Comment by soulofmischief

Comment by soulofmischief 2 days ago

14 replies

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Interesting. Do you feel like the values you're propagating into the world align with your own personal values?

I know personally that if I recognized some kitchen apparatus or product is redundant, and a something I already own such as a rag will do, I couldn't in good conscious perpetuate what I see as needless consumerism just to put another dollar in my wallet.

Basically, if I couldn't get on tiktok and make an earnest video about why what I'm selling is useful and worth existing, and why it personally matters to me, I don't think I could sell that product in good conscience. Even if the customer truly thinks it's a great product, if I recognize the inherent waste and redundancy, I just can't buy into it.

I just always think about the chapter in Fight Club when the narrator's house blows up:

"You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you."

overfeed a day ago

> Do you feel like the values you're propagating into the world align with your own personal values?

> Basically, if I couldn't get on tiktok and make an earnest video about why what I'm selling is useful and worth existing, and why it personally matters to me, I don't think I could sell that product in good conscience.

Have you ever involuntarily gone to bed hungry even once in your life?

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  • wholinator2 8 hours ago

    What an incredibly sarcastic and off putting way to respond. It makes me feel like we should be asking you the same question. Exactly how much of your life is wrapped up in perpetuating things you know to be harmful singularly for enriching yourself? Why is it that such an earnest and straightforward, unemotional comment could drive such intense disdain and emotion out of you? Personally, I think they were completely justified in their statements and asking their questions in a nonjudgemental way. Do you have a guilty conscience?

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  • soulofmischief a day ago

    Yes. I was homeless from 16 to 22. Both of my parents were drug addicts, in and out of jail/prison. I don't speak to anyone in my family, because they side with my extremely abusive grandfather, who raised me and frequently savagely beat me for not sharing his extremist Christian values. Until very recently, I had an extremely thin social support network.

    I was awarded a full-ride scholarship to multiple state institutions after high school due to high test scores, but a vindictive teacher illegally altered my grade last-minute because I stood up to her for my peers, and disqualified me from being eligible. I was still 17, attending high school on my own, homeless, and had no parents to push back, and no money for summer remedial courses.

    I couldn't apply for government aid because my mother was committing tax fraud by claiming me as a dependent despite not providing me a home or resources, and refused to help. There was no economic opportunity in my rural town and I didn't have a car, so I proceeded to struggle for years, scraping by, risking my freedom, while I rounded out my skill set to become employable in tech despite not attending college.

    I've gone much longer than a day feeling hungry. Feeling starving. Feeling my muscles eat themselves and my face and jaw tighten from lack of nutrients. Friends in high school used to make fun of me for looking emaciated. I was a vulture, eating anything I could find, frequently stealing food to make up for an insatiable appetite. Now I have the opposite problem because of metabolism changes after years of malnutrition, and sometimes struggle with stress-related eating disorders.

    I'm going to do you the favor and not make such asinine implications about your own background.

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    • overfeed a day ago

      > I was a vulture, eating anything I could find, frequently stealing food to make up for an insatiable appetite.

      Now I'm even more confused because you experienced this first hand but can't imagine how someone can engage in practices that have nothing to.do with personal values to keep their families fed and sheltered.

      > I'm going to do you the favor and not make such asinine implications about your own background.

      Weren't you just shaming someone whose personal beliefs and background you don't know just 2 comments upstream?

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      • soulofmischief a day ago

        Can you point out when I shamed them?

        I asked them a question and presented my own perspective and motivations for asking the question. They followed up, and I have responded. I see nothing wrong with discussing socioeconomics on Hacker News. Maybe instead of being negative, making insinuations and accusing me of shaming someone, you could just provide your own perspective, which I'd be happy to engage with.

        > Now I'm even more confused because you experienced this first hand but can't imagine how someone can engage in practices that have nothing to.do with personal values to keep their families fed and sheltered.

        Principles are principles. I live and die by them. I'm not perfect, but it's the thing I try to maintain that separates me from those who have contributed to the suffering in my life. I don't expect everyone to understand this.

        I'm not religious, but I do have a patron saint, Joan of Arc. She was burned at the stake at 17 for refusing to bow to the Church. I haven't been killed for my beliefs, but there were definitely times I feared that I would be. I have suffered immense abuse for standing by my principles, when most would have caved.

        I'm not asking anyone else here to hold to my standards, but I do have my own standards and the nature of growth involves finding chances to challenge them.

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awillen a day ago

I would say a couple of things:

1. Just because I don't use something doesn't mean that I think it shouldn't exist or be sold. People can make their own choices. A product isn't bad or useless or unnecessary because it doesn't align with my preferences. I'm fine with people being able to make their own choices about what they buy. Also, I generally don't think people should have to live a totally ascetic lifestyle. I have three monitors - certainly redundant, but fine. I have art on my walls - could've gone without that. I have a dog who I buy toys and food for - not strictly necessary. These things are all more than fine in my book.

2. There are other reasons to be in business besides deeply caring about the business itself. The biggest benefit to this business is that it doesn't require a lot of day-to-day work, and I can do that work whenever I want. That means I can almost always be there for my kids. That's what matters to me. I would take a job that I don't particularly care about that lets me put them first over one that I'm deeply passionate about that takes them away from me any time.

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  • soulofmischief a day ago

    Thank you for sharing your perspective. I do agree that we don't need to extremify asceticism. I certainly own useless crap.

    I think I do specifically have a minimalist approach to kitchens inspired by setups such as hundred rabbits' https://100r.co/site/cooking.html plus I also am becoming increasingly concerned with my carbon footprint given the climate-related extinction event we are currently facing, and that probably strikes out personal promotion of any unneeded kitchenware.

    I'm curious about the economics of what you do, if you've ever written about it elsewhere.

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