
Minimalism conceals the messy realities of society - prismatic
https://newrepublic.com/article/156800/hollow-politics-minimalism
======
DubiousPusher
Two ideas which often I encounter together yet I have grown to find
incompatible are self reliance and minimalism. If you wish to become more self
reliant i.e. more able to handle for yourself rather than through another's
labor the impositions you create in the world, you will find yourself needing
to masters, access and eventual own many more tools and material.

My father, a man capable of building or repairing almost anything to his need
lives with a shop entirely full of junk. And frequently the scrap iron or 2x4
I have mocked him for retaining has come to the rescue and helped us avoid the
60 mile trip from his home into town.

The reality is, if you wish to combine self reliance and minimalism, you
essentially must embrace a life of poverty.

~~~
closeparen
If your possessions all have practical utility, you are already a hardcore
minimalist.

No one should begrudge you a well-stocked and well-used workshop. That’s not
what the minimalist message is supposed to be about. It’s the stuff
accumulated carelessly, just because you could. Decorative doo-dads, outfits
worn once, toys from kids long since grown, furniture retained out of a sense
of duty. The suburban middle-class lifestyle I grew up in has a tendency to
accumulate a monotonically increasing volume of possessions without much
thought. My grandparents have more square footage than my entire apartment
dedicated to the storage of useless, meaningless crap. It is, in fact, a
necessary and useful message for many people to be more deliberate about what
you choose to buy and retain. If the only things you can think to cut are
tools, you are not one of those people.

~~~
jdietrich
_> If your possessions all have practical utility, you are already a hardcore
minimalist._

The problem is that "practical utility" isn't always obvious. I have boxes and
boxes of components and other oddments that collectively form a useful
library, but I have no way of predicting which specific oddments will be
useful in future. Any given item is currently useless, but might become
extremely useful at some indeterminable point in the future. There's a very
fine line between a prepper and a hoarder.

~~~
dgreensp
This is why Marie Kondo’s approach is personal and about getting in touch with
your feelings. No one is going to deny you your collection. One of my pet
peeves is when someone is trying to help you get rid of “stuff you don’t use,”
and they pick up an object and say, “When’s the last time you used this? I’ve
never seen you use this.” You’re allowed to have things you don’t use very
often, if they are the sort of things you want to have around. Yet, this
permission doesn’t necessarily prevent getting rid of tons of stuff.

One thing I’ve noticed is that if I can’t find something, its utility is
basically zero. If I forget I have it, even more so. Also, things cluttering
up a room (visually and in terms of physical space) feel like clutter. So,
ideally a collection would be organized enough (which could mean stuff is just
piled in boxes, but I’m sufficiently familiar with the boxes), and stored in a
suitable place.

I think there’s a lot of power in encouraging people to get rid of stuff that
they actually would be happier if they got rid of, by helping them make their
own authentic determination.

------
ikt
I just want to say I don't like this article at all.

It makes minimalism seem like a rigid ideology specifically for white males
who command poor people to build and craft expensive housing and objects for
them (and many of those objects are in the shape of penises?)

A whole lot of discussion on random art and murder from one of the people who
made that style of art.

I thought this was going to be about minimalism, which to me is:

Q: What is minimalist living?

A: It’s simply getting rid of things you do not use or need, leaving an
uncluttered, simple environment and an uncluttered, simple life. It’s living
without an obsession with material things or an obsession with doing
everything and doing too much. It’s using simple tools, having a simple
wardrobe, carrying little and living lightly.

It's basically being more content with less which ties in nicely with
financial independence. Instead I got lectured to for not being a woman of
colour who renounces my privilege and whitewashing of things in an art history
that I don't care for.

~~~
kerkeslager
My advice is to just stop identifying as a minimalist, and find a better word
to describe your identity. The thing is, the article is describing a group of
people who self-identify as "minimalist", but you, along with ten other groups
that are nothing like you OR the minimalists in the article OR each other, all
identify as "minimalist". It's just not a word with any coherent meaning. The
result is that every time anyone talks about minimalism, there's some
criticism leveled against minimalism, and then everyone's argument is "that's
not minimalism, THIS is minimalism". It's an endless circle of semantic
arguments.

