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Is Too Much Choice Stressing Us Out? (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In the decades following World War 2, there was a dramatic expansion in choices for consumers. Where before there were only a few brands of bread, now there were dozens. Marketers were relentless in trying to fill every niche, to capture every last market segment. But in the 1990s and 2000s, we started to realize that this wasn't inherently a good thing. Choice paralysis demonstrably exists. It's made us start asking questions like: do we really need 30 types of jam on a store shelf? Is there a good reason for a firm to offer over 150 different pension plans? It turns out, no. Employees are much less likely to actually choose a plan when confronted with so many. In worrying about finding the best choice, they accidentally pick what is by far the worst: nothing. Barry Schwartz, a psychologist who helped bring this idea to the fore, has been advocating for less choice, and offers this suggestion: "The secret to happiness is low expectations."
Relentless growth relies on a large subset of the buying public being able to make poor decisions on what to buy, then having to replace that item shortly thereafter. This choice reduction seems like some commie nonsense to me.
If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
Choice getting you down? Are you paralyzed by the array of different breads available at the store? Well have I got the solution for you, friend: Bread Lines! Everyone waits in one long line, and you get handed bread. "What kind?" you ask? Sometimes it's rye, sometimes it's pumpernickel, sometimes it's nothing at all! The important thing is you don't have to worry. Let the State worry for you.
The sheer number of comments to this story stressed me so much that I couldn't decide where to spend my moderator points. So I left a comment here instead. You're welcome.
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
This was my Mantra even before I was married, 30+ years ago. Take holidays. My wife has this Disney-esque image of how it will be. Mine is more like a bad, indie short. I am never disappointed or surprised.
I always say if you aim for the trees and miss, you have a lot less far to fall than if you aimed for the stars.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil