The Joyful Accumulation of Things and Stuff and Other Things
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/10/technomads.html
So…
Okay. I get it. I get the purge, I get the desire to own nothing. But I also get something that I wonder if they are missing- namely, this isn’t really new. Or terribly exciting. Humans werepretty big on moving all over creation- until we worked out the whole farmer thing versus the hunter-gatherer thing, and learned to sit still for a while. (Except for hobos, who are not the same as bums. Travelin’ men-and women, though this has long been a male-dominated subset of society, due to obvious safety issues- have kept on doing their thing, moving their feet. There are even songs about it, my favorite being “King of the Road”.) I don’t understand why so many people are so excited about this trend.
The funny thing is, poor people might be better off doing this moving place to place thing- but only if all the open land in the world was still truly open. Get your feet moving, get the hell out of the disease-ridden slums, and wander? I’d take that option, myself. Only I wouldn’t have the cash to pay a trespassing fine, or a sleeping-out-of-doors fine, or a stealing fruit from some dude orchard fine. I certainly wouldn’t have the money for a visa that would permit me to move south at the first sign of winter’s frost. Doesn’t work anymore, which make this nomadic(even if it is just couch surfing in one city) lifestyle unreachable for anyone who doesn’t have a good job, or a good trust fund.
To that end, I think for now, I’ll keep my stuff. I like lying on my bed and looking at the paintings my grandmother gave me three Christmases ago, or the beautiful bowl I bought myself, or my other grandmother’s sewing desk. It roots me in a way that doesn’t come naturally to me, and that makes me happy.
So…
Okay. I get it. I get the purge, I get the desire to own nothing. But I also get something that I wonder if they are missing- namely, this isn’t really new. Or terribly exciting. Humans werepretty big on moving all over creation- until we worked out the whole farmer thing versus the hunter-gatherer thing, and learned to sit still for a while. (Except for hobos, who are not the same as bums. Travelin’ men-and women, though this has long been a male-dominated subset of society, due to obvious safety issues- have kept on doing their thing, moving their feet. There are even songs about it, my favorite being “King of the Road”.) I don’t understand why so many people are so excited about this trend.
The funny thing is, poor people might be better off doing this moving place to place thing- but only if all the open land in the world was still truly open. Get your feet moving, get the hell out of the disease-ridden slums, and wander? I’d take that option, myself. Only I wouldn’t have the cash to pay a trespassing fine, or a sleeping-out-of-doors fine, or a stealing fruit from some dude orchard fine. I certainly wouldn’t have the money for a visa that would permit me to move south at the first sign of winter’s frost. Doesn’t work anymore, which make this nomadic(even if it is just couch surfing in one city) lifestyle unreachable for anyone who doesn’t have a good job, or a good trust fund.
To that end, I think for now, I’ll keep my stuff. I like lying on my bed and looking at the paintings my grandmother gave me three Christmases ago, or the beautiful bowl I bought myself, or my other grandmother’s sewing desk. It roots me in a way that doesn’t come naturally to me, and that makes me happy.