this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
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Work Reform

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[โ€“] whereitsat@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

john berger opened my eyes to this.

in "ways of seeing" he lays out a convincing argument that the entire history of european oil painting was just annoying and lame rich people commissioning artists to paint their possessions and property. the 'masters' were exceptions to this rule and often painted these great works later in life. in the modern day we're taught to see these paintings not as what they actually are, but as rare objects worthy of praise simply for being rare objects.

when you see it that way and draw parallels between modern instagram, you both realize how fucking annoying, stupid, pathetic and desperate for validation wealthy people are but that nothing has changed other than the setting; instead of one of a kind oil paintings they foist NTFs on us.

instead of one-of-a-kind oil paintings they foist NTFs on us.

You had me up till this last bit. NFTs aren't modern day oil paintings. They are the worst bits of the Beanie Baby fad. Which is to say, they are a marketing stunt by a trading desk at JP Morgan that found an opportunity to rebrand the Ethereum cryptocurrency as a collectible.

Whatever may be said of historical motivation for oil paintings, they offered some material benefit in an era prior to color photography. And they provided a certain kind of cultural touchstone of the era. Even if it's for initially vain and stupid reasons, bourgeois proliferation of the arts has a lasting social benefit that socialists can capitalize on.

NFTs don't have that.