July 31, 2025
Streaming Killed the Video Star
Timothy Birdnow
Here is an essay arguing that we all want less and not more, we want limitations on us. The author waxes nostalgic for Blockbuster Video and cocludes such nostalgia stems from our desire for fvewer choices. He's right in no small part (and the nostalgia stems from a home to which we can no longer return - our youth - but he doesn't discuss that.)
Again, he's right; we just have too many choices these days. I go to the grocer and have to spend half an hour looking over items because they have nearly a dozen of similar products. In times past you might have two or at most three competing items but now there are dozens, and a single company makes different versions of the same product too. Take Fritoes; they come in regular, scoops, jalepeno, twisties, low sodium, etc. And that doesn't mention the generic corn chips sold at the store. Every decision about every product is a big production. There is a kind of freedom in limitations.
Man was built for limitations. Whether it is the physical limits of our abilities, or laws (like the Ten Commandments) we are happy having choices BUT lines drawn to keep us moving straight. That is the thing the Left has destroyed; their idea of freedom is doing whatever they want or being whatever they want or having whatever they want. They don't understand that we are bound by Natural Law, and in that way we are bound by God Himself. Those boundaries are not tyrannical or capricious; they are there for our own happiness. You can't play a game if you don't adhere to the rules.
But liberals don't play by rules because they want to make their own. This is the sin of Lucifer, who wanted to be a god unto himself. He got it and is miserable because of his bad choice. It really sucks to be a god, but it is alluring. People want power.
So as a society we have rejected limitations. Boys now put on dresses and demand we all call them "her" and our insane society goes right along with it. Two dudes or two chicks can now adopt a child and claim they are married. Sexual restraint is completely disappeared. So too are other restraints, on anger, on discourtesy, etc. We do not have freedom now but license, and that is the greatest oppressor of all. The lines are drawn to act as guides, not prisons. Prisons are the inevitable outcome of license without reasonable restraint. Liberals want to use law to enforce guardrails to keep the crazies they have created from hurting themselves or others. True freedom lies in self-control, a control that can only be exercised if the lines are clear.
I would also add that this is a kind of proof of God; we all long for someone to guide us, and to set boundaries.
So this nostalgia for Blockbuster makes perfect sense if you are pondering the decline of our culture, even while we have more options on things. Spoiled children aren't spoiled because they were denied - they are spoiled because they were given more than they could handle.
At any rate I miss the old days of video stores too. It was fun; you wandered the aisled looking for a movie, found one, and looked forward to it the rest of the day. You appreciated it much more when you watched it. Now people just sit in the same spot they always sit in, glued to a computer screen, and click. There is nothing special about it; just part of the day.
In fact computer technology and home delivery has made most things mundane. The young have little to look forward to because they are never denied for even an hour. When you get everything you want you lose interest in everything. Anticipation is a big part of the joy of living. (Most things don't meet your expectations in the end anyway.)
I suspect this is why the young are chasing old stuff these days. They brought the vinyl record back, for example. They drink Pabst Blue Ribbon because their grandfather's drank it (at least those who drink, which most young people don't do these days.) This generation seems to be the most nostalgic of any and that's because modernity is just a bore, when it's not stressful and aggravating. The young realize there is something amiss but can't put their finger on it, so they try to capture a piece of the "good old days" through nostalgia. Of course most don't understand WHY they were "good old days" and in facet those days weren't always so good, but they were compared to today because everyone knew who they were, knew their place in this world, and had some sense of purpose. Everyone BELIEVED in something; God, country, their family. Now the young live in a gray paste, a world without borders, a word that gives them no guidance on how to live and what to believe. They are like people in a shipwreck floating in the sea helpless. They actually have less control of their own lives - and that in no small part because of all the choices they are offered and the lack of guidance given by society.
Many retreat into themselves, into the artifical world of the internet. Others join political causes (which is in no small part the intent of the Left who have systematically picked society apart for just this reason - to offer politics as the new religion). Few of them have actually realized they need to turn off the I-Phones and gadgets and start participating in life. You can't live if you don't choose to do so.
