Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
What if the person who runs the indie book store is a complete prick, and the staff gives me attitude every time I ask for assistance?
What if a bunch of executives and shareholders of a big company live in my community?
"Small" and "local" does not necessarily mean "morally superior" or "beneficial." In many cases it can mean "inefficient" and "expensive."
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1. I would first look at inward and ask myself the question: Why are so many people having such a negative reaction to me? I would not assume that I'm some kind Nietzschean superman who is being resented by the hoi polloi.
2. Unless you are yourself a member of the dominant economic class, that is unlikely (though not impossible). And if you are, I have nothing to say to you, other than it shopping at those stores would simply be a matter of class solidarity.
3. Mass production is very expensive. It's just that the costs are externalized in the form of environmental degradation, exploitation of labor, and deformation of the political process. As to efficiency, I ask, "Efficient for whom and for what purpose?" Efficiency of rent-seeking behavior, for example, is not the same as efficiency in effecting a social good.