there are more shows on television these days about scouring through other people's junk than there ever have been in the history of entertainment. and they all seem to be doing well. it could be for several reasons - maybe people just like seeing people know the value of everything they touch, they like seeing people haggle, or it's the best version of treasure hunting we have to offer these days. deep sea diving and fighting off pirates to some jerk wandering into a yard sale and leaving with a teapot from the 16th century worth 100 times what they paid for it. "oh man, this is such a rush! i just saw it, and i knew immediately what it was! great day!" didn't have to fight off any pirates. didn't even have to sprint away from the aggressive swipe attempts of bargain savvy old ladies. pirates used to attack other treasure hunters because they knew that what they had was valuable. but now you just have to know that absolutely worthless looking stuff is actually of some value to some weirdo somewhere. "i know it only looks like an ordinary velvet cat cape, but see this little turtle shell design? well, that means that this was worn by a siamese cat, and there's a whole subculture out there of lonely men and women who are happy to shell out big bucks for a cape like this in such mint condition." so essentially everything is valuable to the right person, and we just forage through mounds of each other's trash like racoons with smiles on our faces pretending that we're not just trading junk for junk, in the hopes that we find that magic cat cape that will get us a little bit ahead? i guess tv has matched the economic feel of the united states pretty closely. everyone might be in much worse moods if every cable channel was filled with "monocle boys" and "modern yachtsmen"
- there should be a monocle boys