Every so often, I’ll stumble into ideas that I have something poignant to say, yet I’m unable to write into a full article. Sometimes this is a lack of expertise on my part, other times this is from a lack of complexity of the subject itself. Whatever the case may be, there is a lack of a full article but it still worth releasing anyways.
In Critique of the Term “Minimalist”
By now, we have all seen or heard of the term minimalist. At its premise, the term means someone who does not own a lot of material possessions by choice, typically for spiritual, moral, financial, or environmental reasons. However, the term is a loaded one, complete with all kinds of stereotypes and pretenses that we are better off letting go of.
In my own experience, others have used the term to describe me, though I have never seriously thought of or described myself as a minimalist. The lack of decorations and upscale furniture has been more of a practical decision than any lifestyle-based mantra. My apartment when I was 24 years old lacked a dining room table, coffee table or a basic couch; when I wanted to read, I sat on my old toolbox, underneath the hallway light. I was in both student loan and auto debt, and furniture shopping wasn’t a priority. Besides, your twenties are not a time to be comfortable and sit on your derriere. As time went on and my situation improved, I gradually acquired furnishings, though the label still stuck whenever I had visitors.
The term minimalist seems to be externally applied; it’s never the subject of the sentence using the term to describe themselves. Being a minimalist is like being a badass; if you have to go around convincing people you are one, that’s a sign that you definitely aren’t. However, unlike the term badass, the term minimalist is rarely used as a compliment. It is loaded with judgment, as if having only what you practically need is somehow a bad thing. Another helpful way to observe a term is by looking at its opposite. We wouldn’t say it’s okay to walk into someone’s home and say Wow, you’re such a shallow materialist but yet walking into someone’s home and calling them a minimalist is okay. Why?
However, external judgment is only part of the problem. The minimalism community does have a lot of in-fighting and judgment towards others. Strawman accusations of You’re wearing a $30 t-shirt, you can’t be a minimalist! or You own more than three dinner plates? You aren’t a real minimalist are common. The amount of internal policing in that community is hurting its own brand.
The Uncomfortable Truth about Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles have been popularized a lot in the past few years, especially with meteoric rise of Tesla in 2020-2021 to the fall of Tesla’s stock price in 2022. Electric vehicles market themselves as a green alternative, and many technology and transportation pundits (eww…pundits) have hailed them as the future. However, there is one glaring flaw that nobody wants to talk about with electric vehicles, and no it isn’t battery-related.
Much of the electric grid here in the United States still derives from the burning of fossil fuels. So, the electricity used to charge the electric cars is not carbon-neutral, in fact, far from it. Essentially, most electric car owners have traded one carbon source for another. When viewed in this context, we have to ask: what are we really trying to accomplish? If the whole goal of electric cars is to save the planet, then charging your vehicle with electricity from a fossil-fuel grid is a terrible way to do that. Now, if the owner of said car had solar panels on their roof or lived in a nuclear-powered neighborhood; then I say go ahead and enjoy your Tesla!
Jackie Robinson: “In The Zone for Four Decades”
Boston-native comedian Bill Burr has a now-infamous bit about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bill Burr admitted to being a fan of the Austrian and started going over the former Mr. Olympia’s accomplishments. At the end of reciting Arnold’s career, Bill Burr quips that “the dude’s been In The Zone for four decades!”. I’d like to make the case that Jackie Robinson fits into that category.
Jackie Robinson attended UCLA and was a four-sport athlete (yes, a four-sport athlete). Robinson exceled in football, basketball, baseball and track-and-field. Fast forward to recent history, and in the 2014 college football season, the nation marveled at Jameis Winston because he was a two-sport athlete; Winston was a star quarterback and baseball player at Florida State. Even by today’s standards, Jackie Robinson’s feats are unheard of. Jackie Robinson then went on to serve his country during World War 2. After his military service, Jackie Robinson went on to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, the accomplishment that he is most known for. Jackie Robinson asked Hall of Fame voters to consider only his on-field impact rather than his cultural impact. Robinson’s numbers were impressive for his time (the pre-steroid era). After baseball, Robinson became an executive at a coffeehouse chain as the VP of Personnel, rather than some celebrity make-work position like spokesperson. Jackie Robinson has four lifetimes worth of accomplishments.
This concludes Scraps from the Cutting Room Floor.
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