We Need To STOP Mass-Production Of Goods

[Revvy]

So there's this whole movement on being green and reducing our carbon footprints and shit like that. Businesses have jumped on the bandwagon to be cool and not to appear as though they're evil corporations. It's all a load of bollocks really.

If people really cared about this planet, they'd stop mass-producing goods immediately. Mass production ONLY benefits the big bosses in charge of a given company; no one else. Not the government, not the people, not anyone else whatsoever. Ok, so mass-production may be responsible for driving down prices to us 'consumers', but that's only benefitting us in the short term, and there's a whole tonne of negative externalities we neglect to consider.

Look around your house, and try to remember the things you once had in your house. All the shit you have which has been rolled off a production line will probably last/has lasted you 5 years or so, maybe even less before you replace the given item. Furniture/electronics/cars .etc .etc Every time you replace this item, you're going to spend more money (effort) in replacing these items and in the long run you're going to end up spending much more than if you bought something quality in the first place. Look in old estates: the furniture in houses there has lasted for centuries; yet in my house my mum replaces a cabinet every 5 years or so - it's just stupid.

But money's not even the most important aspect here. All this mass-production, and constant replacing of goods is using up MASSIVE amounts of resources in the process. Through all of us wanting the brand new ipod when it comes out, we're bit by bit decreasing the amount of time we, as a species, may be able to spend on this planet. Or if you're selfish enough to not give a fuck, then this constant demand for resources is driving up the prices and fuelling instability in the world. If we just calmed the fuck down as 'consumers' - fuel prices would inevitably be lower. Just try to imagine how much oil needs to be used in order to produce all the plastic we demand in the world: it's an incomprehendable amount.

You're bound to now argue that this constant rush for new products drives innovation, and yes, it does - if Apple didn't constantly try to constantly make as much money as possible out of us, we'd probably have 1gb ipods instead of 1900909199191gb ipods. Ok, I'm being a bit harsh - but on the whole, do we actually need these new 'innovations'? Bar medicine and important stuff like that - items not driven by a consumer market (I think), people lived perfectly fine in the past. People weren't as reliant on being a slave to the consumer rat race, and actually used their minds and creativity to find fun. Tell me, what's more beneficial to society: children who try to make their own fun, or children who watch mind numbing TV programmes all day? And also, this rush for innovation isn't good at all. Look at how much we've developed in the last 100 years, and look at the social problems our consumer driven innovations have caused: look at the alienation our generation faces. This boom in product development has been like a huge shock to our species and has put us on the edge. If we keep on developing and developing and developing, we're not going to be able to keep up. We're going to be way above our heads and fuck up all what's great about the human race. We need to take a step back and just calm it for a while. Innovation won't ever stop, it'll just happen at a slower rate. There's no big rush is there?

Additionally, the quality of mass produced products suck ass. They're boring, plastic, soul-less pieces of shit. The more and more we submit ourselves to them, the closer we will come to being like machines: only caring about effiency and whatnot: not giving a fuck about the effort which has gone into something; it's artistic value; it's history .etc The cheap goods we're producing are also destroying livelihoods and cultures, and costing us jobs, in the process; replacing them with huge multinational corporations who are more powerful than some nations - but that's a whole other area.


Basically, the bottom line is. We're trading quality, culture and stability for quantity, depletion, alienation and instability: not a good way to go.

Before you whinge about me being a hypocrit by enjoying Totse. I'd rather be on an 1989 underground dial up Totse than the one today.

[Chimro]

Please discard all of your mass produced items and go live in the forest like the hippie faggot you are.

[Revvy]

Originally Posted by Chimro

Please discard all of your mass produced items and go live in the forest like the hippie faggot you are.

wow0ow0ow0ww. Nice logic you fucking idiot.

[dal7timgar]

they'd stop mass-producing goods immediately. Mass production ONLY benefits the big bosses in charge of a given company; no one else.

Gross oversimplification and impossibility. Some crap should be eliminated but other things should just be made better. If the life expectancy of a lot of products could be increased by factors of 3 to 10 then their environmental footprint could be reduced considerably.

DT

[LuKaZz420]

People have been saying this since forever, but it is true we've been getting increasingly consumeristic, goods are not made to last, they're build cheaply, they break fast and most importantly they are marketed to follow some current trend, so even if they still keep on working they'll look outdated in a matter of months and people will discard them.

Just look at how often people change their cars, it's not like you really need to you just want one that looks better or increases your social status.

In my little I'm quite proud of myself, I've been using the same Mac for over five years now, I've had the same iPod for 3 years and my phone for at least a year, the sad thing is that people around me change those things like every six months.

[Masero]

Originally Posted by dal7timgar

Gross oversimplification and impossibility. Some crap should be eliminated but other things should just be made better. If the life expectancy of a lot of products could be increased by factors of 3 to 10 then their environmental footprint could be reduced considerably.

DT

And if the life expectancy of products is increased... big corporations don't make their money. The old 80's american cars made out of steel vs. the carbon fibre cars of today... which one is more durable? Obvs the 80's. Which one do they make now? Obvs the one that breaks down and fucks up easier... so you have to buy more and more.

They realised what you're saying is healthier for our enviorment... but then they realised the opposite is healthier for their wallets. As if, when you die, those millions go with you... Oh wait! They don't. Oh well... leave it to fat american businessmen to be greedy and think that money matters most in life.


EDIT: Damn you Luk... beat me to the overall point.

[Chimro]

Originally Posted by Revvy

wow0ow0ow0ww. Nice logic you fucking idiot.

My logic is a lot better than yours and it didn't take me seven paragraphs to make my point.

[Revvy]

Originally Posted by Chimro

My logic is a lot better than yours and it didn't take me seven paragraphs to make my point.

Keep telling yourself that mate.

P.s. rolleyes smiley gives you +10 bonus points.

[seekr]

Sorry bro, we've been on this road ever since agriculture was invented.

[Revvy]

Originally Posted by seekr

Sorry bro, we've been on this road ever since agriculture was invented.

So? Does that make it ok for companies to keep wasting OUR resources (they have no more right to them than we do) on producing useless throwaway shit which have no real positive externalities?

You can't compare food to ipods.