Death by convenience

[the_drifter]

I'm taking a course at the local university on green economics and sustainable development. I'm doing the second batch of reading right now, and I find myself running over and over into a principle that drives our behavior as American consumers (which is to say, as Americans, since given the means to consume, consumption seems to become the default

Comments

[anatsuno]

the idea somehow lurking behind all this (to me, but i might be crazy) seems to be that we're at our most free when we're alone - this is to say, that Others Are Inconvenient (or like Sartre said, they're Hell. Of course, he was right - I just happen to think they're also heaven *g*). It is inconvenient to deal with them at every point - sharing a wagon in public transport, sharing a sidewalk in the street, sharing time bumping elbows in the asupermarket or the library or the laundromat. Convenience is apparently defined as freedom to do anything at anytime with the least effort and while having to deal with the leas human contact possible. It is quite odd, indeed.

[the_drifter]

Quite odd, and thoroughly modern in all the worst ways. Kind of like the factory mentality has spread until everyone we do not know is merely a cog--or an obstacle--between us and what we want.

I think of the U.S. as taking the doctrine of convenience to unparalleled heights, but it's hard for me to imagine that Europe is exempt from it. What's your view on that?

[anatsuno]

I would say we're victims of something close - a mix of whatever philosophy we'd developped locally/regionalyl, and the cultural imperialism / sharing values with the US (I say both as it do not think it is all a questions of cultural imperialism - the exchange does go both ways, even though there IS some imperialism in there, definitely). One place where this doctrine - in tis freedom form rather that it convenience form - seem very striking to me and different in the US and here (for now!) is the levels of expectations of most north americans nowadays in term of privacy, size of their eprsonal bubble, and right to be Left Alone at all times and in every way. Like, people I have tremendous respect for (this is to say, this is simply an expression of the way their culture varies vastly from mine) have habits of expecting the rest of humanity to Always Stay Away from them, to Never Oh Never Ever touch them, to Not Cross The Lines*. I'm not sure I manage to express myself well, but since this has to do with the way we relate to each

[the_drifter]

A lot of sense, especially as I have my experiences in Amsterdam to relate to. One thing I remember very vividly from my first afternoon in the Damrak is bumping into people over and over again--on the sidewalk, in doorways, on the tram. This is the kind of thing that sends up a flag for me, and I remember it being about five minutes between when I realized it was happening and when I realized it wasn't that people were walking into me on purpose (not that I ever really thought they were), but that they weren't doing the thing all Americans do where we instinctively reposition ourselves on a footstep-by-footstep basis to maximize the amount of space between us and everyone else. I was still doing it, but no one else was, and so we were colliding simply because we weren't following the same rules about how (and if) we should avoid it

[blythely]

*jumps into fray with cultural differences*

I'm always a bit unsettled by the North American bubble. This is not to say that we Kiwis are cheek-by-jowl inyerfacers (to the contrary; I think NZers are actually quite shy people), but *is* a difference.

I think the way in which it unsettles me is the relationship with dirt. As a gross generalisation on my personal acquaintance, I think I am vastly more okay with things that are unclean (in all their forms: dirt, personal hygiene, taboo things, clutter) than any North American I have ever met. It unsettles me because, for all that I try not to think like this, there's some kind of morality judgement in there (issues of clean/dirt always being tied to disgust and morality, no matter what).

In a nutshell: I find that NA's are easier to disgust than me/my compatriots (both Brit and NZ), and I think it ties into the convenience thing as well.

[the_drifter]

Hmm--it's early enough that I can think you're right about the tie-in with convenience and not quite be able to make the connection. I think, though, that our paranoia about cleanliness/disinfection/etc. ties pretty clearly into isolation. On everything from a microbiotic to a geopolitical level, there seems to be this fear of existing within the world--not just adjacent to, but intermingling with. Whether it's driving a car so you won't have to touch the surfaces on public transit or going to see natural wonders without having to actually walk into nature to do it, the U.S. will try to accomodate your desire not to come into contact with anything you/we didn't fabricate.

What I see this as a symptom of is that the U.S. (and Canada as well) have become risk societies--we see misfortune not as something that's going to plunk down willy-nilly, but as something that can be averted through sufficient precaution and planning. (I wish I could remember the article where I first heard this term, but it's not coming to me.) What's ironic is

[msilverstar]

I think you're right, and I've noticed it because I'm on the dirt-tolerant end of my class and cohort!