So we here at MMM have an aversion to buying stuff and all that comes with that culture, but FFS stop been so f@cking judgmental. Yippee we are so smart compared to all those idiots at the Mall. Everyone is different and always will be thankfully, the fact that you make smarter choices is because you are blessed with the ability/wiring to do so. Why not go down the city and make fun of the homeless, or people on welfare ( some on here like to do that already, "its all their own fault - if only the worked hard like I do").
The whole wall of shame and comedy smacks to me of a group of posters who are not comfortable with their own choices if they feel the need to bash everyone else's. There will always be someone less complete than you and always someone more complete than you.
Agreed. Just because a life choice is different doesn't invalidate it. That's actually one of the problems I have with MMM. It's not enough that he is happy with his life choices, he has to put down the life choices of all others.
Personally, I like malls. They're a nice place to walk when it is 100 degrees outside.
Oh, get over it. At the very core of MMM's magnetism is the over-the-top, somewhat foul-mouthed, condemnation of modern consumerism. I guaran-fucking-tee that he wouldn't be 1/10 as popular if all of his articles were "Well guys, I sure am happy that I don't buy so much stuff and look at all the money I saved so I could retire early. But we're all different and there are no wrong decisions so whatever you do is fine. Now let's hold hand for a chorus of Kumbaya."
Not to mention, I don't think this is a simple case of MMM just putting down the choices of others because they haven't made the same choices he has. He has been very clear in his blog that what he is "putting down" (which I would term "calling attention to") is a system and way of life that is incredibly destructive. Destructive to the environment, destructive to our pocketbooks, and perhaps most importantly, destructive to our well-being.
Malls suck. I'm just going to say that. Why do they suck? Well, they don't suck in every way. They are good if you need to get something specific and you want to make sure you go somewhere where you know they will have it. Or they are good if you need to do Christmas shopping, for example, and you want a wide variety of things in one place so you can buy everything in one go. Or they are good if, for example, you live in a very hot or very cold place, and you want somewhere to walk that is climate controlled (as is the Mall of America here in MN, where I sometimes go to walk in the winter).
They do suck, however, in that they are enormous consumer centers that consume tons and tons of resources. They encourage people to come there to spend lots and lots of money on things they don't need, and eat lots of high-calorie foods that will make them less healthy. They suck because they help encourage people to consider shopping a hobby -- the act of looking for and purchasing non-necessary items as a pastime. They suck because going into them puts you in contact with off gassing of petroleum products, headache-inducing fluorescent lights, and a completely artificial environment that removes you even more from the natural world. They suck because they help drive the notion that things can give us happiness. They suck because when people go into them and look at products, they are being exposed to aggressive marketing that is designed to make them feel either: a) awesome because they have the newest, trendiest things (which of course they have to keep renewing to keep feeling awesome); or b) anxious and bad because they either can't afford all the things they want, or they don't look as good in the clothes as the models in the pictures do (but they keep buying the products anyway, because hey, "shopping therapy"). Malls suck because they are designed to capitalize on a system that wants to make slaves of us all.
I can say all of that without it being a condemnation of people who go to them. I can wish that malls weren't so prevalent, because I want people to be happier and I honestly think that we would all be happier if consumer culture wasn't so all-pervasive, without it being a douchey critique of anyone who has ever had an enjoyable moment in a mall.
Malls suck. I sometimes go to them. I sometimes even enjoy myself at them. But I'm also aware that they are detrimental to us in some fundamental ways. This is all part of being a critical thinker, and working to not be a consumerist slave. And a crucial part of MMM's message is meant to help people understand that. If that seems to some like simply "judging" other people because they don't do what he does, I'd suggest that they are not reading carefully enough.