I at one time described myself as minimalist, but now I would describe myself
as an anticonsumerist. It's not a perfect term either, but I haven't gotten in
any stupid arguments about it.

~~~
toddh
Joyist is the new minimalist.

------
erwinh
In Design minimalism should not be confused with simplicity. Which is actually
more about being super functional and direct about what you are trying to
achieve. John Maeda’s book 10 laws of simplicity define it well. In striving
for simplicity you run the risk of oversimplification. So an important element
in such a process is always identifying the complexity that you can’t ignore.
Simplicity requires a lot of hard thinking that goes un-noticed in the final
product or artistic object because its’s been reduced (in a positive sense!)
to the essential elements to perform it’s function.

I guess minimalism tries to catch the cool of the real hard work of simplicity
by trying to copy simplicity as if it is simply an aesthetic but in the end it
turns up empty.

------
clairity
> “The ultimate minimalist is a hermit, a recluse, or a monk,” he says. “And
> to me, that’s not gonna change the world.”

chinese historical/wuxia dramas often heavily feature taoist/buddhist
“grandmasters”, who typically have (near-)superhuman abilities (from years of
meditation on enlightenment, presumably). yet they’re reluctant to use those
abilities because they also strive for detachment from the world and its base
human emotions (for some reason that’s required to reach immortality).

the tension is often between allowing destiny to unfold without interference
and staying on the path to enlightenment, or defying fate and risking heaven’s
wrath. there are adverse consequences either way and it’s a test of character
which way one chooses.

~~~
mysticmode
Nicely written! I mean your comment on that point.

In Taoism, they say - accept the flow and about Yin-Yang philosophy.

> "And to me that's not gonna change the world"

This is a mystery. I'm from India, and I've read few Vedic texts where it
says, all these elements we've accumulated and grown with, by elements I mean
Father, Mother, Son, Wife, Mine, Not Mine are just aggregated and don't assign
much significance.

This is to our rational minds seems really absurd! Hence it is a mystery that
would unfold when you start delve into it deeply.

------
pojntfx
As someone who identified as a minimalist until a while back, I’d argue that
the primary lesson I’ve learned from it is not necessary to thrive for the
minimal possible amount of items, but to _keep track_ of the things you own. I
do for example have a list of all my personal belongings and update that list
_before_ I ever buy something; this way you get the same benefit of “feeling
in control” without having any detrimental effects on your quality of
life/self-reliance.

~~~
ohnope
I’ve wanted to create a list of my belongings, with maybe a few other metrics
like category, rough value, happiness factor, etc. How detailed did you go,
and did you use it as a survey tool to initially figure out what you don’t
need?

~~~
pojntfx
I don't even categorize what I own; my list is a simple .txt with newlines
between "categories", but I don't even name the latter anymore. I've done a
lot more (cost, categories etc.) but nowadays I just ... keep it minimal ;)

------
UweSchmidt
Minimalism is luxury. You know you could replace whatever you just threw out
(which in turn is a way to declutter; mentally allocating money for a pair of
pants to potentially replace the 3 pairs you're never wearing helps getting
rid of those). You know you could go back to your parents after "selling
everything and backpacking around the world). Instagram-minimalism
additionally requires replacing and color-matching a lot of perfectly fine
furniture, electronics and toys.

Another messy reality of society is overproduction, manifesting in that box or
drawer with extra HDMI cables and USB thumb drives and USB-to-PS2 connectors,
and throwing some of that crap out feels good :)

~~~
nsoonhui
> Minimalism is luxury. You know you could replace whatever you just threw out

No it's no, you grossly misunderstand the fundamentals of minimalism.

It's make do with whatever you have, and to be content with less, including
less money, less possessions, less prestige and less of everything. It's
accepting the degradation of social status.

"Going back to parents after selling everything and travelling around the
world" is not a message of minimalism. Selling your mansion, forgoing your
salary and title, travelling around the world in a brief suitcase with not a
penny to your name even after you come back from travelling and be contented
with living from day-to-day in a one bedroom flat, _that's_ minimalism.

~~~
balfirevic
> _that's_ minimalism

I must have missed it, who is in charge of the definition of minimalism?

------
ehnto
My ideal brand of minimalism isn't arbitrary removal of items, but pragmatism,
organisation and cleanliness.

You will be surprised how similar it feels to have your tools well organised,
versus removing them all together.

I think it comes down to our brains attempting to forecast and predict
everything we do. So when your workspace is messy, your brain can't look very
far ahead, it doesn't know where everything is so it can't accurately forecast
the situation. It gets flustered and you work slower. When you're organised,
your brain can subconsciously connect all the dots and suddenly everything
feels easier and more simple.

