Althouse: "In an environment where choosing a coffee table is marketed as an expression of identity, it’s easy to project deeper meaning onto a partner’s opinion."

September 28, 2015

"In an environment where choosing a coffee table is marketed as an expression of identity, it’s easy to project deeper meaning onto a partner’s opinion."

From a piece in The Atlantic titled "Why Ikea Causes So Much Relationship Tension/The stylish, idealized home in the store’s showroom 'literally becomes a map of a relationship nightmare,' says one psychologist."

I couldn't identify with this article. My first thought was to remember another article that I almost blogged: "Why you should care about how Hitler decorated his homes." That was in The Washington Post 3 days ago. Why I should care? I didn't care.

36 comments:

Birkel said...: This is battlespace preparation for more War on Women bull shit.
Constantly raising the specter of black-white, male-female and other identity politics divisions is always meant to enrage the hoi polloi and keep Democrats motivated.

After all, who else but committed Democrats subscribes to the papers Ann Althouse reads on a regular basis?; 9/28/15, 5:23 PM
Chuck said...: There's video evidence of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T2oje4cYxw; 9/28/15, 5:23 PM
Howard said...: Either she does it by herself and then I fix it or I do it right the first time. A woman needs common sense like a fish needs a bicycle.; 9/28/15, 5:33 PM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Smort.

Blimff.

Leegs.

Koorp.

Although, in all fairness, I really liked Wild Strawberries (1957).; 9/28/15, 6:04 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Well, there goes 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
(RIP The Atlantic. I shall inter you next to Scientific American and the New Yorker (which, believe it or not, was once worth reading). There is one more plot left in the row, which I am reserving for the Economist, currently in hospital. Prognosis iffy.); 9/28/15, 6:13 PM
Tari said...: The husband is always in charge of things like furniture assembly because it makes him feel good. If he messes it up, you tell him it looks fine anyway, and then fix it when he's not looking. Especially if your father built furniture all his life and his father built, well, weapons systems.

I don't care how my own home is decorated most days, never mind Hitler's or the Ikea showroom. Maybe that also makes a difference.; 9/28/15, 6:17 PM
Bill said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/28/15, 6:42 PM
MadisonMan said...: What a bunch of hoo-hah.

White People's Problems.; 9/28/15, 7:04 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: " . . . says one psychologist."
That's when I really started paying attention!
I know two people with PhD's in psychology. One runs a food truck. The other is a part time yoga instructor.; 9/28/15, 7:07 PM
Unknown said...: Maybe these people all have problems because it's a self selected sample of couples buying cheap parties board furniture that looks somewhat stylish. If you included couples who actually intend to build a permanent home together you'll get more people who eifher dont care that much and just get function pieces, or those who save and invest in good stuff.; 9/28/15, 7:12 PM
Known Unknown said...: Maybe ISIS should reach our shores. Teach us a lesson about who we really are.; 9/28/15, 7:16 PM
Chris N said...: Oh, we have ways of making you care.; 9/28/15, 7:35 PM
BN said...: Lazy boys. Duh.

Can we get back to dresses now?; 9/28/15, 8:05 PM
Scott said...: Sometime in the mid 1970s, the University of Minnesota Film Society exhibited Swastika, a documentary compilation of Hitler's home movies. The Guardian has an interesting article about it. It was controversial because of its blandness. Adolf and Eva were just plain old rich folks with a lot of friends in uniform. Apparently you can get a copy of it on Amazon.com.; 9/28/15, 8:18 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: They lost me at literally.; 9/28/15, 9:16 PM
Joe said...: I really dislike coffee tables.; 9/28/15, 9:28 PM
Carnifex said...: The secret to a good marriage... 1) The wife takes care of everything in the house, unless she asks for help from her husband, then he better help her. 2) The husband takes care of everything outside the house, unless his wife has a "suggestion", then he better do as she damn suggests.; 9/28/15, 11:55 PM
rcommal said...: My God. Sweet Lord. Bullfrogs all the way down.; 9/29/15, 2:10 AM
iowan2 said...: My dads advice, that I learned by his example, not his words.
If you want a happy home life there are several simple rules. Don't sort hogs with your wife.Cattle can work for short defined periods. But, the closer to zero on hog sorting the better.
Sowing oats with an endgate seeder is a non-starter. Better to train the 8 year old to run the tractor than have the wife in the seat.

