I've been thinking about Karens a lot and why they get irrationally angry and stuff when refused service and I came to the conclusion that capitalism has sublimated the act of consumption into an exercise of freedom, and in many regards, choosing what to consume is one of the few realms where we are allowed at least the illusion of autonomy and cultural identity. It's not that "consume or everything you know will cease to exist", rather "the pandemic has removed your only means of self-determination, get it back". So when Karens are refused service, in they minds they are effectively losing their very freedom and fucking lose it.
I agree with what you said about the Karen ideals, a lot of the anger comes from their inability to exercise their freedom to consume. It was a lot of the idea behind the reopening protests, wanting people to get back to work to allow them to be able to get their hair done, buy shit, go to restaurants, or whatever else.
However, with:
It’s not that “consume or everything you know will cease to exist”, rather “the pandemic has removed your only means of self-determination, get it back”.
This specific ad said "as places begin to reopen, be sure to visit your favorite small business or it may be gone forever."
Yes, you are correct. It's just the idea that you can will businesses not to close (literally, stop the world from changing, in a way) and that you can enforce that will through your loyal patronage strikes me as belonging in the same realm of commodity fetishism as Karens screaming their guts out after being unable to spend their dollarydoos at Costco because they refuse to wear a mask.
that is the main element of it. also, some of them just have had their brains rotted by money and lack the capacity to understand what to do otherwise. It looks like a persons happiness is calculated by the brain via six month floating average. So, if you take a person with so much money that nothing ever goes wrong for them. Over a long enough period they lose all perspective. Consider then that their brain ranks emotions relative to itself. So, for a karen, it is entirely possible that their starbucks order being wrong is the worst thing they can remember actually happening to them . so they are 10/10 distressed at an insignificant even because their brain can't remember a significant event to compare it to.
I came to the conclusion that capitalism has sublimated the act of consumption into an exercise of freedom, and in many regards, choosing what to consume is one of the few realms where we are allowed at least the illusion of autonomy and cultural identity.
This is a really annoying take to me, along with the idea that the "market" or Capitalists hate lockdows. Public trust is lower than ever, and people don't like being told what to do by people they don't trust. Lockdowns fucking suck, and more importantly, they don't actually impact your ability to consume! You can still shop from home, order food, buy a lot of services, etc. The idea that Amazon, Apple, any consumer goods company hate lockdown is just ass-backwards. They love it when everybody is bored, scared, and forced to use their services. Travel and leisure got turbo fucked, but the Capital class in general would be absolutely fine with a permanent lockdown.
You can still shop from home, order food, buy a lot of services, etc.
That's not how boomers (and even just suburban Americans in general imo) like to consume though. Suburban Americans love getting in their car and spending a day on the weekend going from store to store just looking for things to buy and stopping at a restaurant for lunch and dinner.
I agree with you the lockdown sucks for everyone, but for suburban Americans it largely sucks because they can't leave their homes to consume which is how they spend a majority of their time.
suburban Americans it largely sucks because they can’t leave their homes to consume which is how they spend a majority of their time.
This is just a hack Bush-era lib comedian take on dumb fat Americans. A lot of the initial lockdowns closed parks, beaches, etc. which is way more of a leash than "greedy Boomers can't go to Fuddruckers and cough on a heroic waiter"
Karens throwing temper tantrums in public does not directly translate to the experience of the rest of the people within consumer society (I don't particularly think Karens are a generalized thing) nor am I claiming that online retailers hate lockdowns (?)
What I'm arguing is that some people think that their inability to consume whenever they want, however they wish is a personal affront because consumption is ersatz freedom in western society. If everyone in the Amazon fulfillment centers, and every Uber eats gig economy worker went on strike, you'd probably see shitton of Karen - level meltdowns about it in twitter or whatever. I don't think the means of consumption factor in that much, just the inability to do so.
I've been thinking about Karens a lot and why they get irrationally angry and stuff when refused service and I came to the conclusion that capitalism has sublimated the act of consumption into an exercise of freedom, and in many regards, choosing what to consume is one of the few realms where we are allowed at least the illusion of autonomy and cultural identity. It's not that "consume or everything you know will cease to exist", rather "the pandemic has removed your only means of self-determination, get it back". So when Karens are refused service, in they minds they are effectively losing their very freedom and fucking lose it.
I agree with what you said about the Karen ideals, a lot of the anger comes from their inability to exercise their freedom to consume. It was a lot of the idea behind the reopening protests, wanting people to get back to work to allow them to be able to get their hair done, buy shit, go to restaurants, or whatever else.
However, with:
This specific ad said "as places begin to reopen, be sure to visit your favorite small business or it may be gone forever."
Yes, you are correct. It's just the idea that you can will businesses not to close (literally, stop the world from changing, in a way) and that you can enforce that will through your loyal patronage strikes me as belonging in the same realm of commodity fetishism as Karens screaming their guts out after being unable to spend their dollarydoos at Costco because they refuse to wear a mask.
This was basically Matt's explanation of the anger behind the MacDonalds Sezchuan sauce debacle.
Where did Matt talk about the szechuan sauce trash fire lol
In the pod?
Yeah I think it was him.
that is the main element of it. also, some of them just have had their brains rotted by money and lack the capacity to understand what to do otherwise. It looks like a persons happiness is calculated by the brain via six month floating average. So, if you take a person with so much money that nothing ever goes wrong for them. Over a long enough period they lose all perspective. Consider then that their brain ranks emotions relative to itself. So, for a karen, it is entirely possible that their starbucks order being wrong is the worst thing they can remember actually happening to them . so they are 10/10 distressed at an insignificant even because their brain can't remember a significant event to compare it to.
This is a really annoying take to me, along with the idea that the "market" or Capitalists hate lockdows. Public trust is lower than ever, and people don't like being told what to do by people they don't trust. Lockdowns fucking suck, and more importantly, they don't actually impact your ability to consume! You can still shop from home, order food, buy a lot of services, etc. The idea that Amazon, Apple, any consumer goods company hate lockdown is just ass-backwards. They love it when everybody is bored, scared, and forced to use their services. Travel and leisure got turbo fucked, but the Capital class in general would be absolutely fine with a permanent lockdown.
That's not how boomers (and even just suburban Americans in general imo) like to consume though. Suburban Americans love getting in their car and spending a day on the weekend going from store to store just looking for things to buy and stopping at a restaurant for lunch and dinner.
I agree with you the lockdown sucks for everyone, but for suburban Americans it largely sucks because they can't leave their homes to consume which is how they spend a majority of their time.
This is just a hack Bush-era lib comedian take on dumb fat Americans. A lot of the initial lockdowns closed parks, beaches, etc. which is way more of a leash than "greedy Boomers can't go to Fuddruckers and cough on a heroic waiter"
I mean check the videos from the lockdown protests, parks had reopened and people were still out protesting.
I'm not saying it was a majority of the people, just the loudest bunch. That's why I specifically mentioned suburban americans.
Karens throwing temper tantrums in public does not directly translate to the experience of the rest of the people within consumer society (I don't particularly think Karens are a generalized thing) nor am I claiming that online retailers hate lockdowns (?)
What I'm arguing is that some people think that their inability to consume whenever they want, however they wish is a personal affront because consumption is ersatz freedom in western society. If everyone in the Amazon fulfillment centers, and every Uber eats gig economy worker went on strike, you'd probably see shitton of Karen - level meltdowns about it in twitter or whatever. I don't think the means of consumption factor in that much, just the inability to do so.
dude you've nailed it