Conversation

With the arrival of her Netflix special, thought I'd dust off one of my hottest takes: Marie Kondo as consumerist nightmare. ➡️
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Most people imagine the Japanese minimalism stereotype when they think "KonMari." But this could only be the home of someone for whom things do not generally spark joy. Otherwise, their home would be full of things.
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To maximize our joy, KonMari implies that we should ingest and excrete a firehose of things. This is an ultra-consumerist idea. To see it in action, don't look to tidy homes. Instead look to Akihabara, buffets, subscription toothbrushes and underwear, Snapchat.
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"We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of." This is a radical and liberating concept. But those who depend on things to spark joy will endlessly guzzle from the firehose, their thirst never quenched, their hard drive never full.
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Replying to
Kondo writes lovingly of a raggedy old t-shirt she has. and something like a great durable pair of jeans can spark a lot of joy. But for most, novelty will spark more joy than durability. Hard to see how KonMari does anything to challenge that mindset
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