Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Thu, 22 Mar 2001 20:26:53 EST |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
In a message dated 3/22/2001 5:27:34 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< Much the same way that Ralph's imitation design knock-offs from the
outlet mall bring him complete satisfation because he believes he found a
bargin on the real deal. >>
The outlet malls (supposedly) aren't selling imitation knockoffs, they're
selling the real thing at a price which is reduced, or which we presume to
have been reduced, or they sell seconds (which may have authenticity but lack
integrity). So am I not entitled to complete satisfaction if I got a bargain
on the real deal?
And what about the moron who sits next to me at work with his $3 imitation
Rolex watch that he bought from some West African which had run for years and
keeps perfect time? He got a bargain on a fake piece of shit and is
perfectly happy. And what about the moron (me) who sits next to him, who paid
$1500 for a c. 1910 mechanical watch which has to be wound, otherwise I have
to disassemble the damn thing to reset it, and has to be repaired (at $100 a
pop) by some authentic old Chasid on 47th Street who says he lived in the town
of Auschwitz in the bad old days before they became the really bad old days
? I paid through the nose, am inconvenienced, and am also happy (if not
perfectly so).
Maybe this authenticity and integrity stuff is more complicated than we
thought. But I still think it's important, or I wouldn't fool around with my
goddam watch. On the other hand, I knew a clockmaker for the Met Museum who
carried a digital watch in his pocket to set the clocks after he had restored
them.
Ralph
|
|
|