Please forgive a departure from our usual discussions but I wanted to share an interesting controversy in the area of fashion and apparel. A new campaign to “unveil historical erasure and resist capitalism” is under fire. Such campaigns are now commonplace on campuses but this is a campaign to end capitalism by Lululemon, a publicly traded brand worth billions and in the business of selling such things as leggings for $120 apiece. The campaign brought to mind the quote attributed to Lenin that “When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will vie with each other for the rope contract.” In this case, Lululemon will sell you the rope in various colors plus some “hotty hot” styles for $60.
The company has selected Rebby Kern, a self-proclaimed “social justice warrior,” as a spokesperson and promoted a class called “Decolonizing Gender.”
Her site rallies people (including those who linked through Lululemon) to resist consumerism . . . presumably like Lululemon. Kern (who identifies as a “non-binary, biracial, pansexual person”) declares that “capitalism wins under a colonized binary system of gender?”
Karl Marx said in The Communist Manifesto that “The proletarians have nothing to loose but their chains.” However, he said nothing about looking démodé. You can still redefine society in a “Define jacket” for $80.
The real question is are they skid mark proof?
I doubt if prices go down. Payment is jacked up 3-4 times. Name brands are the worst. Like I said prices won’t go down.
Power to the people, and our bottom line!
unveil historical erasure and resist capitalism…non-binary, biracial, pansexual person.
As I begin to unpack this word salad, I cannot get passed historical erasure. Assuming it’s not a good thing, then doesn’t this for profit company want people to erase from their minds the very system that made them successful?
Efforts to force collective amnesia are as old as conquest. The Roman decree damnatio memoriae — ‘‘condemnation of memory’’ — punished individuals by destroying every trace of them from the city, down to chiseling faces off statues. It was considered a fate worse than execution. But there are subtler, everyday forms of banishing people from public life.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/magazine/the-painful-consequences-of-erasure.html
At what point does calling for the annihilation of free enterprise, the only constitutional economic method in America, become known for what it is: Treason?
At what point does subliminal, anti-American, anti-constitutional, communist indoctrination become known for what it is: An existential and mortal threat threat?
At what point does the frog realize the cold water he was placed in is becoming increasingly hot and he is being cooked? Answer: The point at which survival is not possible.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Enemies are not to be embraced but repulsed with extreme prejudice.
The entire communistic American welfare state is unconstitutional.
Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto 59 years after the adoption of the Constitution because none of the principles of the Communist Manifesto were in the Constitution. Had the principles of the Communist
Manifesto been in the Constitution, Karl Marx would have had no reason to write the Communist Manifesto. The principles of the Communist Manifesto were not in the Constitution then and the principles of the
Communist Manifesto are not in the Constitution now.
these lulu rags are tawdry. these are the infamous yoga pants where you can see the gluteal crack
about those hotty hot shorts, they dont cover much and fly open to reveal the crotch. i opened the link and instantly recognized them from one improperly attired woman I saw who was opening the door to action.
In general, I dont blame women for wearing revealing clothing. I am not a modest person and don’t expect much from those around me either. some, but my standards in this way are low.
however, they are really going to great lengths to out-reveal each other. it becomes a strange competition. the worst of it is observable online
it really has little to do with men in my estimation. as by leaving nothing to the imagination, the net effect is anything but erotic.
“Fashion” has always been about women competing with one another. Men don’t give a rip about the sometimes silly and sometimes bizarre attire that women waste their money on. At least in earlier generations, based on old movies, it appears that women tried to look elegant or at least sophisticated. The trend now is to look as trashy as possible, with the tattoos and ultra revealing clothing.
People always get what they ask for and seldom what they paid for. But …. how is that germane to me. Stupid is as stupid does and the only cure is check the expiration date.
Far from advancing the cause of social justice by exploiting the trendy but ignorant movement du jour, Lululemon has only succeeded in commercializing it further for their own blatantly capitalistic ends.
Today, this kind of mindless blather sells. It is as simple and craven as that–no more no less. Empowering those who would destroy you, as is Professor Turley’s point, is never a good idea, even if you gain a few shekles in the process.
Lululemon produces clothes which are a lulu of a lemon.
When you have a clueless bunch like the “Woke”, you don’t have to worry about Irony Meters going off like crazy.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Well … I for one like to dress “girly” 👠👠 and proud of it! 💋
So many broken Irony Meters…
📣
White privilege is so great that now we have another one– at UW Madison a doctoral student has revealed that it turns out she isn’t really black.
