The contradiction is that if you buy a new object every time you do end up with lots of objects sitting in your cellar or attic looking like a dumpster. And nobody’s keeping a checkerboard for a century – your heirs will just throw it in a landfill.
If you make something yourself, at least you spent some time constructing it during which you learn something and keep your mind active. Ideally you use things you have laying around the house and when you’re done the thing can be re-used for a future project or recycled. And every once in a while you make something that’s a little different and you have something new.
But if it makes you feel any better, your side is winning. People are indeed buying Super Soakers instead of just using a hose. And to convince them, there are ads everywhere.
People are indeed buying Super Soakers instead of just using a hose.
The point of this comparison is that they aren’t at all the same thing. People don’t want things that barely work and few have the time to learn new skills to craft what they want in an acceptable quality. Could any able-bodied adult pick up a knife and whittle themself a spoon? Probably. Most of those spoons are going to suck though and you can get one at Target for a couple bucks. It’s a position that feels out of touch.
I’m all for taking care of what you have and repairing rather than replacing when possible, and I’d love to collectively move away from plastic crap, but saying “just learn to make bread with all the free time and functional kitchen you for sure have” helps nobody except the speaker patting themself on the back.
(different person here)
The contradiction is that if you buy a new object every time you do end up with lots of objects sitting in your cellar or attic looking like a dumpster. And nobody’s keeping a checkerboard for a century – your heirs will just throw it in a landfill.
If you make something yourself, at least you spent some time constructing it during which you learn something and keep your mind active. Ideally you use things you have laying around the house and when you’re done the thing can be re-used for a future project or recycled. And every once in a while you make something that’s a little different and you have something new.
But if it makes you feel any better, your side is winning. People are indeed buying Super Soakers instead of just using a hose. And to convince them, there are ads everywhere.
The point of this comparison is that they aren’t at all the same thing. People don’t want things that barely work and few have the time to learn new skills to craft what they want in an acceptable quality. Could any able-bodied adult pick up a knife and whittle themself a spoon? Probably. Most of those spoons are going to suck though and you can get one at Target for a couple bucks. It’s a position that feels out of touch.
I’m all for taking care of what you have and repairing rather than replacing when possible, and I’d love to collectively move away from plastic crap, but saying “just learn to make bread with all the free time and functional kitchen you for sure have” helps nobody except the speaker patting themself on the back.
Well, I agree that we should collectively move away from plastic crap, so let’s hope that happens.