decency is a relative thing
Sober Bob
https://www.instagram.com/soberbobmonthly/
Decency is a relative thing is a zine “exploration into the weird and not so wonderful wasteful world of people who won’t stop buying housewares.”
“There is no relief or release from consumerism.”
If I shared all the quotes I wanted to share from this zine, I would end up sharing half the zine.
In Decency is a relative thing, Sober Bob takes us through the similarities between people who hoard homewares and then breaks things down into four common ‘types’ of homeware hoarders. What I thought would be an interesting zine that, in the end, wouldn’t have much to do witch me, ended up being a zine that had me looking around the house and examining my own habits.
By writing about the four types of people who hoard homewares, Sober Bob touches on huge problems in the invasiveness of business in creating trends on social media. Not only that but how some people feed into a negative system by not being completely transparent about what is and isn’t actually paid/advertising.
A side shout out to touching on the problems of the real estate sector and how carefully placed wicker baskets shouldn’t make a house more expensive.
This zine isn’t a complete flaming blast at everyone, however. In fact, it shows a real sympathy to the kinds of advertising that we’re subjected to and even more so now that social media not only influences what is “normal” outside the home but inside it as well.
Even more, Sober Bob touches on the impact of the ‘trend’ on the longevity and ethical practices (or lack thereof) in keeping up with the ‘trend’ lifestyle.
An interesting moment came for me when I realised that I have ‘followed the trends’, too, in the past. Despite my days working in an op/secondhand shop giving me a strong aversion to stuff for a long time. I began seeing more and more YouTube videos with fairy lights (they’re not just for Christmas anymore!) and ended up buying some myself. I don’t regret getting them by any means because they give me joy, but if you think you’re immune to trends…
Aesthetically, this zine is lovely. The title is gold-foiled (which I suspect is a cheeky visual metaphor), and the entire zine is printed on gorgeous cream-coloured textured paper.
The thing I love about this zine that actually goes beyond the zine itself is the interesting (in my opinion) conversation it inspired between me and Wanderer, for which I give my thanks to Sober Bob.
You may not think that a zine about homewares is for you, but I think you should still check it out. This zine is as much a zine as it is the beginning of a conversation. Grab a copy.