Bruce wrote:
>When your rhetoric is reduced to a single sentence, "Spending money on camera >equipment is consumerism when you buy Nikon and Canon, and isn't when you buy >Pentax." is exactly what one gets. No one here has been accused of consumerism >because they bought a MZ-S, 645n system or expensive lenses. Your position >reeks of hypocrisy. You seem to have missed the point. Nobody denies that buying any camera is fundamentally consumerism. Nor have I anything against consumerism. The fact that I was trying to point out was that much of conventional wisdom in some forums is just badly camouflaged consumerism. However, a hypocritical position is when you won't admit it and use constructed arguments to hide ulterior motives, when those motives is in fact is consumerism at the most blatant level; "mine is better than yours". This is what you see on Photo.net and not on PDML. >Your assertion that people buy Nikon and Canon due to being brainwashed by >marketing implies that they are simple minded dupes, e.g. stupid. If you don't >like the way people spend their money, too bad; it's theirs and not yours. I never said that. I think there are some compelling reason to by eg. a Nikon. However, those who claim people should buy Nikon or Canon because the pros are using them, or even because the majority is using them, particularly in a non-contextual framework, is just touting the basic form of consumerism. It's like saying that you are best served by the music on top of hit list regardless of your musical tastes. And BTW I do indeed believe a significant percentage buy these brands because of their market position. This is illustrated by the endless Nikon vs. Canon threads showing that they don't even consider other brands simply because these other brands haven't got the right image. I've nothing against consumerism, but prefer the blatant types and not those who try to hide it behind constructed, "rational" arguments. BTW With the underdog image of Pentax I doubt you'll find many who spend money on Pentax products to boost their egos. I not that certain the same can be said of certain other brands. Just look at "Annika" over at rec. photo.equipment.35mm. P�l - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
