I wrote an article to Christian parents for the ePublication I edit, The Examined Life. It tackles the rampant (and growing, I think) problem of family discord that finds its locus in aesthetic considerations. I argue that a vast understanding of beauty and an insistence on learning to appreciate ever more aesthetic forms is a key to familial unity during an age of marketing-driven aesthetic plurality.
Here’s an excerpt:
It’s now pretty common knowledge that the most marketable group of people in America are males roughly between ages 16 and 30. They’re closely followed by females of the same ages (for reasons inscrutable). We’ll ignore the gender distinction and just say “Wheatstone-aged folks.” Let’s be clear: “the most marketable group” means “the group off of which businesses can make the biggest profit.” “Biggest profit” means something like “Mecca” to said businesses. To sum up, Wheatstone-aged folks are the darlings of corporate America.
A couple of things have followed from that discovery. First, all the flashiest stuff is made with Wheatstone-aged folks in mind. It is not made with you, their parents, in mind. Second, all that stuff is made specifically in contrast with what was made for you parents. That’s because Wheatstone-aged folks are more likely to spend money if they’re doing it outside the domain of their parents’ sway. It’s good for the businesses, therefore to erect as many walls between the things Wheatstone-aged folks want to buy and the things that you want to buy as possible.
It’s no wonder, then, that we’re at each other’s throats over clothing, food, music, movies, games, and who-knows-what-all else.
Read more here.
