Re: MD The MOQ makes inroads

From: abahn@comcast.net
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 16:04:14 GMT

  • Next message: Platt Holden: "Re: MD What makes an idea dangerous?"

    Hi Platt,

    If quality and aesthetic value is only being offerred to us through Starbucks and other large corporations attempting to "make inroads into the collective American psyche" we are in a sorry state for sure. There is little quality in Starbucks. It is only follow the latest trend consumerism dominating American culture. WHat about the shoemaker story (that you submitted to the forum a while back)? That was a good example of aesthetic value that you won't find at starbucks or another major corporation selling trends and instead of quality products.

    Andy

     
    > Hi All:
    >
    > Interesting column by George Will about a new book by Virginia Postrel
    > entitled, "The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is
    > Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness."
    >
    > Will begins by noting, "Creative thinkers do not merely answer
    > questions that interest others, they answer question that others have
    > not realized were interesting, or even are questions. For example:
    > Starbucks' coffee is not that much better than everyone else's coffee,
    > so what is Starbucks really selling?
    >
    > The answer, according to Postrel, is a rising appreciation of what she
    > calls the "aesthetic imperative" in this expressive age.
    >
    > From just the brief description above, two ideas jump out -- "substance
    > of style" and "aesthetic imperative" -- immediately connecting in my
    > mind to "quality as real as rocks" and "the aesthetic nature of the
    > conceptually unknown."
    >
    > Lest you think I'm stretching to make a point, consider this passage
    > verbatim from Postrel's book:
    >
    > "Aesthetics shows rather than tells, delights rather than instructs.
    > The effects are immediate, perceptual and emotional. They are not
    > cognitive, although we many analyze them after the fact."
    >
    > Will adds, "Aesthetics, Postrel stresses, is not irrational or anti-
    > rational, it is pre-rational or non-rational."
    >
    > Where have you read similar words before?
    >
    > According to Postrel, in all areas of life and living Americans are
    > consuming design and designing themselves. If she's half right, the
    > lure of Quality is making itself felt more and more strongly, as
    > Pirsig's cosmic evolutionary morality predicts.
    >
    > As for Starbucks, "People are eager to pay Starbucks for more than mere
    > coffee--for a sensory environment that pleases more than just their
    > palates."
    >
    > Looks to me like the MOQ is making inroads into the collective American
    > psyche despite the cold shoulder it has gotten so far from the static-
    > bound intelligentsia. :-)
    >
    > Platt
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
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