80+ on brand name perfumes
which cost less than $2 to produce. The most expensive
thing about a bottle of perfume is the bottle itself! If
we consumers are that stupid, then it is no major feat to
make us buy badly-made shoes from a sweatshop and make us
believe we're being fashionable. The companies lower their
overhead, raise their prices, and catch us again when the
crap they sell breaks down. We buy trash and validate it
with our vainity and ignorance.
The average U.S. citizen produces 1,584 pounds of garbage per
year (about 52 tons over a lifetime). That's 300 million
metric tons a year for the whole U.S. Most major cities
are running out of dumping space. Half of the solid waste
from New Jersey is shipped out of state. As landfill space
runs out, industrialized nations send their waste to poorer
countries. In 1988, Greenpeace uncovered more than 50 plans
to send waste from Europe and the United States to Africa,
Latin America, and the Middle East. By buying inferior
products designed to have a short lifespan, we contribute
to all this. In the words of one environmental activist, we
are consuming ourselves out of existance.
The irony is that the caramel-brown valise might outlast us
all.
Jet Jaguar
TCAHR CEO
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Further Reading
Cunningham, William P. "Understanding Our Environment",
Wm. C. Brown Publishers; Dubuque, Iowa: 1994.
Foster, John Bellamy. "The Vulnerable Planet", Cornerstone
Books; New York, New York: 1994.
Nelson, Rob and Jon Cowan. "Revolution X", Penguin Books;
New York, New York: 1994.
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tcahr@hotmail.com Copyright 2001
