Ranting.

[elfs]

Look at this building. This has to be one of the most horrific eyesores ever inflicted upon a people. From the gasheous, cyclopeon walkway to that malevolent and violent glare of its outer shell, this thing deserves nothing less than to be razed to the ground. The idea of a host of construction like this in one place raises shivers. It's the kind of place one expects to find a Dalek.

But we shouldn't worry. For some reason the government of Britain has decided that all future planning permits have a lifespan of 30 years. The equation by which old buildings are determined to be "old" rather than "heritage" and worthy of restoration is apparently arcane and biased towards demolition. Britain, it seems, is determined to reach the domed cities of a Dr. Who episode in short order and has put into place policies to make that happen as fast as possible.

Whatever happened to the respectable art of making buildings that, in theory, should last forever? Is there something wrong with making a place that will be as comfortable, as maintainable, and as humane a century from now as it is today? Christopher Alexander wrote the book, "Pattern Languages of Architecture," to point out the obvious: we know what kinds of places human beings like to live and work in, we should build with those likes in mind and not go all-out to "innovate," especially not in expensive constructs that people have to live and work in!

---

In a similar vein, there's a great article by economist Thomas DeGregori in which he points out that with thet advent of the modern age, when we're asking for "handmade" goods we're frequently paying extra for inferiority, for flaws, for signs of the craftsman's hands. Once craftsmen have perfected a form, mass-production assures us that any mistakes they may have made in reproducing the form will not be made. Hand-made is artificially contrived scarcity, and rarely exceeds machine-made in quality.

When this principle is applied to food production, it becomes even more apparent. We've gone from the backbreaking and torturous job of spreading manure and plowing by hand to machine tillage and harvesting. We plow to get rid of weed, but tillage creates runoff that pollutes streams and robs the topsoil of its organic economic value. Now genetic engineering enables no-till production with output exceeding that of many modern farms. No runoff, reduced pollution, reduced need for chemical pecticides. This is a good thing.

Someone claimed to me that the protestors in Cancun were "living what they believed," setting up sustainable mini-environments of their own. Nothing could be further from the truth: they trucked in that equipment, which required enormous manufacturing infrastructures to support, from the outside.

"Sustainable" simply isn't. Handmade should not be confused with "superior" from a material point of view. Sentimental should not be confused with practical. Nor should innovative.

Comments

[secanth.livejournal.com]

That is...horrible. I'd hate to have to walk past that thing on a dark night.

As to handmade vs. machine made...no comment, at least in the arts and crafts area. I'm a cross stitcher...I'm already prejudiced. I will note, however, that there is a difference between *good* mass production and mass production that invades so many of our department stores. I'd much rather have a good handmade basket than a mass produced one that falls apart in six months. *Good* mass production does indeed produce excellent goods...the other type produces things that are disposable or badly made. (Ask any woman that sews about blouses with no seam allowances...they'll tell ya.)

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Hey! They've got their own EMP! (Blech)

when we're asking for "handmade" goods we're frequently paying extra for inferiority,

I have to agree with Secanth on this. There's an awful lot of crappy mass production out there. For the last few decades they've even been building in obsolescence. Just look at furniture for instance. I'm currently sitting at a desk made of composite wood (that's basically sawdust and glue). It's a good desk, except that I've already had to shore up the rear leg section and it's barely 4 years old. My uncle's 40some year old real wood desk is still going to be here long after this one falls apart.

And mass produced clothing has more problems than mere seam allowance. The buttons are my big gripe, I always have to replace at least half the buttons about a month or two after purchasing a new blouse. Also, I recently went shopping for jeans (it's been about 10 years) and I couldn't believe how thin the material on most brands was. These are jeans for cryin' in the beer, not cotton slacks.

And don't get me started on the difference between me and my Grams' quilts and afghans and those in department stores!

Granted, there are alot of good mass produced items too, but mass production in itself is *not* any better than hand-made.

[jenkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the decent-handmade vs. crappy-mass-produced. That's why I learned to sew, so I could have some well-made, well-tailored clothing without having to spend an arm and a leg for it. Yes, Elf, I understand there's a price to quality, but if it's all being made by machine anyway, that still doesn't account for the atrocious markup over the cheaper stuff. And the meantime, I'll keep shopping in secondhand stores (where the clothing I find has already proven it'll withstand the test of time), or sewing it myself.

And don't get me started on canned soup...

[secanth.livejournal.com]

Or those ultimates in mass production, TV dinners.

[jenk]

Don't you mean McDonald's? ;)

[secanth.livejournal.com]

Them too. (grin) Having worked at McDonald's at one point...no, kiddies, no one's standing in the kitchen chopping up that lettuce...it comes in great big bags...

TV Dinners

[(Anonymous)]

Believe what you will, but there are actually decent TV dinners out there. They tend to be the "gourmet" brands and are therefore incredibly expensive, but you can generally find a supermarket that will discount them to $2 per on a rotating schedule of brands (my local Safeway does this).

The only issue is that there aren't really any which are microwaveable; microwaving them leaves you with tasteless, chewy stuff. So you have to stick them in the oven for 30-60 minutes, and if you're doing that, why not cook?

I _do_ actually do this on occasion, mostly when I'm too tired to cook and not hungry enough to want to eat immediately (i.e. eat out).