------
Hnrobert42
This article is an interesting book report on Longing for Less. The majority
of the article is “Chayka says...”

Lacking any original insight, the author wedges in an unsupported claim about
minimalism requiring privilege. Now, I’m not saying it does or doesn’t. There
are several good responses here to support the idea. But the article itself
does a really poor job of supporting the thesis.

Indeed, it seems more like neo-liberal buffet. It pokes at everything from the
phallic shape of light-bulb (which couldn’t the just as easily be uterine) to
the affluent readers of Dwell. I’m surprised a swipe at Goop didn’t get shoe-
horned in.

I am as ready to damn the man as anyone, but this article is a cash grab.
Bleh.

~~~
ohnope
Completely agree. A few paragraphs in, I felt dread because it was going to be
yet another rehash of minimalist history with with very little original
thought. It’s too scared to say things directly. I think if it started with
the last 2 or so paragraphs, it could offer something unique or challenging.

------
grawprog
Minimalism's an odd thing. I find it really depends on context. Minimalistic
story telling in a video game or some such thing, is awesome, the same thing
in a book, not so great and in movies can be hit or miss.

From a ui design standpoint, I can't stand minimalism most of the time. The
lack of immediately apparent information and context can be infuriating.
Whereas a minimalistic design in some kind of manual tool would tend to make
things more straightforward and easy.

Minimalistic music can be great for setting atmosphere under certain contexts,
but wouldn't be great for a dance party.

Minimalism is a tool that should be applied.to situations where 'having less
is more'. Otherwise it just detracts from whatever you're trying to do and
should be used sparingly.

~~~
nixpulvis
Minimalistic dance music (MDM) sounds like exactly what I'm missing in my
life. I mean I have a bit already, but sometimes it gets to poppy. Just gotta
tug on the right notes, ignore the rest.

Mix it up, but only when you need to. Don't overthink it, yet spend the time
needed to make it juuuust right.

As Mark Twain famously said:

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

P.S. `less` is literally `more` on most UNIX systems.

~~~
nmyk
Minimal techno had a big moment in EDM circles in the '00s as the bombastic
productions of the '90s started to be seen as cheesy and overcooked.

See for example: [https://youtu.be/daSid6Lh9Vs](https://youtu.be/daSid6Lh9Vs)

~~~
nixpulvis
I'm personally more of a fan of things like OG DJ Distance for minimalism.

this track hits me where it feels:
[https://youtu.be/3AT8szyLD0k](https://youtu.be/3AT8szyLD0k)

Turns out, two "movements" (repeated?), and little bit of variation is enough
to dance to, and generally make for a pretty good song.

~~~
nmyk
Just saw this again - I listened to that track and really enjoyed it! I
typically go for softer, more melodic stuff, but there is still a teenage
metalhead in me that really digs this.

------
awat
In general I can appreciate the general tenets of minimalism.

It may be just my own pessimism but it’s seems to becoming a movement that
requires you to get rid of things and buy new “minimalist” items to replace
them.

~~~
hanniabu
True to a degree and dependent on the person. Personally I'm making it a long
term goal so I'm only changing things as the time comes. For example both my
computer and laptop were super old and finally my laptop gave out so I sold my
desktop and just invested in a laptop that could do the job of both. My tv was
also old and didn't have an app store or anything a modern smart tv would have
seemed I didn't have a proper monitor for my computer only one of those
squares ones you'll likely find at your town's library so I invested in a new
monitor which I could also use to replace my tv. There's still a lot I want to
do such as go through my clothes and kitchen equipment but I anticipate I'll
be changing jobs and moving soon so I'll not making any changes there until I
know what I'll be doing and where I'll be living.

There's also many degrees to minimalism. My objective is being able to fit
everything I own in a studio apartment without clutter. Others have the goal
of being able to fully everything in an 80L backpack. Others just want to go
into their basement without tripping over storage.

------
elg0nz
“Are you a minimalist? Do you take pride in a reductive life? Minimalists are
actually extreme hoarders: they hoard space, and they’re just as odd as those
people with seven rooms filled with newspapers, dead cats and margarine tubs”
― Douglas Coupland, Bit Rot

------
dgreensp
KonMari has nothing to do with visual brand, it’s about living authentically
free of things you don’t like.

