[lbo-talk] Socialism, asceticism, prudishness...

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Aug 2 08:41:51 PDT 2003


<jbujes at covad.net> wrote:


>decadent Capitalism

One of the most notable features of American capitalism today is how much stunning ugliness it produces - hideous strip malls, suburban developments, etc. Wal-Mart is an organized aesthetic crime. The point was brought home to me a few years ago: a mile or two inland from the Oregon coast, surely one of the more beautiful natural landscapes on earth, I stopped at a convenience store that was made of corrugated tin. The ugliness emerges right out of the American culture and political economy - a Protestant suspicion of beauty and pleasure combined with cost minimization and lowest common denominator marketing. Against that, the pursuit of beauty is a political act.

Doug



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