'Why would anybody spend £15.99 on a 12” diameter hanging
ball made of green plastic leaves? There’s no art in them, no craft in them,
little of aesthetic value since they’re not even real leaves, and no practical
value at all.'
Because they’re there. Because people want something to
spend money on, because we’ve come to the point where the main focus of life is
acquiring things you haven’t already got, however artless, craftless or
pointless they are.
If these things didn’t exist, would you encounter groups of
people hanging dejectedly around street corners saying ‘Oh dear, I do wish
somebody would invent a hanging ball, about 12” in diameter, made of green
plastic leaves. I’ve always wanted one of those. Life just isn’t the same
without them.’
No. But they still buy them because they’re there, and because
buying things is what you do. I wonder how far this can go before people wake
up and say ‘But actually, I have no use for a hanging ball made of green
plastic leaves, so what’s the point in buying one?’
The problem is that the world is awash with green plastic
hanging balls. Shop windows everywhere – especially in shopping malls – are full
of things that are artless, craftless and utterly pointless. But if everybody
stopped buying them, the economy would collapse, and then we would have to go back
to a simpler way of living, crying into our home made soup until we got used to
it again.
I’m unusually tired tonight. I think somebody waved goodbye
to me at 0436 their time this morning. That’s never happened before.
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