This is a volatile situation and will end very badly if our civilization continues to push relativism and unlimited freedoms. We are meant to have boundaries. Civilization will eventually collapse and be replaced by something new. If history is any guide that something new will not be good. It takes a LOT to put back together a fallen civilization. For athousand years or more people tried to put Rome back together. Heck; the German and Russian kings were called Caesar,and that in the 20th century! You just can't go home again.
Nor can you go back to the video store.
Here is an essay arguing that we all want less and not more, we want limitations on us. The author waxes nostalgic for Blockbuster Video and cocludes such nostalgia stems from our desire for fvewer choices. He's right in no small part (and the nostalgia stems from a home to which we can no longer return - our youth - but he doesn't discuss that.)
Again, he's right; we just have too many choices these days. I go to the grocer and have to spend half an hour looking over items because they have nearly a dozen of similar products. In times past you might have two or at most three competing items but now there are dozens, and a single company makes different versions of the same product too. Take Fritoes; they come in regular, scoops, jalepeno, twisties, low sodium, etc. And that doesn't mention the generic corn chips sold at the store. Every decision about every product is a big production. There is a kind of freedom in limitations.
Man was built for limitations. Whether it is the physical limits of our abilities, or laws (like the Ten Commandments) we are happy having choices BUT lines drawn to keep us moving straight. That is the thing the Left has destroyed; their idea of freedom is doing whatever they want or being whatever they want or having whatever they want. They don't understand that we are bound by Natural Law, and in that way we are bound by God Himself. Those boundaries are not tyrannical or capricious; they are there for our own happiness. You can't play a game if you don't adhere to the rules.
But liberals don't play by rules because they want to make their own. This is the sin of Lucifer, who wanted to be a god unto himself. He got it and is miserable because of his bad choice. It really sucks to be a god, but it is alluring. People want power.
So as a society we have rejected limitations. Boys now put on dresses and demand we all call them "her" and our insane society goes right along with it. Two dudes or two chicks can now adopt a child and claim they are married. Sexual restraint is completely disappeared. So too are other restraints, on anger, on discourtesy, etc. We do not have freedom now but license, and that is the greatest oppressor of all. The lines are drawn to act as guides, not prisons. Prisons are the inevitable outcome of license without reasonable restraint. Liberals want to use law to enforce guardrails to keep the crazies they have created from hurting themselves or others. True freedom lies in self-control, a control that can only be exercised if the lines are clear.
I would also add that this is a kind of proof of God; we all long for someone to guide us, and to set boundaries.
So this nostalgia for Blockbuster makes perfect sense if you are pondering the decline of our culture, even while we have more options on things. Spoiled children aren't spoiled because they were denied - they are spoiled because they were given more than they could handle.
At any rate I miss the old days of video stores too. It was fun; you wandered the aisled looking for a movie, found one, and looked forward to it the rest of the day. You appreciated it much more when you watched it. Now people just sit in the same spot they always sit in, glued to a computer screen, and click. There is nothing special about it; just part of the day.
In fact computer technology and home delivery has made most things mundane. The young have little to look forward to because they are never denied for even an hour. When you get everything you want you lose interest in everything. Anticipation is a big part of the joy of living. (Most things don't meet your expectations in the end anyway.)
I suspect this is why the young are chasing old stuff these days. They brought the vinyl record back, for example. They drink Pabst Blue Ribbon because their grandfather's drank it (at least those who drink, which most young people don't do these days.) This generation seems to be the most nostalgic of any and that's because modernity is just a bore, when it's not stressful and aggravating. The young realize there is something amiss but can't put their finger on it, so they try to capture a piece of the "good old days" through nostalgia. Of course most don't understand WHY they were "good old days" and in facet those days weren't always so good, but they were compared to today because everyone knew who they were, knew their place in this world, and had some sense of purpose. Everyone BELIEVED in something; God, country, their family. Now the young live in a gray paste, a world without borders, a word that gives them no guidance on how to live and what to believe. They are like people in a shipwreck floating in the sea helpless. They actually have less control of their own lives - and that in no small part because of all the choices they are offered and the lack of guidance given by society.