It’s like the life philosophy of not spending time around friends who don’t
spark joy in you. And then someone comes along and says, “I see, it’s about
spending less time around people, in order to look cool!” No, that’s just your
shallow, ego-based take on it. “Not mine, that’s totally what people are
doing. I can tell they think they’re cooler than me, going on about how much
they enjoy their ‘me’ time... It’s just another fad, of course.”

~~~
ntsplnkv2
There is merit in the criticism, especially when the "founder" now has a shop
to sell items...

[https://shop.konmari.com/](https://shop.konmari.com/)

------
friendlybus
And Maximalism papers over the messy realities of society. There is no
conceptual framework that can see all of nature, they highlight aspects of it.

~~~
ntsplnkv2
Agreed, not buying what the article is selling, which is trying to connect a
modern fad, its namesake art period, and political discussions on capitalism
and socialism and society at large.

------
Xcelerate
> Minimalism is tiny houses, floor-to-ceiling glass condos

I always see this criticism and don’t understand it. I’ve been going on ever
since I was a 10 year old kid in the 90s (well before “minimalism” was trendy)
about how one day I wanted a tiny, well-designed house with giant floor-to-
ceiling glass windows. I think it’s natural to enjoy sunlight, so I’m not sure
what the article is suggesting—that people should want tiny windows again?

~~~
ravenstine
I don't even see how those two things are even the same. They're both
minimalism in name only. A tiny house and a glass condo are both fueled by
completely different motivations and the ends are also totally different. As
you noted, one could intentionally incorporate large glass windows into a tiny
house for totally valid reasons, but the article is comparing the generality
of a tiny house with condos that wealthy people buy for aesthetics, but they
just aren't comparable.

------
runjake
The online minimalism movement seems like a fool's game touted by the affluent
who have quick and ready access to any needed resources.

I think that some people, like Colin Wright, have the right idea with their
brand of minimalism, but too many others have co-opted it and put their own
rules on it.

I like the idea, but I own a house, and a yard, and appliances. And I maintain
all of them. So, in the garage, I keep good-sized stashes of scrap lumber,
random pieces of plastic and metal, screws, bolts, washers, grommets, and
tools. I have fixed or MacGuyvered countless things with these random parts.

And at some point, I jumped off that minimalism train and jumped onto my own
train: practicalism (lowercase p, because I have to maintain some pretension).

practicalism (tm): Own only what is practical -- and maybe just a little more.

------
skylarchunk
As a political science student, I am compelled to point the allure of
minimalism to the Greco-Athenian ideal of being self-sustaining (to a fair
degree). The lack of material possession suggests, to others, that one is
complete and satisfied in their seemingly ideal state.

------
ravenstine
Everyone here is commenting on minimalism as a lifestyle, but the article
seems to be referring to aesthetic minimalism. The two are not necessarily the
same.

Also, for people to conclude that minimalism in the lifestyle sense isn't
working in some way is pretty bizarre. What exactly is the answer, then? _Just
giving in to the human impulses of hoarding and consumerism?_ Whether or not
that's the alternative, this conclusion that minimalism as a lifestyle doesn't
seem justified in any way. It seems more like a case of "this thing has been
trending for the last few years, therefore we have to now point out how bad it
is for the sake of it".

~~~
KozmoNau7
When you're brought up in a consumerist lifestyle and taught again and again
that consumerism is good and that you should aspire to consume more and
produce more so you can consume even more, it can be hard to break the habit.

Buying a bigger TV than your neighbor gives you a dopamine boost, you feel
like you've achieved something, you're moving up in life. It's addictive.

And the industry wants us to consume. The plastic industry pumped recycling
initiatives to make it seem like plastic could be harmlessly recycled. They
want us to think we can use as much plastic as we like, they don't want us to
reduce our use of plastic.

------
cheerlessbog
Coming to the US from Europe, I find it striking how much more “Stuff” a
typical household contains. I am still struggling to understand why and even
after a number of years, it is jarring when I return. I think it is a mixture
of greater disposable income, lower prices, peer pressure (“look at my new
toy”), extra storage space, ease of shopping (easier to drive and park), and a
slightly different set of decisions about what is important.

Back home, I would have a keener awareness of the opportunity cost, including
“where am I going to put this”. My family back home seems more homey as with
fewer possessions their homes feel more harmonious.

Of course I am sampling large distributions...