Probably occured to her when she remembered she is Italian.
Being black in America comes with substantial benefits provided the black kid down the street doesn’t shoot you while you attend the latest memorial to stop violence.
Mr. Sailer had a series for a while on people shot while attending funerals.
I like Sailer’s articles but I didn’t see that one. I had noticed that if you want to get shot in black communities you could hardly do better than going to a “Stop The Killing” march or a memorial for the people shot at the last memorial for the people shot at the memorial before that for the people shot . . . . .
Morticians must love memorials, good for business.
When will Lululemon’s advertising campaign to “Fight Consumerism! Fight Capitalism! Boycott Lululemon!” Start?
Silly posturing. Unfortunately, many will believe it without thinking about the irony or lack of logic.
This is a marketing fad, not a movement. It will last until the next new thing. In the meantime, it is neither threatening nor amenable to serious debate.
+10
Why does it cost $0.50 for a medicine pill in Cuba and $20,000.00 in America?
American Medical Monopoly Capitalism.
It’s time for socialized medical service in America
That is not accurate.
Liberty– Why do leaders in Cuba and Venezuela fly to Europe when they get sick?
You think they can buy medicine when they can’t get toilet paper?
Young
That response, ‘Why does everybody come to the US when they get sick?’ is the response of someone who has been duped by the for profit, parasitical health care insurance industry of the US, the only one of its kind. The US ranks 35th in the world, per capita when it comes to quality of health care. Quality covers everything, per capita/person. Of course some in the US can afford not to get ulcers when they get their bills, can afford to prevent getting more sick out of fear of being destroyed financially, etc. But the average person in the US pays twice as much, per capita, as do those in the 24 higher quality systems. The waste and predatory costs of the medical system that contribute to this are a major reason why tens of thousands of Americans pay out of pocket in Canada and other foreign countries rather than through whatever American insurance company they have. Deductables and high out of pocket costs still contribute to the high costs of US medical care. The administrative costs of the US consumer product designed system are 5 to 7 times what they are in the better run systems of the 34 higher quality countries.
There is no advantage of choice under the US system. The Insurance industry is primarily underwritten by the same re insurance few. It’s a scam and perversely socialistic. The American is forced to contribute to a for profit system that includes over a thousand insurance companies, over 500,000 parasites, that include CEOs with multimillion dollar salaries. The US system comes with over a trillion dollars in waste and profit that is paid for by the individual, consumer, payer of the premium.
If you’re rich, it doesn’t matter. For the average person in the US, it is a travesty.
“The US ranks 35th in the world, per capita when it comes to quality of health care.”
That ranking is based on social justice factors that would probably make Cuba ahead of the US. In others words b.s. reports for people like you and Committ to throw around and argue about.
A few years ago I looked up the survivability rate for serious diseases and the US was easily ahead of Canada and the UK. If you are sick then survivability is more important than whether your doctors and nurses are diverse.
Isaac, your Party had a candidate in Tulsi Gabbard who wants to end the US empire building and redirect the hundreds of billion$ spent on financing our MIC’s endless foreign interventions towards free healthcare, repairing our crumbling infrastructure, and actually help the middle class recover from being completely fvcked by the elites like it was in 2008.
Yet, your Party and its psychopathic leaders (Hillary-Pelosi-etc.) falsely called her a Russian asset and did everything they could to destroy her chances at winning the Dem nomination.
So, all of your whining about healthcare means nothing until all of the neolib and neocon warmongers masquerading as “Representatives” of We the People are sent packing.
But you’re too much of a simplistic binary thinker, with zero critical thinking skills to understand any of that.
Tulsi is a great lady.
Corporatism. It ain’t capitalism.
Prairie, there is no evidence that privately owned companies are more fair or less prone to using monopolistic power than their corporate brethren., and “capitalism” includes both types of business entities. Rules established by government, and especially on essential to life products like health care, are a necessary part of making capitalism work for the greater benefit and not just the few “winners”. This includes mitigating the boom and bust cycles which are inherent to capitalism and anti-monopolistic laws.
