Saturday, July 24, 2010

The revolution will be monetazied - well, maybe not this time

A web site called the Great American Apparel Diet invites visitors to commit not to buy any new clothes for a whole year. Since last September, 150 people have taken the pledge, though some have quit. Even the founder of the web site cheated twice, so going cold turkey on new apparel must be real stiff. More curiously, the pioneering dieter behind the website told a NYT reporter "she had thought about ways to make money off the diet." At the end, she decided to pass on the maintenance of the web site to future apparel dieters. One might sense a glaring contradiction between the spirit of the whole initiative and the urge to make money off its success. On the other hand, if we become overly sensitive about such cultural contradictions of capitalism, the whole economy could grind to a halt - like in North Korea.