The Uberswedes and the burgeoning of the Marxist!
Went to the newly opened Super-Hyper-Uber-Sweder-Furniture-arama today, wonderful experience.
To begin with, the place is set out as some weird sort of sociological experiment, to navigate the showroom, you need to work your way through a strange maze of cheap furniture, stacks of handy books, bought in bulk because they are in Swedish, hordes of tape measure wielding psychopaths and stacks of packets of Swedish Potato Crisps )that little known example of Sweden's Cultural grant to the world)
I swear that somewhere there is a Swedish guy in a fetching sweater laughing hysterically and saying "So you thought the Swedish Chef was funny! Take that Anglo's!"
The overwhelming thought that occurred to both myself and the navigator and tea drinker was something along the lines that maybe Marx was right after all. The emporium is newly opened, and was apparently the cause of a traffic jam stretching at least two kilometers, on a Sunday afternoon in one of the quieter parts of the city. The local TV news were so desperate for stories that they had a camera crew on the median strip filming the lemmings being funneled into the carpark.
Inside was this ridiculous human porridge, all involved in some sad consumer fetish. I cannot believe that there is some weird shortage of furniture in this town that needed to be rectified on this specific Sunday afternoon. Nor do I believe that the product represents some sort of bargain, somewhat overpriced, probably made in a Sweat Shop(The company in question don't identify the country of origin of their products, only their "Brand"in the full Naomi Klein, Globalised sense of the word.
Seriously, do we need to buy Potato Chips called Ellinor to fully appreciate the act of buying furniture?
Thought not.
So why were we all there?
Curiosity on our part, the media have invested a somewhat ridiculous amount of time and energy plugging the arrival of this particular consumer opportunity in our fair burrough.We thought, let's go, have a look, see if it truly is the second coming or if it is just a pile of furniture in non recycled cardboard boxes next to an airport.
It's just a pile of furniture next to an airport.
But it does represent something a little more than that he says getting all profound.
Consider the amount of wealth, resources and energy consumed for a bunch of people to buy stuff that they don't need, that will probably fall apart in a few years, and to sit in queues in traffic looking for a carpark, the way in or out and the last vestiges of their sanity.
30 000 people die per day needlessly in Africa, remember the whole make poverty history, live 8 thing?.
Thought you might, the big groovy concert with Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney and all them, U2 even sang!
They were highlighting that sobering fact, 30 000 per day, every day, from causes that are conquerable.
Yet we all sit in our little noise boxes in the traffic jam, burning hydrocarbons and watching the conspicuous consumption meter ticking over. Then we cruise inside to a wonderland of earthly consumer delights!
How about, we do the Adbusters thing and have our own little buy nothing day instead?
How about we then take the money we waste sitting in our little traffic jam and divert it soemwhere else.
To donate a Goat to a family in Africa costs about $50 Australian. Lets break it down a bit. $50, lets see, fuel for the car at $1.40 a litre, allow ten litres to get there and back (assuming we don't all run on Biodiesel or have a Prius)That's about $15 to start with. Then the packaging on the furniture, probably another $5 (guessing here)$20 already and we haven't really done a lot. Packets of Ellinors for 2, guessing another $6, Cokeapepsifantas times 2 another $5.
That makes?
$31, or half a goat.
Electricity to run the building, or a value on power to run the aircon in the car,(don't want to get too hot do we?) and we are getting up there.
What is the average conscience worth?
Mine is pretty cheap, but I reckon the balance of $15 to $20 should cover it?
So instead of shuffling along in a column like Belsen inmates, or eating processed crap from a cardboard plate, do something productive with your wealth. Yes that is you, the nice educated middleclass blog reader who should be working, but who like me is having a nice little procrastinate.
What's that?
You need furniture?
That's fine, find a craftsman, an independent, patronise a small business.
The stuff will last longer anyway!
To begin with, the place is set out as some weird sort of sociological experiment, to navigate the showroom, you need to work your way through a strange maze of cheap furniture, stacks of handy books, bought in bulk because they are in Swedish, hordes of tape measure wielding psychopaths and stacks of packets of Swedish Potato Crisps )that little known example of Sweden's Cultural grant to the world)
I swear that somewhere there is a Swedish guy in a fetching sweater laughing hysterically and saying "So you thought the Swedish Chef was funny! Take that Anglo's!"
The overwhelming thought that occurred to both myself and the navigator and tea drinker was something along the lines that maybe Marx was right after all. The emporium is newly opened, and was apparently the cause of a traffic jam stretching at least two kilometers, on a Sunday afternoon in one of the quieter parts of the city. The local TV news were so desperate for stories that they had a camera crew on the median strip filming the lemmings being funneled into the carpark.
Inside was this ridiculous human porridge, all involved in some sad consumer fetish. I cannot believe that there is some weird shortage of furniture in this town that needed to be rectified on this specific Sunday afternoon. Nor do I believe that the product represents some sort of bargain, somewhat overpriced, probably made in a Sweat Shop(The company in question don't identify the country of origin of their products, only their "Brand"in the full Naomi Klein, Globalised sense of the word.
Seriously, do we need to buy Potato Chips called Ellinor to fully appreciate the act of buying furniture?
Thought not.
So why were we all there?
Curiosity on our part, the media have invested a somewhat ridiculous amount of time and energy plugging the arrival of this particular consumer opportunity in our fair burrough.We thought, let's go, have a look, see if it truly is the second coming or if it is just a pile of furniture in non recycled cardboard boxes next to an airport.
It's just a pile of furniture next to an airport.
But it does represent something a little more than that he says getting all profound.
Consider the amount of wealth, resources and energy consumed for a bunch of people to buy stuff that they don't need, that will probably fall apart in a few years, and to sit in queues in traffic looking for a carpark, the way in or out and the last vestiges of their sanity.
30 000 people die per day needlessly in Africa, remember the whole make poverty history, live 8 thing?.
Thought you might, the big groovy concert with Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney and all them, U2 even sang!
They were highlighting that sobering fact, 30 000 per day, every day, from causes that are conquerable.
Yet we all sit in our little noise boxes in the traffic jam, burning hydrocarbons and watching the conspicuous consumption meter ticking over. Then we cruise inside to a wonderland of earthly consumer delights!
How about, we do the Adbusters thing and have our own little buy nothing day instead?
How about we then take the money we waste sitting in our little traffic jam and divert it soemwhere else.
To donate a Goat to a family in Africa costs about $50 Australian. Lets break it down a bit. $50, lets see, fuel for the car at $1.40 a litre, allow ten litres to get there and back (assuming we don't all run on Biodiesel or have a Prius)That's about $15 to start with. Then the packaging on the furniture, probably another $5 (guessing here)$20 already and we haven't really done a lot. Packets of Ellinors for 2, guessing another $6, Cokeapepsifantas times 2 another $5.
That makes?
$31, or half a goat.
Electricity to run the building, or a value on power to run the aircon in the car,(don't want to get too hot do we?) and we are getting up there.
What is the average conscience worth?
Mine is pretty cheap, but I reckon the balance of $15 to $20 should cover it?
So instead of shuffling along in a column like Belsen inmates, or eating processed crap from a cardboard plate, do something productive with your wealth. Yes that is you, the nice educated middleclass blog reader who should be working, but who like me is having a nice little procrastinate.
What's that?
You need furniture?
That's fine, find a craftsman, an independent, patronise a small business.
The stuff will last longer anyway!
posted by caerdadh at 7:44 pm
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