By the Book,
We are not on the same page regarding the meaning of corporatism. I am not against corporations, and, I agree that privately-owned businesses are not necessarily more fair than corporations, and, that capitalism includes both entities. I am not completely in favor of laissez-faire capitalism; I do think some rules established by the government are there to benefit citizenry and to keep the business playing-field fair. Corporatism is descriptive of the interactions between business and government such that competition is not equal between (some) corporations and private businesses. Corporations shouldn’t get special favors because they have more lobbying power, yet, nonetheless, they do–hence corporatism (also called crony capitalism). I think we agree on this point considering you noted that ‘rules…are a necessary part of making capitalism work for the greater benefit and not just the few “winners”.
Here’s Wikipedia’s definition: “Crony capitalism is an economic system in which businesses thrive not as a result of risk, but rather as a return on money amassed through a nexus between a business class and the political class. This is often achieved by using state power rather than competition in managing permits, government grants, tax breaks, or other forms of state intervention”. It goes on to note that “cronyism is the result of an excess of interference in the market which inherently will result in a toxic combination of corporations and government officials running the sector of the economy”.
“To big to fail” banks and the auto bailout are examples of this. Certain businesses were propped up when they should’ve entered Chp. 11 like any other business. The ‘light bulb’ bill was a special bill for GE as far as I can tell. It made lawmakers feel good and it looked like ‘they did something’, but, those CFLs really aren’t any better for the environment (when you consider the mercury). Mattel got special favors to test all their toys in-house for lead when the toy-testing bill (CPSIA) went through, while everyone else was going to have to get extra testing done on anything being sold to kids. (https://reason.com/2009/08/31/law-passed-after-mattel-toy-sc/#:~:text=The%20Consumer%20Product%20Safety%20Improvement,for%20lead%20and%20other%20chemicals.).
Both sides of the aisle are guilty of ‘rigging the system’.
Hmmm…WordPress glitch at my first attempt.
Special rules for corporations:
“On March 23, with a green light from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Fed announced that it would buy as much corporate debt as necessary — in the form of bonds — to reassure companies that they could raise money they needed to ride out the pandemic. Within a few weeks, the bond market had nearly regained the ground it lost, spurring a debt boom. U.S. companies issued a record $873 billion in bonds in the second quarter. Even highly leveraged companies seen as risky after years of aggressive borrowing, like TransDigm, got in on the action.
In April, the $27 billion aerospace manufacturer borrowed $1.5 billion in two bond offerings. The money “is an insurance policy,” Howley told investors, noting that it could come in handy if TransDigm wanted to pick up any more companies.
The Fed’s safety blanket wasn’t the only help for TransDigm. A few days later, Congress enacted tax cuts as part of the CARES Act that will bring tens of millions in direct aid to the company this year.
Unlike government loan programs set up to cushion companies affected by the pandemic, TransDigm’s support didn’t come with strings. The company wasn’t required to keep workers on the payroll or stop returning money to shareholders. Indeed, TransDigm said in April it would lay off up to 15% of its workforce, or nearly 3,000 workers.”
“By bolstering a bond market that had been in freefall, the federal government offered its largest, most rapid and least encumbered relief to large businesses that already had robust cash reserves. This intervention required no application process. Nothing protected rank-and-file employees from simply being laid off, and the prime beneficiaries have been shareholders and bondholders as the stock market has soared to new heights.
For small businesses, however, the programs were patchy, poorly administered and ultimately insufficient. The largest component of that aid, the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program, kept thousands of small businesses afloat. But it was also maddeningly complex, and did not reach the companies that needed it most. By one estimate it saved only 2.3 million jobs, at the cost of $224,000 each.”
https://features.propublica.org/cleveland-bailout/the-big-corporate-rescue-and-the-america-thats-too-small-to-save/
Not to mention the absurdity of allowing some businesses to stay open as ‘essential businesses’ (mainly larger corporations like Lowe’s, Walmart, or grocery store chains) while telling other businesses (and their workers) that they are ‘not essential’. Not only does it smack of corporatism, but that is a horrible thing to tell people–that they, apparently, are not essential.
Lululemon is fast fashion, in which workers overseas are paid pittance, in poor working conditions, in order to produce cheap clothing to be shipped back overseas to the US and elsewhere. When you factor in the cost of the material, shipping it to a factory overseas, the warehouse costs, shipping it back to the US, and retail markup, there is barely anything left for the workers who actually produced it. Workers at Lululemon’s Bangladesh factory only make about the cost of a single pair of leggings in a month.