So yes, mass production can and does make cheap, bad products. It also makes good products of varying costs. Whereas handmade is almost uniformly expensive, and of variable quality.

The big benefit of mass production is not in the quality, but rather in the price.


-Malthus

Re: TV Dinners

[secanth.livejournal.com]

This is true. (grin) I can't say much, there are several 'TV dinners' I actually like. And you're right, microwaving them turns them to cardboard.

And I also agree about the price. Yes, 'handmade' is expensive, but if the quality is good, the cost/benefit ratio is much better than *most* mass produced items...and for the same quality, the price is similar. I can buy a desk at K-mart...or I can go to the local Amish Oak and pay a great deal more. OR I could call my SIL, who makes custom furniture. The $100 I might spend at K-mart for said desk is definately cheaper that the $800 I'd pay at Amish Oak for a simple desk...and my SIL can make something of equal quality for around the same price. And that 'handmade' desk will last a very long time.

As far as clothing...sorry, when I look at a 'quality' piece of clothing (say a blouse) with a price tag of $80 or $90 bucks...and I *know* I can make it for under $15 or can buy a cheaply made version at K-mart for $20.00...guess which one of the three I'm going to pick? Fifty bucks for a skirt I could make for ten? Quality clothing costs far less to make than the astronomical price tags they stick on it, and even the 'quality' stuff has problems in the fit department. Not to mention the fact that with the quality stuff...you are paying big bucks for a 'label', and not necessarily the clothing itself. Buyer beware.

This bothers me for a couple reasons. Our society is becoming more and more a 'disposable' culture. Things are designed to last a minimum amount of time, work minimally well, and be disposed of rather than fixed. And it all has to go somewhere, espically that non-degradable plastic. We're more and more becoming a society of waste.

The other reason? People don't expect things to be well made anymore...and they don't value it when it is. They expect trash. What do the teachers always say about people living up to your expectations of them? If we expect trash...that's what we'll get.

[secanth.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear on quilts and afgans. I have one made by my great-grandmother that's still being used. (Granted, it's a bit ragged on some of the piecework...but after 80 years of use, that's to be expected...)

The other problem with mass produced clothing, until handmade, is that it never really fits right. Being short, fat, short-waisted and possessed of a butt and stomach....makes you notice these things.

[secanth.livejournal.com]

That should be *unlike*, not *until* Ah hem.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the sizing too! I can almost never find dresses because I'm heavy with a high waist. They don't make 18+ in petite (read short).

[elfs.livejournal.com]

While I'm sure there's an "awful lot" of bad mass-production goods out there, you're concentrating on the points the author isn't making. Think about the other things in your house: can you imagine a blender that was hand-made? How ridiculously expensive would it be? What about pots and pans? Telephones? Wall-to-wall carpeting? Vacuum cleaners?

Especially when it comes to food production, "the mark of the farm" is noticeable not in the quality, but in the lack of quality. And those qualities that we still like in "heritage" crops will find their way into mass production eventually, if there's enough market for it.

[secanth.livejournal.com]

Okay...I was responding to your first paragraph in that section. No, I can't imagine a handmade blender, though apple presses and such have been around a long time. I was thinking in general terms, rather than commenting on agriculture.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Well, I agree about the technical stuff, but I rarely eat veggies thru the winter. Why? Because mass produced farm goods suck. And I greatly prefer my Great Aunt's beef (grown and butchered herself) and the venison Dad gets each year; I know for a fact I'm getting clean meat that way. But then I live in a country where I have the luxury of that choice. I can't imagine being able to feed all of us without the mass food industry.

Pots & pans? Bowls? Certain utensils? If I had the money I'd still prefer hand-made or at least slow made quality goods. I have my Great Gramma's kitchen stuff and it still works great. The pans have outlasted the crap I bought 5 years ago and the cookie sheets from 2 years ago are going already where G. Gram's are still good.

We know mass production can do things with good quality, but if things last too long that puts people out of work. That's why there're so many goods that don't last as long as they used to even though we have better tech today.

How long will your fridge last? Gram has a fridge from the 60's that's still running (well, she had to replace the latch 2 years ago). And look at cars as well. You're lucky to get one that lasts 10 years now, but my Uncle's 67 Chevy truck that's been through 2 farms, 2 tranny's and a re-built bed finally gave up just last year.

It just seems like the individual crafter at least remembers the pride in doing quality work. If we can return the value of quality to the mass produced goods I would again prefer those. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that we *can* have the best of both worlds and we don't have to settle for shoddy quality, wherever it comes from.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

"Handmade" does not always equal "superior", 'tis true, but in some instances the individually produced goods are better. I play with fibers, and there are worlds of difference between machine made yarns and handmade yarns.

Mass-produced wool, for instance, is treated with a number of nasty chemicals like sulfuric acid, because it's labor-intensive (and thus not economically sensible, if one is trying to make a profit) to process the fleece any other way. But those chemicals are what make many people (including me) "allergic" to wool, whereas my handspun yarn does not make me itch. Plus, it's a color combination that I simply cannot find in machine made yarns.

I could go on, but I'll be good. :-)

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

Whatever happened to the respectable art of making buildings that, in theory, should last forever?

I got news for you, Elf: All buildings fall down. No building lasts forever, even in theory.