Real estate porn
Americans no longer dwell in their homes -- they inhabit real estate speculation. Imagine if Heidegger's Black Forest hut appreciated in value by 40% a year. Would he have been able to concentrate so well on his phenomenology? Wouldn't he be worrying about how to trade up to a tasteful A-frame? Or was he just renting???
Everyone is being driven crazy by the idea that by just living (in a house,) a fortune could be made. Woe to the young and poor if they think they can grab a piece of this insane pie! Homeowners feel smugly superior -- as if buying a house had been some Warren Buffet-inspired flash of fiscal genius.
If you thought a home was shelter, think again -- check out all the glowing windows of real estate agencies all over metropolitan areas in the US. Then check out the gaunt looks of the people staring at the ads and you'll realize it is as if they were staring into one of those Amsterdam windows where a real live beauty gave clients a tantalizing glimpse of what happiness might be. The real estate porn addict doesn't measure lust by bust size, but by square footage, the more obscene the better. Thrill seekers get the 4000 square foot homes that have drained an endangered species' ENTIRE wetland habitat. Or better yet, Wall Street banker pays the equivalent of an entire Mid-Western State's higher education budget for for Hudson River Views and 14 foot ceilings.
Black Forest Century 21 Real Estate Agent to Heidegger: Martin, can I show you a beautiful little stone cottage with hot-tub, gorgeous views, sparkling stream IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD? You will love the details! -- Yes it has a subzero refrigerator, that's what I'm talking about! We're closing on hut sale on Friday, the young couple's financing just came through -- hold on, I've got to take a call from Jean-Paul, you know how picky he is! He still hasn't bought yet!
Everyone is being driven crazy by the idea that by just living (in a house,) a fortune could be made. Woe to the young and poor if they think they can grab a piece of this insane pie! Homeowners feel smugly superior -- as if buying a house had been some Warren Buffet-inspired flash of fiscal genius.
If you thought a home was shelter, think again -- check out all the glowing windows of real estate agencies all over metropolitan areas in the US. Then check out the gaunt looks of the people staring at the ads and you'll realize it is as if they were staring into one of those Amsterdam windows where a real live beauty gave clients a tantalizing glimpse of what happiness might be. The real estate porn addict doesn't measure lust by bust size, but by square footage, the more obscene the better. Thrill seekers get the 4000 square foot homes that have drained an endangered species' ENTIRE wetland habitat. Or better yet, Wall Street banker pays the equivalent of an entire Mid-Western State's higher education budget for for Hudson River Views and 14 foot ceilings.
Black Forest Century 21 Real Estate Agent to Heidegger: Martin, can I show you a beautiful little stone cottage with hot-tub, gorgeous views, sparkling stream IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD? You will love the details! -- Yes it has a subzero refrigerator, that's what I'm talking about! We're closing on hut sale on Friday, the young couple's financing just came through -- hold on, I've got to take a call from Jean-Paul, you know how picky he is! He still hasn't bought yet!
2 Comments:
Great great stuff. A relief to read some political, class conscious explic. Don't send people to Amazon for books, though.
Thanks for your feedback, -- I will try to avoid amazon from now on...For so long, no one wanted to talk about class consciousness because they were afraid of coming off as a VULGAR Marxist. But all the Vulgar Marxists started studying different ways in which peopel reinvented their enjoyment of popular culture. Hardt and Negri even find poverty a source of creativity. Read Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: the working poor of this country are not making macrame wall hangings in their non-existent spare time. When I came of age in the 80s, iIt was more acceptable to talk about racial and sexual differnce and sexual preference difference, transgender difference, anything but class difference.
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