craftsmen/artisans vs Cheap goods

[DWFII]

The real problem is that most people, in the US at least, and many in Europe as well, have so bought into the consumer mentality that they have never made anything themselves. How many people here bake their own bread? How many know where that rib-eye comes from? I mean really know? How many have killed and butchered even one meal in their lives, in other words?

We buy this stuff all pre-packaged. There's no more connection to the cow in a carton of milk than there is to Scotland in a canvas wrap-around. Without that connection, without knowing what goes into an item...whether it be from the perspective of raw materials, or workmanship (because we, ourselves have done something similar), or even the strong feelings of "ownership" for their traditions that we see among some of our Scottish brethren...without that connection we have no way to appreciate or place a value on quality.

I ran across something today (can't remember where but it struck me) to the effect that those who create quality understand what quality is, no matter where they find it. Those who work with their hands understand the dedication that goes into hand work. But if you're selling insurance...and no disrespect to insurance salesmen...it's pretty hard to have any kind of insight into what goes into a Tewkbury or a Newsome. If a person has no more idea of how to thread a needle than how to change lead into gold, the idea of quality ain't even in his/her vocabulary except as a placeholder.

And to bring it all around, I suspect that even the most dedicated craftsmen among us, even those who are supposedly "off grid," quite literally have no idea how far embedded in, and how dependent on, the commercial consumer economy we are. I'm not one of these people who blame corporations or advocate a "make your own toilet paper" economy, but ask yourself how many times you seek out the hand-made (I didn't say "home-made") dining room table. Or the bespoke suit. Or even the custom made and tailored-specifically-for-you Argyll jacket, for that matter? Much less the hand-made sporran or sgian dubh.

Even those of us who work with our hands tend to buy acquisitively rather than appreciatively. We buy the cheap bread, the TV dinner, the paper diapers, the Taiwanese flip-flops, the plastic dinnerware, the melamine-veneer-over-particleboard furniture.

And then we ask why: Why didn't this last?

Why is our culture so crass and shallow?

[Bugbear]

The real problem is that most people, in the US at least, and many in Europe as well, have so bought into the consumer mentality that they have never made anything themselves. How many people here bake their own bread? How many know where that rib-eye comes from? I mean really know? How many have killed and butchered even one meal in their lives, in other words?
...

I give up.

[DWFII]

I give up.

I don't know what that means...I don't know whether to be happy for you...or sad.

[Bugbear]

I don't know what that means...I don't know whether to be happy for you...or sad.

DWFII, your post was extremely insulting to me. However, I understand that is how you view the world.

Why don't you think long and hard about those questions you asked, "how many", then try answering it your self.

My answer is most of my neighbors, most of my family members, and most of the people I know.