Choices

In reading some of my  blog, I noticed something: when I wrote about topics that I was going to write about, I did so. Also, I wrote about sex a fair bit. So I decided that I would try something new, to make me write more: every time a post something, I will put something either in the preamble or the afterthought about topics that I want to write about. This means I shouldn't have to think too much about new topics, because I can just refer to old posts for new topics. So two things that I have been thinking about lately, but won't write about today, are prostitution and attitudes toward sex. I've kind of covered the "attitudes" before, but not in any real way. So look for that in a future post, or at least a version of it. 

Today, however, I am going to write about choices. It came to me while I was in my favourite store, Walmart. (That was a joke. I hate Walmart. But I was there.) We were getting some different soaps - one for dishes, one for laundry, one for washing floors, and it occurred to me that we have a lot of choice for a lot of the same things. Is this good or bad, or neither? Let's see. 

Mo' Choice, Mo' Problems: Choice is just a marketing tool. When you look at, say, the difference between "dry hair" shampoo or "oily hair" shampoo, the ingredients are the same. SO why dowe have different choices? Just because we like to think that having more choices make us seem more in control. Which is exactly what the marketers want. 

And if it's not a marketing tool, then why do we need a

ll these choices? Go into a restaurant, and everyone gets to pick what they specifically want, right now. But if you ate at home, whoever is cooking gets to pick what you eat, and generally, you are pretty happy with it. So choice really doesn't matter - it's not like we are any happier with our restaurant meal than we are with home meal. In fact we are more likely to be unhappy with the restaurant meal because we had a specific choice. 

And then there is the problem with trying to decide. If We have too many choices, we simply can't decide. We have so many choices that sometimes we just won't bother making a choice - we'll just leave. That can't be good for us. There was a study that showed that people who were faced with too many choices of jam would simply not buy it - even if it was on their lists.  

More choice is better for us! More choice is a fantastic thing. When we want something, the more choices we have the less we have to give up. If we want to eat out, we can eat out wherever we want - and we even have choices within choices. That's why people want to live in cities - because we can pick the Chinese restaurant we want, not just the only one in town. 

People can complain about marketers all they want - if people don't want something, they just won't buy it. Some people want seedless raspberry jam in the 500ml bottle; some want seeds in the 300ml bottle. We can make rational choices about what we want and make our decisions based on that, and not just on what is available to us. 

And choice is about so much more that just consuming goods. It's about things like the internet, that have given everyone exactly what they want to find. If you are a freak, chances are you can find a freak like yourself. It's about being able to play whatever sport you want, eat the food you like, talk to the people you want to. The ability to make  choices is exactly what democracy is all about. 

What I think: I think that we have passed the point of healthy choices, especially in terms of consumer goods. At the same time, some areas of our lives are conspicuously devoid of real choice - like, for example, elections. You can either vote for the party you are for or against, but it usually comes down to a two horse race. Too much choice, I think, gives us the illusion of freedom when it really just distracts us from other issues in our lives. Going back to the original example, I think that a choice of 30 different dish detergents doesn't really make sense, and seems like a waste of our resources - but I still like my orange degreasing Dawn detergent. 

How I relate: Like many people, I face many choices every day; in my job, I try to help people make choices with respect to certain aspects of their lives. That doesn't mean, though, that I think all that I offer is good.  But when I give people a choice, I hope that I can help them make a choice that will actually benefit them. 

So that's about that; I have also been thinking about dreams lately. There may be a good post in that too.