------
kepano
The author of the book referenced in this article, Kyle Chayka, was on my
podcast recently [https://www.lumi.com/wellmade/110-kyle-
chayka](https://www.lumi.com/wellmade/110-kyle-chayka)

I like that the book doesn't attach itself to any one definition of
minimalism, but instead tries to explore all its definitions, what ties them
together, and why we keep coming back to these ideas.

I would consider myself a lifelong minimalist, but this book challenged my
notions about minimalism in many ways. It's a good read!

------
samirillian
There's another way of looking at this, which is minimalism as symptom rather
than cause.

Most millenials, even the upper-middle class ones, see a future with less
material prospects than their parents had. I do not believe that minimalism is
fundamentally a cultural phenomenon driven by the wealthy, but by the
impoverished.

You can say that Marie Kondo and Bauhaus have some subterranean aesthetic
connection, but I think Marie Kondo and the 40 year old guy living alone in
his "tiny home," watching Netflix, have a much deeper cultural connection.

~~~
lmm
Disagree. The people Kondo et al are popular with are successful urban-
dwellers who could easily afford the suburban lifestyle of their parents if
they wanted it. But they've seen that that lifestyle does not bring happiness:
hours spent sitting in a car so that they can work all day to afford said
fancy car and a huge house they barely live in full of stuff they barely use.

------
kmarc
Interesting to read these comments here.

I consider myself a (not-so-hardcore) minimalist, even since before this hip
KonMari... "thing" that suddenly "made" a lot of people into minimalists.
Yeah, for sure it did.

As everything, this is a journey, yada-yada. However, what I think is worth
pointing out is that different cultural settings would adapt "minimalism"
(whatever that exactly is) differently. Living in an European city, I
absolutely don't need to have a car. Having this mindset in Texas would be
absolutely impractical.

My journey in this led me to just asses myself and introspect; consider if
certain objects would make me happy, my life easier, do I really need it, can
I rather borrow it, etc. The thing what I used to call minimalism became to me
just "common sense" \- although apparently is not common at all (thinking of
people renting storage spaces etc...)

But what really, really helped me (also mentally) is the reduced distraction
that objects, services, etc caused me; I see other people handling this
complex world much better than I, but I made peace with the fact that the
current level of complexity of our world is not comprehensible, form an
evolutionary perspective, to the human (or maybe just my) brain :-)

Anyhow, this article was painfully boring, however, the HN comments are worth
to read!

------
jhoechtl
Minimalsim is only true when you are substanitaly reducing consumption,
essentially where your live is not iterating around money but around lending,
helping each other without money by helping back etc. Lets and barter systems
might help. Once you arrive at that point you will suddenly feel the society
fighting against you.

Society accepted minimalsims is a kind of minimalsim where your net
consumption remains where it is now.

------
kerkeslager
The problem with minimalism is that the word doesn't have a comprehensible
definition, so any time you get into a discussion about minimalism, the entire
discussion ends up being an argument over the definition of the word. The only
winning move is not to play.

At one point I might have called myself a minimalist, but these days I'd call
myself more of an anticonsumerist or something along those lines.

~~~
exergy
Anticonsumerist is actually a great word. I might adopt it. Much more succint.

------
gdubs
In terms of art, paintings used to be like windows into a world. Then, with
modernists, paintings became less about make a picture (something the new
technology of photography could do better anyway), and more about the object
itself — paint on a canvas, hung on a wall. When art critics were talking
about the “flatness” of a painting, that’s what they meant. The “flatter” the
painting, the truer it was to itself — just a canvas covered in paint.
Eventually becoming so flat that you’ve got a white canvas in a white gallery.
Sculpture followed a similar trajectory.

In terms of Marie Kondo and decluttering, or Zen — I’d say there’s a
difference between minimal and essential. One is an aesthetic exercise, the
other is a goal of finding that point where it’s “just right”, no more, no
less.

------
deltron3030
True minimalism is functional systems thinking, e.g. planning a capsule
wardrobe to save the time deciding on what to put on, while still being able
to look different each day. You could combine it with shopping for different
materials, like whool shirts insteaf of cotton to extend the time between
washing (whool doesn't absorb bacteria/odors like cotton).

The minimalism then basically goes unoticed to the outside world, it doesn't
"punish" you socially while maximizing your own time and reducing the
cognitive load.

You could ditch your gym subscription and get into calisthenics/bodyweight
training instead, or prepare your meals in advance. There's a lot of stuff you
can do that sums up. Making those trade offs is kinda fun..

