| I got some spam today offering subscriptions to a magazine about “simplifying” your lifestyle. Now I understand: buying the right stuff can help you be more detached from material things. Sounds kinda Zen, doesn’t it? The whole pitch wavers back and forth between spending and having, and not-spending and not-having: The first premise is that we’ve bought unneeded things that clutter our homes and scatter our attentions. Therefore, we’d like to “simplify”: to dispose of what’s not beneficial or not important. But apparently we can’t figure out how to do this on our own, so we’re offered a magazine for $3.95 an issue at the newsstand. Now, spending $39.50 a year on (another) magazine seems an odd way to become less consumeristic. So we could obtain a discount by subscribing. On the other hand, would doing so mean that we’re becoming more focused on money and thus more materialistic, or is frugality itself contrary to consumerism? I really must go away and figure this thing out. On the other other hand, the pitch offers an enticement to make it an even better value: a free four-part Feng Shui kit, which includes:
The bottom line is that you can apparently simplify your cluttered life by getting some kitschy stuff and using some presumably dumbed-down, faux Chinese astrology to “Get Love”, “Get…Money”, “Get…Respect”, “Get…Happiness”. Because, after all, isn’t Getting what this is all about? |
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