came across this article over at reason called Consumer Vertigo which mulls over the idea that we as consumers in a capitalist society of the 21st century have too many choices. “americans are facing a crisis of choice. we’re increasingly unhappy, riddled with anxiety and regret, because we have so much freedom to decide what to do with our money and our lives. some choice may be good, but we’ve gone over the limit. choices proliferate beyond our capacity to handle them. abundant choice is not something human beings are biologically evolved to cope with. at this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannize.”

i have to admit, i’ve had thoughts along these lines many times. in terms of clothes for instance- i’ve often felt common issue grey heather cult duds would ease many minds. in terms of products in general the sheer amount of “stuff” really does seem ridiculous. downright wasteful to be honest. who needs all this crap? i can’t help but worry, against all evidence to the contrary, that humanity’s precious supply of bullshitium, the fuel on which every product is launched, be it new air freshener delivery system or new political candidate, might be getting dangerously low! what i’m trying to say is against my capitalist training i can sympathize with the viewpoint that there is simply too much and that the overabundance does not do us any good.

i can imagine a world with less. no problem! though in my imaginings the products which remain are the ones i use. there’s the rub. since i choose “product set x” everything outside of that set naturally seems superfluous. a bunch of visual noise i could just as easily do without. on the flip side i have to assume that there are enough people buying sets a-w ,y, and z (they are still on sale even though i do not purchase them after all) to keep them in demand. i further have to assume that if all the products i consider useless crap were suddenly removed there would be millions of people with unfamiliar and unusual enough aftertastes in their mouths as to be very unhappy. heaven forbid! also there’s the tiny little matter of all the “new and improved” crap creators having to find another line of work. at this point i guess there is no turning back. well… not until the apocalypse that is! then we will have only a very few brands of football shoulder pads and leather jackets to wear while searching the deserts for gas.

as for the particular viewpoints of the article i do have to take issue with the sentence that reads “we’re increasingly unhappy, riddled with anxiety and regret, because we have so much freedom to decide what to do with our money and our lives.” for two reasons- first: i’m not sure the crippling anxiety and regret of the world can be chalked up to over abundance. the bullshit that’s part and parcel of brand and advertising overkill is galling sure (i have a theory about this which i’ll delve into another time). the physicality of all that crap is daunting, absolutely. the buyers remorse which will eventually warrant a pharmaceutical product line all it’s own is unfortunate, yes. the pervasive idea that there simply “must be something better” to be had (and not only is it out there but we deserve it by golly!) which, though appropriate for muffler sales also seeps like a ground toxin into every other cranny of life, is dangerous to individual happiness, certainly, but on the list of reasons we humans are miserable and hopelessly screwed-up i can’t say i think over abundance ought to rate very high. second: not sure the we have so much freedom to decide bit is even true.

all that being said when i was a kid and faced with the choice between one particular g.i.joe figure over another, say a choice between snake eyes and storm shadow, i’d inevitably get so frustrated at having to choose i’d blurt out “forget it! i don’t want either!” and huff and puff my way straight out of toys r’ us. there is a lesson there, but whether it has to do with the choices available or the mentality of the churlish chooser i’d rather not say.

what says our merry band of revolutionaries and capitalist swine?