Convenience Culture; an Amendment to an insensitive Instagram post
An amazing friend who calls me out on my shit brought to my attention that my comment about Convenience culture in my last Instagram post came across as an anti-poverty stance.
I’d love to address this because they’re absolutely right... but I did not intend it to mean how it could be taken. I did not wish to shame or degrade anyone who consumes anything out of convenience reasons. Oftentimes, these are absolute necessities and survival is contingent upon them. There is a lot of privilege associated with getting to do things the “inconvenient way." The dedication of time and knowledge are both resources that should not be taken for granted. Also, those aware of that privilege should not just appreciate it. Appreciation or acknowledgment of privilege alone is not enough. It is also vital to not create a tier system that shames the alternative routes. This is important since it’s most often not a choice and instead systemically imposed. Lack of time is a symptom of a highly exploitative system, and I do not hold any time-saving measures against anyone. Packaged foods that are microwavable target individuals who lack time to cook and who may need to venture far for access to fresh produce or ingredients. These facts and discrepancies are widespread structures of oppression and violence. It’s an instance of environmental racism and food apartheid/warfare. The ease of access and cost-effectiveness of these goods versus the obstacles and price associated with the alternative constitutes a rigged and violent system. This is not the convenience culture I meant to address. This lack of time is not their fault but rather the systemic failure of not having a citizenry with ample and equitable options for both quality of food and the leisure time and energy to prepare it. I did wish, however, to describe a very important phenomenon which is how convenience culture has drastically altered our society.
Saved passwords are convenient. They do, however, radically alter the privacy landscape of the internet and therefore the power structure of human beings on earth.
Swiping on Tinder or dating apps 100 times in 2 minutes instead of going on one bad date for an hour is convenient. It has also drastically altered the dating landscape of society, and in no small way...how humans interact with one another. As has porn, irrevocably, very convenient as well.
Amazon is convenient, but it constitutes a maximally dehumanizing business model that separates us from the process. The cheap and quick delivery options mixed with the convenience of it being an endlessly one-stop-shop make Amazon unbelievably efficient.
But separating this otherworldly service from the dreadful working conditions and violence that enables such efficiency creates the sort of consumer entitlement that constitutes an existential threat. (Amazon is so dangerous!) So really, I meant, don’t be a jerk and expect too much because you don’t know what things take and how lucky you are. Appreciate how much went into a home-cooked meal (or any good or service), because nearly none of us grow our own food. Connecting with processes and knowing what feeds you, sustains your way of life, and what you consume is a highly beneficial practice. It is essential for sustainability. I do not wish to place the burden on anyone who has limited/no options. I do, however, wish to call attention to the importance of prioritizing knowledge of our consumption and its impact to whatever degree possible. Not only in the essential environmental, resource/waste production way… but also in ways of spiritual reciprocity. Knowing how hard it is to create, build, or maintain something will help you honor the efforts of those working hard, often invisibly so, to deliver you a good or service.
To complicate the issue sometimes systemic changes do come from individual efforts snowballed. This does unfairly and unjustly place burdens on the oppressed.
Also, the joy of doing or creating something you depend on. I did not mean to shame or place a burden on those who are fighting for survival and battling vicious and sociopathic oppression.
Entitlement as I used it earlier should not be conflated with the way Mitt Romney used it in 2012. Quoted below.
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. ….. who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them.”
I firmly believe that everyone should have their basic needs covered (food, shelter, medical, education, etc.) and that production, effectiveness, and joy indexes would skyrocket if this were the case.
I actually think it would even be an amazing thing for capitalism, a system not designed to maximize human joy, connectivity, or progression… Instead, what I meant by this statement is those who have never waited tables at a restaurant, or cooked a meal, or grown food, have less appreciation for the process than those who have directly experienced it. This separation can cause expectations that don’t match up with reality given their lack of awareness. I’ve had a massive growth in appreciation of things I’ve had in my past, that has occurred as a direct result of my “doing”. This is what I’d sought to emphasize the value of. I’d like to equally emphasize in the future, the plight of the proletariat, and the systemic structures that must be undone! I have, as a result of a few complexes, become very verbose, wordy, and intolerable.
I wish to be pithy and eliminate some of that, but here I did so in a way that left room for sweeping generalizations that attacked poverty. The very opposite of what I set out to do. Damn effective communication is hard.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for my dear friend with whom I often disagree about strategy and application, but always spiritually agree in essence. (My stance, not theirs, maybe they disagree and a half) … What an amazing soul. Thank you for challenging me and for your vigor and steadfastness. I always encourage any of you reading to call me out for insensitivities. I am deeply flawed and have been conditioned to be so in critical ways. But I care about growing and am committed to unlearning damaging attributes of my philosophies. Always bring such critiques forward!
And thanks to all other readers and friends for tolerating my flaws, inadequacies as well as witnessing my positive contributions and aspects.
p.s
I think gratitude and gratefulness are underutilized in our society on an individual spiritual. However, gratitude as a concept is often cynically used to continue perpetuating or ignoring inequality without accountability.