“The cult of the new”
The concept of “new is better” that we discussed in class today has made me realized that I believe new is better. I don’t think that this is something I consciously choose to believe, it is something that our culture has programmed me to believe. We have been presented with the concept that new means improved, and more efficient to the point where we do not consider the alternative. The traditionalist standpoint where the classic item is a better choice has some valid reasoning. If something worked and accomplished the job, what is the point in improving it?
The first example I would like to present is in agreement with Habermas and the theory of “the cult of the new”
If someone owns a vacuum cleaner that requires the bag to be replaced after five minutes of cleaning the floors, and then the vacuum company releases the same vacuum cleaner but the bag only has to be replaced after an hour of cleaning the floors. This new vacuum will save the cleaner time as well as effort. It seems very sensible to get this new and improved vacuum.
The next example is in agreement with the traditionalist viewpoint:
A person spends two hours cutting their grass once a week. They have a push lawnmower, which they have had for several years. They have never had any problems with the lawnmower; however, they see a new mower in the store that you can sit on while you cut the grass. Not only does this save effort but also it claims to get the job done faster. The person buys this new lawnmower but when they go to use it they realize it has much less accuracy and they mow over their flowers. It ends up taking the person longer to figure out how to maneuver this new machine than it would have been just to use the old lawnmower. The traditionalist would stick with the classic older lawnmower, while Habermas might say it is worth it to take the time to learn how to use the new one.
Although I can see the validity of both sides of this argument, I agree with Habermas that “new is better” will prevail. It is being engrained in our brains through advertisement, product placement, and our cultures lifestyle (the faster the better).
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1 comment:
Good post. It looks like you had a click moment when you realized you agree with the statement new is better. The two examples you provide of someone who is like you and a traditionalist are great.
-Starfish
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