Choices

I watched a video from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
- if you haven't seen it, I suggest viewing it at least for his conclusion.

At first Barry Schwartz sounds like a man from an older generation, complaining about the differences in quality and quantity and how "back in my day we were happy," yet the speech soon becomes more than that. He calls it the "paradox of choice," and for most of his introduction I disagree with his points. I don't get depressed being "forced" to choose among 175 types of salad dressing at the grocery store. I see it as a reflection of the success of all the salad dressing producers and manufacturers. My ideal, however, is of a lifestyle of self-reliance, where I make my own damn dressing if I really need it and I don't have to buy something every day or every week. Think about it- how long has it been since you made absolutely no purchase all day?

Another point he makes is the freedom of choice in healthcare, namely patient autonomy versus doctors. He laments for the poor, uneducated sick person who really has no business being autonomous when it comes to deciding surgery or treatment options, especially if they are ill. I know that the best interests of the patient should be what the patient declares those interests to be, yet there is something to be said of "shifting the responsibility" from the experienced to the ignorant.

People have often said that our society "has no excuse" for making a stupid choice, and some go so far as to assume that their dumb choice is decided because they want to be that way. Mr. Schwartz observes the fault of the misinformation and lousy choices are not of the consumer, but of the materialistic and deceptive Western industrial society. Is it society's fault that we take depression medication because there are too many choices of sandwich meat in the supermarket? Is it society's fault that we commit more suicides because we have to choose a career over children?

He makes a strong case, which really comes down to the old phrase "be happy with what you have," by pointing out our choices have come to everything from jeans to gender (although to be fair we can't quite universally change gender just yet- we can only manipulate the flesh). Low expectations, or settling, shouldn't be the end of the world, he says. With all the choices available, he claims clinical depression has exploded in our modern world because of the strain of disappointment. This would explain why intelligent people become more depressed and paralyzed when thrust into broad situations, for they see so many outcomes and their ability to overtake the challenge vanishes.

He praises income redistribution and shifting the responsibility to some other party, or government. Here is where the argument begins to irk me. The argument only works if you know that this other representation is truly representative- in other words, "in a perfect world, etc." I agree that this country is delusional in the possibility of success and wealth, yet I do not agree that the answer is sovereignty. PLUS- if we were to shift responsibility, we'd be doing exactly what we did when people decided to leave food production and distribution to companies instead of relying on our farms and families- we'd just be shifting the decision-making to someone else again, further removed from ourselves!

I have seen firsthand a man who has taken all of his responsibility upon himself (as far as basic living standards go). He even has his own source of solar power, no longer reliant on the power company to provide him with electricity. On his six acre lot he can grow his own food and with his animals he can make his own compost and fertilizer. Granted, he does need products he can't provide for himself at home, but his self-reliance far outweighs the norm in this country, even more than farmers-he doesn't require loans from banks or manufacturers of farming equipment.

I have already realized the danger of dependency by observing others who have "made it" and cannot be happy or relaxed, yet I am still figuring out the balance between complete autonomy and my usefulness to society. My dream home involves lots of land, home gardens, art, unruly vines, homemade pottery and tea, and coupled with a great LAN center in our Entertainment Wing. Perhaps food would be more agreeable to me if I felt I had earned it through my own work such as gardening or hunting, but I would never want to isolate myself completely from the world as my father has done. I recognize the value of information and interaction and if the world is going to hell, then maybe we "independents" can do something about it.