------
exergy
Rubbish drivel. It's a trend nowadays for people to write longform articles
purporting to lay bare some great truths but really are just an excuse for the
author to regurgitate some recent things they read. It _really_ rubs me the
wrong way.

First of all, the unnecessary mention of "mostly white male". I'm So. Bloody.
Tired of this trope being injected into every article at every opportunity. I
get it. Life unfair. Move on. It's like how every NYT comment section will
mention Trump within the first two comments. Give it a rest already!

Then, the vague-at-best connections between minimal art and Minimalism as a
response to the excesses of Boomers. It's really not that complicated. Grow up
in a house of hoarders, and you're well on your way to embracing minimalism.

Lastly, this whole "Your bedroom might be cleaner, but the world stays bad".
Yeah! Minimalism doesn't promise world peace! It's just a way to make your own
life more manageable and sane!

Just because a piece is longform doesn't mean it's good. Reading this article
was a terrible waste of my time.

------
veggieburglar
As a minimalist, if you’re stressing out about whether you own too many
things, you’re missing the point entirely. Does that bring you right to the
same place as a maximalist- do I have enough?/do I have too much?

------
golemotron
The article is a very provincial US take. It makes no acknowledgement of
Scandinavian or Eastern (see 'ma' in Japanese) conceptions of minimalism in
lifestyle and aesthetics. Africa and India are likewise excluded.

That's very convenient if you are going to weave a narrative of privilege in a
US-centric context, and I think that was the writer's aim.

------
hindsightbias
In college, everything I owned could fit into a ridiculously small car.

After school, measured my minimalism by counting the things I owned. As long
as over half of them had been given to me, I was doing good.

Living with other people for awhile, find myself sometimes fantasizing about
if I could get my life down to two steamer trunks.

------
gitgud
Minimalism is good for a work-place, as it helps you focus; for example
clearing a room of all things except a desk, will reduce distractions and
cognitive load by constantly seeing clutter... everything in moderation
though...

------
JackPoach
As COVID-19 hits, people understand Taleb's idea about critical importance of
multiple redundancies. These are clearly incompatible with minimalism. To be
alive is more important than to be a minimalist in the end.

~~~
ravenstine
I don't see how that's the case. If multiple redundancies are a necessity,
then having them doesn't go against the minimalist lifestyle. Minimalism
doesn't mean that you stick to only have one of everything, although it _can_
mean that to an individual minimalist depending on their goals, perhaps such
as traveling light. There's no definition of minimalism that says you should
have an insufficient supply of anything.

~~~
JackPoach
Here's a real life example. Suppose, you are a true minimalist and all you
have is a backpack with 35 items. You used to make all your money blogging
about travel. Your income is now ZERO. What do you do? Now, compare that to a
different person who, let's say, has a garage. With lots an lots of tools that
he or she can do to create something useful. Or a boat that he or she can live
on, catch fish, etc. Now having those items is quite beneficial. Please
understand that I am all for minimalism from the consumer point of view, but
having lived in a lot of poor countries and can say that US-based minimalist
driving force is DEBT. People simply can't afford to buy housing and they are
crushed by student debts or debts of other kinds. So they adapt to a certain
life style. Which is fine and dandy, but on the other hand instead of going
after the root of the problem, you are totally avoiding it on a country-wide
scale.

------
grandridge
An article about minimalism with too many words

------
robbyyy
Deep, but subtle link between the psychology of minimalism and libertarianism.

------
drobert
Bad article, clearly written by someone with left wing views.

Minimalism can help you lead a more focused life. Of course it’s relevant for
people who have accumulated a lot, but even poor people can hoard things.

> I caught one mention of “inequality.” Instead of digging into systemic
> problems like poverty or exploring ideas of wealth redistribution, the film
> frames having less as an individual, moral choice with no political strings
> or implications. Not everything has to do with politics.

> In fact, the alleged blankness of Minimalism can serve as a facade that
> conceals a disturbing reality. An incident that Chayka doesn’t discuss in
> his book demonstrates this in an extreme way. What? How this one incident is
> relevant in the minimalist movement?

~~~
zrello87
The author is yet another member of pronoun-twitter who blames everything on
capitalism and white men, not leaving their privileged New York late-
capitalist bubble to realise all these things still exist in non-white, non-
capitalist spaces and always will.

