Stop the Insanity!

Most readers have probably been wondering when my socialist/non-capitalist streak would come out. That side of me has been quiet for a while, but I saw this headline and I just thought people are nuts! Designer Bag Hysteria at Whole Foods

Is it just me? I really don’t get it – What’s all this fuss for a cloth bag that was probably made in some sweat shop in the third world country using child labour and costs 25 cents.

I like nice, pretty, well designed things, be it clothes, shoes, tech gadgets just as much as the next person. I can even understand the hysteria over the iPhone or anything technology related. I would love to be a buyer at Holts, and I am a foodie, so good food is definitely one of my indulgences.

However this whole obsession with designer stuff is just distasteful at all levels. I understand that high fashion is a business, but it’s just so sad that we as a society are so shallow that we can’t see the fact that really it’s all about people trying to fit in. Working and living downtown, I see a lot of people dressed head to toe in designer garb, and on any given day these people have at least $10,000 worth of ‘stuff’ on themselves. I realize that it is hard to try and not get swept away in our culture of excess. However, my philosophy has always been that money in the bank is better.

The funniest thing is now that ‘saving the planet’ has become trendy we are being encouraged to do what most people in third world countries having been doing for decades. Reuse plastic bags and use cloth or jute bags. A $15 grocery canvas bag being hawked on Ebay for over $150, just because some designer created it, is just ridiculous. This is herd mentality at its worst.