Gifts that tell good stories

Geoffrey Miller has written an extraordinary book, Spent, that challenges us to recognize that our ubiquitous efforts to decorate ourselves and others with goods and services are primarily to project image and status. (and see here and here) "Many products are signals first and material objects second." The result is that we often engage in a vast orgy of spending mostly to look good in the eyes of others. What does this have to do with Christmas? We humans are also creatures who are always looking for shortcuts. Many of us have deliberately chosen to work long hours as part of "career" choices in order to make more money. Most of us who have who have made extra money as a result of those long hours at the office would much rather burn off some of that money at a store than to spend our severely limited amounts of time creating goods or providing services. We'd like to believe that our gift-giving is a display of our good intentions and of who we are, but as Miller points out, the store-bought gifts so many of us buy serve only to display only a narrow range of qualities regarding who we are:

Buying new, real, branded, premium products at full price from chain-store retailers is the last refuge of the unimaginative consumer, and it should be your last option. It offers low narrative value--no stories to tell about interesting people, places, and events associated with the product' design, provenance, acquisition, or use. It reveals nothing about you except your spending capacity and your gullibility, conformism, and unconsciousness as a consumer. It grows no physical, social or cultural roots into your local environment. It does not promote trust, reciprocity, or social capital. It does not expand your circle of friends and acquaintances. It does not lead you to learn more about the convention, manufacture, operation, or maintenance of the things around you. Retail spending reveals such a narrow range of traits: the capacities to earn, steal, marry, or inherit wealth, and the perceptual memory and media access required to spend the wealth on whatever is advertised most avidly now.
(p. 271 ff). Those who procure gifts with a moment's thought or two, and with the help of credit cards, often fail in their attempts to impress. Retail spending pointedly fails:
[a]s a costly, reliable signal of one's dedication to a particular person (in the case of gifts), or to a particular acquisition (in the case of things bought for self display).
Miller reminds us that creating something yourself speaks much more loudly than a premade thing purchased at retail. The proof is that gifts which require personal time and creativity make much better "stories" to tell to family and friends. I largely agree with Miller, though I think that retail spending can make a compelling story in some circumstances. For instance, what if someone has limited financial means, yet digs deeply in order to purchase a nonfrivolous gift that another person truly needs (e.g., assume that someone of limited means provided a student with books that were desperately needed for a coming semester). During the Christmas season, however, Miller's version of retail spending is a common occurrence. Most of us patronize retail stores in order to send out ready-made gifts. This much is not disputed. What can be disputed in an interesting way, is why . Many people would claim that we give gifts to each other because we "care about" or "love" each other. Miller's writings dig several levels deeper, recognizing that we are human animals who have come equipped with deeply felt needs to display our traits to each other, and that we resort to retails gift giving to serve these deep urges. In other words, Miller resource to biology rather than folk psychology:

Biology offers an answer. Humans evolved in small social groups in which image and status were all important, not only for survival, but for attracting mates, impressing friends, and rearing children.

(p. 1). During this Christmas season, and at all other times of the year, it is fascinating to re-frame the widespread displays of gift-giving as anciently-honed and deeply-rooted biological impulses geared to ensure survival. For more, consider this post, entitled "Shopping for Sex" and this post on The Church of Stop Shopping.

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Veteran speaks out about the military’s greatest weapon: racism

In this video, a military veteran named Mike Prysner spoke out about the military's main weapon: racism. He argues that without racism, none of the military's expensive weapons could ever be used, and there would be no chance that the working people of one country would be convinced to kill the working people of another country. His argument regarding the power of racism is another way of pointing out the explosive power of ingroups and outgroups and the curing power of diversity--a willingness to embrace the humanity of people unlike ourselves. For more on the often-used recipe for going to war, see this post on "War Made Easy."

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Thich Nhat Hanh in 2003

Here's a video sketch of Thich Nhat Hanh from 2003 that I enjoyed and decided to share. A sample quote:

THICH NHAT HANH: Using violence to suppress violence is not the correct way. America has to wake up to that reality. [Interviewer]: That’s not a sentiment you hear everyday at the Capitol. Nor is Nhat Hanh’s recommendation to this bitterly divided Congress that its members practice what he calls deep listening (to each other) and gentle speech.
At the persistent urging of Lisa Rokusek (an author at this website), I've been reading some of the works of Thich Nhat Hanh lately, and enjoying their elegant wisdom. Here are a few of his quotes:
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything. People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar. The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air,but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle. Many of us are not capable of releasing the past, of releasing the suffering of the past. We want to cling to our own suffering. But the Buddha said very clearly, do not cling to the past, the past is already gone. Do not wait for future, the future is not yet there. The wise people establish themselves in the present moment and they practice living deeply in the present moment. That is our practice. By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better and we can prepare for a better future.

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Why bailouts might not be long-term solutions for distressed homeowners

Well-founded criticism abounds that we shouldn't be bailing out large banks that have profited by providing imprudent (and oftentimes scandalous and even criminal) sub-prime loans to homeowners. One oft-mentioned alternative to bailing out the banks is to bail out the homeowners. One might justify this move on the ground that many recipients of sub-prime loans were invited to take out loans with exploding ARMS (adjustable rate mortgages). These are not the ARM's from decades past, mind you. Rather, these are loans that, within a few years of the loan closing, are guaranteed to require monthly payments that the homeowners couldn't afford, regardless of market fluctuations. Imagine, for example, a loan requiring payments of $1,000/month that would rise to $1,800/month within a few years, even when the cost of money stays relatively stable. The mortgage companies offering these types of refinances would be long gone by the time that this kind of loan explodes, forcing many of these homeowners into foreclosure or bankruptcy. In addition to the exploding ARMS, many distressed homeowners were victimized by hidden fees and penalties, including substantial pre-payment penalties, as well as "yield spread premiums," which are essentially under-the-table bribes paid to brokers. But why did so many homeowners sign up for loans they wouldn't be able to afford? Many of them were lied to by the mortgage companies (disclosure: In my law practice, I've represented many of these folks). Other borrowers were clearly irresponsible. Most of of the borrowers suffer from a condition mathematician John Paulos calls “innumeracy”: the “inability to deal comfortably with the fundamental notions of number and chance.” I'm not accusing the borrows of stupidity; rather, they tend to lack a specific skill set, the origin of which often extends all the way back to the grade school struggles with mathematics. The above observations serve as context to a discussion of a potential plan of action. The simple question are these: Should we bail out distressed homeowners? [more . . . ]

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