And by example, from my mom, ask a maximum of three times to fix something in the house. After that, hire it done, regardless of how mundane it might be.

Mom and dad were best friends, because they understood the above.; 9/29/15, 5:57 AM
tim maguire said...: iowan2, I'll have to paraphrase for my own life.

1) Don't fold laundry with your wife. Agreed, she doesn't get that all the shirts have to be folded the same way, otherwise they won't fit in the drawer, but she doesn't care and doesn't want to hear about it.

2) Husbands can be worked like cattle. True again. But that's what weekends are for, aren't they?

3) Painting the room without doing proper prep is a non-starter.

And by example, it's better to not be there while it's going on and fix it later.; 9/29/15, 6:22 AM
tim maguire said...: C Stanley said...Maybe these people all have problems because it's a self selected sample of couples buying cheap parties board furniture that looks somewhat stylish

If by "self-selected," you mean most people, then that's true. But Ikea has much better quality than you realize. And despite making a solid buck, if I furnished my house piece by piece with "good stuff" as I can afford it, my house would never be furnished. That approach is for the rich only. The rest of us either inherit it or make do with Ikea.; 9/29/15, 6:27 AM
rhhardin said...: The 14" LERGERG shelf unit holds four old running laptops if you put them in crosswise, without taking noticeable floor space. You can do long math problems in the winter, harvesting the laptop heat for free.

Four laptops would otherwise take up a whole tabletop of floor space. Who needs that.; 9/29/15, 6:51 AM
rhhardin said...: Ikeya on the other hand is a comet.; 9/29/15, 6:57 AM
dbp said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/29/15, 8:10 AM
dbp said...: I don't care how Hitler decorated, but I have to admit to being curious: He fancied himself an artist and yet by the time he had a lot of wealth, he was busy with many other concerns. So, how much of a role did he play in decoration at that point?

There are probably people who know, people who even did their doctoral dissertations on the subject. First, how different was his decoration from what a usual rich German (Bavarian) would have? How much of the difference was due to him or due to whom he chose to do the work etc?; 9/29/15, 8:16 AM
Peter said...: This goes into the "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar" bin: sometimes cheap flat furniture is just cheap flat furniture.

And if you think "egalitarian" means "identical" as in "equal in every way" then you're surely in for some serious relationship hurt. How old does one have to be to realize that others are not just clones of yourself?; 9/29/15, 8:30 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Heh. We went to Ikea once and bought a pair of dressers. I assembled one; my husband assembled the other. Ditto our nightstands. This is not a problem.; 9/29/15, 8:32 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: Whoever picks out the piece, builds it. If it's my wife, she either finishes it herself or calls me in when she becomes hopelessly confused, and I finish it. If it's me, then I finish it myself, and my wife hands me a "thinking beer" if I happen to get confused. The "thinking beer" has always and will always do the trick.; 9/29/15, 8:38 AM
MacMacConnell said...: Hitler was Jay Gatsby, who knew?; 9/29/15, 8:48 AM
CommonHandle said...: I'm reminded of the Ikea catalog scene in Fight Club.

http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/adiab/clips/FF_FincherFightClub-possum.mp4/view; 9/29/15, 9:11 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "Either she does it by herself and then I fix it or I do it right the first time. A woman needs common sense like a fish needs a bicycle."

Yes. The inability to think ahead to recognize potential problems keeps most women from being effective in the serious DIY sphere.; 9/29/15, 9:14 AM
Nichevo said...: I couldn't identify with this article.

No,Ann, they lost you at the point where it talked about considering the opinion of others.; 9/29/15, 9:23 AM
mikee said...: IKEA?! You rich bastards!

I've been married 30 years this next April, and I still have next to my bed a night stand that was salvaged from the apartment complex garbage bin and refinished by my wife and I, while we lived in our grad student apartment.

I'd have a fight just to get my wife to shop at an Ikea, never mind choosing anything to purchase there.

Frugal living is one thing, married to frugal living is another thing entirely.; 9/29/15, 11:39 AM
Conserve Liberty said...: She Chooses the bulbs. I dig the holes. Still working after 35 years.; 9/29/15, 8:05 PM
BN said...: "I dig the holes."

Who doesn't?; 9/30/15, 1:39 AM
BN said...: That last one was for you, Laz.; 9/30/15, 1:40 AM