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.
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.