“Low-paid workers producing clothes for Lululemon in Bangladesh say they endured physical abuse and regular humiliation from their managers, according to an investigation by the Guardian. One worker said she was violently slapped for leaving work early on a day when she was sick. Others described managers calling female workers “sluts” or “prostitutes,” as well as instances of physical abuse. A male worker said men at the factory were beaten and mistreated too. The workers also faced intense pressure to hit production targets that resulted in them working long hours without rest or breaks for meals.”
https://qz.com/1728279/lululemon-is-under-fire-for-factory-worker-abuse-in-bangladesh/
To be fair, Lululemon does not consider itself “fast fashion.” After all, its clothing costs more than a few bucks, as would be found in Target. However, it still utilizes workers in impoverished countries like Bangladesh, paying them meager wages is abusive, unsafe working conditions. It still churns out poor quality goods, just at a higher price.
Buy made in America, or any country with ethical working conditions. Avoid wasting fuel shipping cheap clothing back and forth across the ocean. Or it’s fun to sew your own tailor made clothing. It will last longer, and it will actually fit. Plus no worker in Bangladesh was beaten to make it. Better to have fewer, high quality pieces, that work together in your wardrobe, than 100 cheap, fraying, falling apart pieces of clothing in abusive conditions overseas.
Well said, Karen.
One problem, though:
“Or it’s fun to sew your own tailor made clothing.”
I was not taught much in this department, unfortunately. I can learn, of course, but I fear the learning curve is steep and time is precious. I think a lot of women are ignorant when it comes to clothing construction.
Karen. I try to buy American as often as I can, but the future is in global economics on most items and we can’t avoid it. The TPP which Obama worked with other Pacific Rim countries to develop and implement, largely as a block against Chinese economic hegemony in the region, and which is now functioning quite well without our membership, contained unprecedented rules regarding worker’s rights and environmental considerations for members. The hope for the future is in agreements like this more than isolationism. Consider that the Bangladeshi workers you are rightly concerned for do not benefit from our buying more American, unless that is tied to pressure from our government on theirs. That will only happen with increased trade, not less.
By the Book,
“but the future is in global economics on most items and we can’t avoid it.”
Why is this unavoidable?
This company is based in Vancouver.Enough said.
What does that mean. Don’t show your American ignorance by denigrating a beautiful city like Vancouver when you have shit holes like Seattle
Funny how the Woke Cathedral fails to see that corporate America isn’t conforming to their crusade based on ideology… tech, entertainment, publishing, fashion, “wellness”, et al conforms to the God of Demographics first and foremost. That’s where the gold lies.
How is the scientific designation of sex either colonization or oppressive? This is going to make the observation of fauna a lot more complicated.
Resist capitalism? Resist the right to the fruits of your own labor and ideas? That’s what capitalism is. If you have an idea for a good or service, you can sell it. People can voluntarily agree to buy it. People can voluntarily agree to sell their own labor as an employee.
The alternative is socialism, in which citizens are slaves to the state. The state, as master, owns the labor and ideas of all citizens. Profit is illegal. You are distributed goods, housing, and other items that the state believes you need. You may not choose what you want or where to live.
Under socialism, the governments owns the means of production, whether that’s farming, or energy development.
Imagine a world in which private farming for profit were illegal. Organic or regenerative agriculture wouldn’t even be a possibility, as it would all be under the purview of an all powerful state.
How interesting that the very people agitating for an all powerful government to enslave people so commonly call capitalists fascist. Perhaps a dictionary and rudimentary government course is in order.
Resist capitalism, tell that to Putin.
Buy a loom to make your own.
👚
There is plenty of American-made cotton fabric. A friend of mine works with an American company that turns out absolutely beautiful American cotton fabrics. Plenty of American made patterns, often by startups and cottage pattern makers. Once you learn how to take someone’s measurements, and make simple alterations, you will finally have clothing tailor made to fit you. Perfectly.
Just buy a sewing machine. Too bad there are no more American made sewing machines.
I have this fantastic sewing machine I got out of an estate that slides up and out of a desk. Maybe it pivots, I can’t remember, the point is it closes up into the desk. It’s swell
my office has a “collapse” contingency plan. oil lamps, candles, carbon paper, and a manual typewriter. hope i dont ever need to go that route but I can
Do you sew?
Yes I do and I make most of my clothes.
Kurtz – that’s cool. My Mom also has a sewing machine table that can lower the machine out of sight, for a smooth desk surface. I believe she got it as a wedding present. Still works great.
I think that disaster preparedness is finally getting its due.