Not to sound like some asshole elitist but the rampant materialism of niche subcultures is so weird. I have fallen victim to it before so I'm not perfect, but it urks me how monetized hobbies and general interests can be
I have a burner reddit account and recently stumbled upon cottagecore. It seemed nice at first and like it was a group of people wanting to slow down, focus on sustainable practices, and all that jazz. Instead I realized it's just a bunch of white middle class people larping as grandmas, baking bread for the aesthetic and ordering stuff off of Amazon and Shein to take selfies with. Legit every recent post is someone showing off some stupid shirt or knicknack they found at a store - no discussions on sustainability, gardening, etc. Any hobby subreddit is full of links of people trying to sell shit you dont need - I got into longboarding and the sub tried convincing me to buy $300 wheels. I can't post in the archery subreddit unless I have the latest Hoyt. Don't even get me started on the fitness groups.
This is not coherent at all. Again, I'm not perfect at all or immune to materialism. But for some reason it's just really grinding my gears this morning I figured a site full of communists would get it. End rant
Reposting a similar rant I made in a thread a couple months ago:
I’m tired, generally, of being sold lifestyle or aesthetic stuff.
For instance, I’m into old hand tools. [edited out a few lines where I justify my interest]… Anyway, hand tools, I think they’re neat and I think it’s neat to build stuff with them.
Which brings me to Mortise & Tenon Magazine, a publication specifically about hand tools and hand-tool woodworking. I’ve got nothing against this magazine in particular, while I’m not yet a subscriber it seems like the team behind it is doing good work and trying to make a living while writing about an extremely niche hobby. But, when I was viewing their youtube content a few weeks ago, it became clear to me that the magazine isn’t like other woodworking magazines that I’ve encountered, M&T are clearly also selling an aesthetic and a lifestyle. That lifestyle being a conscious rejection of consumerist culture for something more ‘meaningful’. Not that a hobby centered around creative expression isn’t actually meaningful, but the notion of that being a selling point for an entire new way of life just irks me. Very few people are going to be able to make any sort of living doing some weird Thoreau shit.
I guess my point is I’m suspicious of people selling a Lifestyle in the same way I’m suspicious of the self-help section of a bookstore. It feels like an entire industry of people, some genuine and some quacks, have all managed to commodify something that was good or could have been good but now, through that commodification, is just one more way to chase an empty promise of fulfillment through consumption.
Oh thats another interesting layer. Kinda reminds me of eco friendly companies that convince people that buying up all their bamboo straws and bamboo towels and bars of soap and have it shipped across the world is better for the planet than just using what you already have on hand.