Don't worry I'm not going to fixate on this list! I think this is now in decent shape. The ones I've taken out are not less important, it's more that I hope that by following the ones below, one will naturally be led to the others. In fact, I almost think that the coffee one alone could unlock everything.
THE FIVE NEVERS
1. Never walk down the street holding coffee.
2. Never let anyone see you check your phone.
3. Never surf the internet to alleviate boredom.
4. Never use social media to address your loved ones all at the same time.
5. Never eat or drink in the most gentrified place in your local area.
The volunteering thing was a bit preachy, I guess. I'm hoping that the ban on going to the most gentrified place in your local area will do a lot of knock-on work - going to 'rougher' places, starting to take a more holistic view of your local area (i.e. not as a blank slate to be improved), maybe going on to then volunteer locally, if it feels appropriate. It's more about your attitude to other people near you than volunteering per se.
I've punted on the competitive taste issue - it's hard to think of one injunction that will elegantly disrupt such behaviour. I'm hoping that the injunction on "broadcasting" and using the internet recreationally will do some of the work there. Thing is, though, I think we all do the competitive taste thing to some extent and it's not all bad, I suppose it depends on how "friendly" the competition is? Or to what extent you are able to detach yourself from your own tastes. But yeah, very complicated.
I think that the competitive taste thing is the defining characteristic of this class. Maybe if we lose it, there's nothing to bound the group. I'd say it's fine if done in fun, but we should all do our best not to look down on people with different taste. There probably isn't an easy fun rule for that though.
ReplyDeleteI know I know, it feels like an omission. And where we might differ fundamentally is that I think we *should* look down on crappy taste, even if it's in a "love the sinner, hate the sin" type way. In particular, the sort of taste-for-taste's sake that fills the Guardian life and style section, but also just terrible mainstream commercial taste where it is indeed terrible. I'm very wary of "each to their own", I think it provides cover for all kinds of horribleness. I think collective valuation and taste-making can be a civilising force if approached correctly.
ReplyDeleteI guess how the rules work is that they ask you to abstain from a particular behaviour and thus increase your dignity at the expense of your convenience or immediate satisfaction. I need to think harder about the exact instances where competitive taste reduces one's dignity, and figure out how we can intervene.
I think you're trying to improve this class, and I'm trying to destroy them! I may start following your list, see how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteHere's one: don't buy Moleskine notebooks.
ReplyDeleteYep!
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