: I thought it was funny. But it does raise a point. One thing many people in certain circles fret over is how people prefer rubbishy plastic gimmicks to 'great works of art' (ie those approved by the arty elite or church going goodies or my own favoured snobs - whoever).Or rather, what is usually fretted about is that art is commodified, and loses its staus of 'excess', becomes subject to the market, and loses all hierarchisation of value and significance- one commodity is infinitely exchangeable with another (a Book of Poetry costs as much as a babylon five (fascist rubbish) video.. Then agian, ELiot was a fascist as well...hmmm).
: I would say that an abundance of crap is a sign of a wealth soaked (ie soaked top to botttom) populace. That the unwillingness of people to be impressed by animals in preservatives as art, 'modern dance', 'meaningful' plays and other tax sponsored 'art' (ie that which would rightly die off if left to choice) is of no concern.
Such 'High-Art' is itself usually a reaction to commodification, a deliberate attemp to produce 'unpopular' art, that cannot find a purchase in the market, cannot be infinitely exchangeable with other goods. I don't know if trinkets can ever be a sign in and of themselves of abundance (usually such plastic gimmicks are of extra-ordinaryilly low quality), but rather of potential abundance. People are still sleeping in gutters, etc.
