::eerie organ chords::
::flashing lighning, peals of thunder::
A scientist pursuing a goal of discovery without any further thought of what he is producing and what it will become. And the consequences of what he made. That which he created turned on him and destroyed him.
Sorry, I don’t understand these two questions. Whatever you’re talking about.
No snark intended, although I should probably not speak for the entire Board. *I *miss you, at least. You’re a poster I’ve watched for in the past, because you always seem to have good sense.
But liking $200.00 shoes is hardly an example of a culture “sucking.”
For example, a pair of completely standard-issue boots from Aldo (not Aldi, dumbasses), which approximately 50% of women on any given rush-hour subway will be wearing half the year, costs around that. Do yuppies “suck” for buying normal shoes from a normal mid-range mall retailer? A $200 pair of shoes is just a completely unremarkable thing…I’d venture most adults who have any interest in footwear own a pair or two around that price point.
So the question is why does this particular kind of $200.00 shoe attract so much ire?
Do you really not get that those same people react the same way to any article of clothing that is that expensive? You bring out any other pair of $200 shoes, and they’d react the same way.
And I would venture that you are horribly mistaken. I don’t know anyone but shoe aficionado who have shoes over the $100 price point. And those people only wear those shoes on special occasions, not as some sort of status symbol.
BTW, that’s the answer to your question. These shoes aren’t $200 because they are good shoes, or even because they are supposed to go with fancy clothes. They are $200 so that you can wear them with your basic clothes and show off that you can afford them. They are a sort of urban status symbol worn by groups of people that are not looked highly upon.
For some reason, it’s worse for the lower classes to be ostentatious with their wealth than the higher class. I say “for some reason”, but it’s really a lot of factors. The biggest is that you obviously are trying to not fit in with the lower and working classes, but are not good enough for the upper class, so you wind up shunned by both.
I fucking rob people!
Totally. My local police blotter is nothing but picture after picture of skinny white hipsters who have been arrested for strong-arm robberies.
It is to me. Seems to at least imply that culture is consumerist and shallow. But I realize I’m in the minority.
Im confused. Didn’t you post about iPhones getting jacked in your hood? By black kids?
Women dont riot over a Hermes purse. Or Apple products. NO ONE needs to get violent over kicks they likely can’t afford. I really don’t care about the price of tea in Cameroon. People who riot and steal and STAB over anything are classless shitbags who deserve something a lot harsher than a Pitting.
Most of the kids who are on free and reduced lunch in my school have more than one pair.
I went to a Best of British Shop here in the week. I bought some Scottish Breakfast Tea for about $10. I guess the local stuff would be about $2.
I must be a racist chardonnay socialist.
O, well as long as they’re robbing people for their valuables it makes it almost reasonable.
Erm… what sort of backwater do you live in, son?
She is not remotely mistaken. In the parts of the world where large numbers of people ride the subway every day, $200 boots are very much the norm.
Also, I accidentally wandered into the Running of the Brides once (I worked upstairs at Filenes, I just wanted a cup of coffee, and there was a Dunkin’ Donuts in the Basement at the time). That shit was terrifying.
How astonishing-I figured my posts were pretty much not read. 
I’m mostly over at Giraffe Boards when I’m on message boards these days. Come on over. We have sensible folk there as well (and a few complete nutbags–not telling which is which!).
Back to the thread: I’d Pit anyone who stabbed someone over any price footwear, regardless of race, creed, color or SES. Coming out against violence while making a commercial transaction isn’t exactly edgy, I know, but I thought the point needed some clarity as this “discussion” has deteriorated into “my mall/SES is better than yours” type shit. :dubious:
But it has been eye-opening. I never realized how many people are actually paying attention to my shoes and pricing them in their heads. It’s a weird world.
That “some reason” is old fashioned snobbery and condescension, mixed with a lot of assumptions about the people in question.
$200 is around the price point of nicer shoes at non-discout mall stores (Aldo, Steve Madden) and nicer department stores (Macys, Nordstrom.) It’s not an obscene price for a pair of high-end shoes from a well respected brand. And, I think it’s self-evident that if people are buying $200 Air Jordans, they by definition can afford them. Who is anyone to take a single look at them and decide that they “are the one who can least afford them?”
I dunno. What if they’re really nice sneakers?
So even sven is wrong, but she’s right about this:
I’m sure some people out there really can’t afford them, the way I’m sure a lot of BMW drivers I see riding around can’t really afford those cars, but what makes someone think, upon sight alone, that the Air Jordan demographic can’t afford some flippin’ sneakers? As we’ve established, for everyone except BigT that is, $200 for shoes isn’t outrageously expensive. Hell, I just wore a pair of the ubiquitously popular knee-high brown leather boot that every woman between 25-40 is apparently legally required to have yesterday, and they run for $180 or so. Whatever. Statements describing the Air Jordan lunacy “conspicuous consumption by a socioeconomc group that can least afford” makes me raise an eyebrow. What makes you think everyone buying these shoes is poor? Because they’re dark-skinned? I know on average in this country blacks have lower incomes than whites, but that doesn’t mean every black person you see with semi-expensive sneakers cannot afford them. I grew up in a poor black and Latino neighborhood, and let me tell ya, everybody wanted Air Jordans but hardly anyone had them. Some lucky kids got them as their one Christmas gift, and that was it. I’d assume the people who just go to the mall and grab a pair are not, for the most part, people who have to scrape by to purchase them. Dark people are not a monolith, you know.
My running shoes are $75
My daily casual/work shoes are each $150
My nice dress shoes are $250
I am a guy that is as far from a shoe aficionado as you can get
I think a poll is in order. Something tells me you’d come up on the wrong side of the masses.
I think it’s a male/female divide thing. I don’t think men tend to wear knee high leather boots like those much anymore. However, I can confirm that, at least east coast, it’s a popular female women’s boot in winter.
For men, for that price, we’re looking at a nice Red Wing work boot. Good damn boots. If you work construction, you probably have a pair with steel or composite toes.
I dunno. I don’t think I’ve ever paid over $60 for a pair of shoes. On the other hand, those $60 shoes probably retailed for $150+. But this is because I know how to shop.
I don’t think so, especially now that the Basement has closed. Good shoes are expensive and good boots even more so. Cheap shoes are one thing if you drive everywhere and sit all day, but if you use your feet to actually get around, especially in a New England winter, you need the right equipment.
As do l, if I pay $200 for a pair of boots they’re sure as hell not going to be Aldo (Aldo sucks). That said Aldo (and Madden, and Nine West, etc.) boots retail for about $200 and they are mid-price brands. Some folks here need to wrap their brains around the reality of that, because I’m not making it up.
Also, this.
Of course, I wouldn’t hurt someone for a half-price pair of Nine West boots. Frye, maybe.