I really enjoy the ideas in Little Brother (even if it’s for young adults) and Makers – the tech and lifestyles that seem only a few short years off, along with the ethics that go with them. Of course some people might say a story is just a story, but the “morals” in a story matter, especially in the case of a popular writer, because these stories help shape our morality.

Now, I’m not the pissed Harry-Potter-Hating Christian Mom who gets all up in arms about books, and for the most part I feel like Doctorow’s writing is a force for good, but there is one thing, just one thing, that I’m not sure I feel comfortable with. I’m not denouncing the guy – I really, really enjoy his writing, but I’m a little unsure of how I feel about this one thing, so I’m writing this post for two reasons: to sort out my thoughts in writing. But I also hope to get a little feedback from others who have read his books. I wanna know what YOU think.

Anyway, when I first read Little Brother, I noticed a section on page 62 (of the PDF version on craphound.com) where the main character and his friends go to a store to buy a bunch of merchandise printed with the new meme they’re supporting.

I thought it was weird – so much of the book was about information freed from corporations and government – that the main characters would embrace commercialism so openly. And in its most abhorrent form no less: capitalizing on a youth fad. Maybe I just have a bad taste in my mouth ever since I was a teenager and happened to be working at Toys R Us during the Christmas season Pokémon was all the rage (oh, god, I still wake up screaming some nights, sweaty from nightmaring about all those fat, sticky little American kids groping with their jam hands for the latest Pikachu WhatHaveYou), but I can’t shake the feeling that this type of blatant commercialism is, if not flat-out evil, at least in poor taste.

I let it go at first – I really enjoy Little Brother and didn’t want a silly few sentences about the main character buying a T-shirt ruin a book for me, especially a book that preaches so many other “morals” I see as quality. Plus, I chalk it up to Doctorow just understanding that teenagers don’t care about commercialism and will buy t-shirts with their favorite memes on them (I did, when I was a teenager). In fact, teenagers are still young enough to think that t-shirts are social statements, so they might actually believe that by buying t-shirts with subversive slogans they are sticking it to whatever man they hate (when it’s more than likely they are supporting that man by buying the shirt).

But now, whilst reading The Makers (which is pretty awesome so far, by the way) – I’ve started to consider the question again, if only because the book is all about selling stuff. It’s about an indie inventor company that invents stuff and moves units. Sure, it’s about other stuff too, like an indie blogger, and the homeless, and corporations, and so on, but fueled by my earlier interest in Doctorow’s economic viewpoint (or, at the very least, his characters’ viewpoints), I see it as mostly an indie business manifesto. Keep in mind, I’m only 18.58% through the book, so take that with a grain of salt, especially if the book turns into an action/adventure spy thriller ala James Bond (of the Hollywood Bonds) at 21.45% or something. But I doubt that’ll happen.

Does anyone else think that the free information ideal must go hand in hand with physical minimalism? Because it seems like they do go together. You know – it’s like we’re digitally rich so it’s okay to be physically minimalist. But Doctorow, a guy who seems to support free information, doesn’t seem to support physical minimalism, so I’m at a loss as to how to jive these ideas together.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about physical minimalism because I have STUFF. I’ve made some recent purchases, such as a few graphic novels, video games, and a Playstation 3, and now I am feeling STUFF GUILT, even though life is pretty damn good and having STUFF is part of that.

But, now I have all this STUFF. And it seems like I shouldn’t want STUFF, since I believe information should be digital, or at the very least, cheap and easily digitized. But I have some STUFF, I like my STUFF, and I feel guilty for both of those things.

When I’m considering issues, I look for them in things I’m reading, watching, playing, etc, looking for the opinions about the issue I’m trying to figure out from people I respect. I respect Cory Doctorow, but although his characters and I believe many of the same things, we differ somehow, and it’s about STUFF.

So what the deal, people? Am I misinterpreting Doctorow’s viewpoints? Am I just too stuck up about STUFF and consumption? Am I wrong that the drive to make things digital (if they can be made digital – like movies, games, and books) conflicts with the desire to own physical property, especially media?

I live in Des Moines, Iowa, and the musical Rent was just here at the Civic Center. I’d seen it before, but it was some of the original cast this time, so I went again. The show was great.

But after the show, in the lobby, there was a table with a bunch of Rent STUFF, like t-shirts and lunch boxes. And all that seems like blatant commercialism, a bunch of crap people don’t need, but buy anyway. Because unless you’re in the market for a new lunch box, you’re only buying that lunch box because it says Rent on it. And then you’re going to get home and put it on your shelf, where it isn’t useful at all – it just collects dust until you finally throw it out to make space for the lunchbox you buy from the next fad.
Collections, especially physical media collections, piss me off, especially when the STUFF is available digitally, like DVDs and CDs. Even my books are starting to bother me, though the move from physical to digital isn’t quite there yet.

Now, t-shirts aren’t something you can get digitally – clothes have to be physical (at least, until we’re digital, anyway), so we have to wear them. They might as well be Rent T-shirts as they are plain white ones. But why does it feel to me that Rent is cheapened because there are t-shirts of it? If merchandising supports things I like, why do I hate it so much? And why does Cory Doctorow, who seems to support many of the ideas I do, create characters that I disagree with about STUFF?

What do you think? Please leave a comment here, or @mispeled on Twitter, or send me an email and let me know. My email address is in the button on the right sidebar. I’m serious about talking about this, so if you have a lengthy response, email it to me and I’ll put it up as a post.

Thanks,

-m.