Onwards and upwards

I've always loved David Brooks' description of Bobos as people who think that a $10,000 home entertainment system is vulgar ostentation, while a $20,000 slate shower is a sign of quiet good taste. And now I love Laura for worrying about becoming one of them.

I say this, of course, while gazing, in quiet admiration, at the new full-sized stove my landlord just installed. Full sized stove! So this is how the other half lives . . .

Comments

I don't know about anybody else, but I spend my money on the things I want. If my neighbor wants a $10,000 home entertainment system, why would I care?

My next door neighbor has truly great landscaping and he cares for it extremely well. Mine is not as good, but not an eyesore either. Why would I begrudge his choice about where he spends his time and his money?

I don't understand or condone the impulse to run other people's lives.

Posted by MarkD | November 29, 2007 8:36 AM

wait a minute...
the kitchen goddess with all the amazing stuffs, didn't have a full sized stove? I guess when you get right down to it, that'd be one of those basics that anyone in your position would need, eh, Megan? Sheez you coulda had mine. Since my kitchen is so small that you can't open the fridge without every cabinet being closed, and pulling your left arm in... I would love to have an apartment sized stove. The reason I have a lovely almond colored full sized 'heat maker' is that the apartment sized ones are actually expensive, while you can get a cheap full sized one for, well, cheap...

I hope you don't start missing that extra 10" of space you had before. The only redeeming quality of my stove is that I actually need it for counter space to do anything, so it more often serves as a countertop than a stove.

Galley kitchen my a$$... the galley kitchen on a row-boat, maybe.

Posted by D | November 29, 2007 9:33 AM

MarkD:

If my neighbor wants a $10,000 home entertainment system, why would I care?...Why would I begrudge his choice about where he spends his time and his money?...I don't understand or condone the impulse to run other people's lives.

Hm. When I look at that David Brooks quote, I don't think it's about control, it's about relative status. You don't begrudge the guy who you feel superior to the thing that makes him inferior...

Not any more admirable than control freakishness, of course. I think it's more common though.

Posted by BP Beckley | November 29, 2007 9:46 AM

D, like you, I had a choice between a full-sized stove and a smaller, crappier one. Plus I actually use the oven for things . . .

Posted by Megan McArdle | November 29, 2007 9:48 AM

But just think of the wasted resources! I could put those wasted resources to such better uses if only I were the king.

Posted by Yancey Ward | November 29, 2007 9:52 AM

well Yancey, I hear there is a recyclable apartment sized stove dumped on a skip somewhere in DC... don't let the resource go to waste now... :snerk:

Posted by D | November 29, 2007 10:03 AM

MarkD,

Haven't you heard? It's all about inequality these days. Surely you're unable to enjoy those things that you want, which you say you spend your money on, when your neighbor is displaying such superiority.

You might think that you like having your current TV, but given your neighbor's $10,000 entertainment system, you must be wrong. You should get a copy of Krugman's new book, he'll explain it to you.

Posted by Geoff | November 29, 2007 10:20 AM

I've always enjoyed David Brooks' description of anyone who criticizes the War Against Iraq as an anti-semitic Jew-hating Hitler-loving bigot.

Posted by Truth2 | November 29, 2007 7:24 PM

we must be slipping... taking so long to get to Goodwins'

Does Goodwin have a law that applies to cooking, I wonder? Or maybe just dinner parties...

Posted by D | November 30, 2007 5:08 PM

Good for you.

If the oven can get hot enough, about 700 degrees or so, you'll be able to make a proper pizza, New-York-coal-fired-oven style.

Hint: buy the dough at a pizzeria. Saves time.

Posted by Ed Bush | December 4, 2007 2:07 PM