Many retreat into themselves, into the artifical world of the internet. Others join political causes (which is in no small part the intent of the Left who have systematically picked society apart for just this reason - to offer politics as the new religion). Few of them have actually realized they need to turn off the I-Phones and gadgets and start participating in life. You can't live if you don't choose to do so.
This is a volatile situation and will end very badly if our civilization continues to push relativism and unlimited freedoms. We are meant to have boundaries. Civilization will eventually collapse and be replaced by something new. If history is any guide that something new will not be good. It takes a LOT to put back together a fallen civilization. For athousand years or more people tried to put Rome back together. Heck; the German and Russian kings were called Caesar,and that in the 20th century! You just can't go home again.
Nor can you go back to the video store.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:38 AM
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Post contains 1066 words, total size 6 kb.
1
I agree with the basic point. Do we really need twenty different brands of corn flakes? On the other hand, stores are prone to outages to a degree that was unknown prior to Covid. I go to Ralph's and without fail they do not have several things on my list. I then go to Von's and get the things that Ralph's did not have. It's never the same things, so it's not a case of one store carrying the item and the other one not. It's that stores are always out of stock on items that are in high demand. "Supply chain" problems which started during Covid and which, after five years, are still problems.
Posted by: Bill H at July 31, 2025 09:27 AM (FRG6e)
2
Well, I sort of miss Blockbuster, though I couldn't read this article without signing up for Blaze, which is the kind of thing I resent much more than having too many choices -- an idea that I think is dubious, to be sure. I agree that these days we do NOT have some of the choices we once had; for example, LPs and the equipment to play them on, and it seems like CDs are becoming extinct too (I remember when they first hit the world and we were so excited at their clarity of sound and ease of use -- wow!).
Tim, if you have to spend so much time trying to decide what to buy in the grocery store, I'm sorry for you, and would never want to send you to the store to buy my groceries. When I go grocery-shopping, I have a list printed from my computer spreadsheet program (we have them for every supermarket we patronize) that tells me which aisle to find the products in, with big checkmarks after the desired products; and if I have any problems selecting a brand it's almost always because of price or (sometimes) nutritional considerations. But if there is a large selection I usually buy based on past experience and/or prejudice (I won't buy Heinz ketchup because of the John Kerry connection and because of the high-fructose corn syrup). If the store is out of something, I mark it and go back a few days later, or go to another store if I need it NOW.
I have a sneaking suspicion that if the gummint were cutting down the number of choices we had in the marketplace, you'd be singing out the other side of your mouth on this subject. Indeed, if Joe Bite-Me or Kamala-Ding-Dong had been elected last November and continued on their anti-gasoline-powered cars mandate, you, I and everyone I know would have raised Holy Hell about the lack of choice.
Tim, if you have to spend so much time trying to decide what to buy in the grocery store, I'm sorry for you, and would never want to send you to the store to buy my groceries. When I go grocery-shopping, I have a list printed from my computer spreadsheet program (we have them for every supermarket we patronize) that tells me which aisle to find the products in, with big checkmarks after the desired products; and if I have any problems selecting a brand it's almost always because of price or (sometimes) nutritional considerations. But if there is a large selection I usually buy based on past experience and/or prejudice (I won't buy Heinz ketchup because of the John Kerry connection and because of the high-fructose corn syrup). If the store is out of something, I mark it and go back a few days later, or go to another store if I need it NOW.
I have a sneaking suspicion that if the gummint were cutting down the number of choices we had in the marketplace, you'd be singing out the other side of your mouth on this subject. Indeed, if Joe Bite-Me or Kamala-Ding-Dong had been elected last November and continued on their anti-gasoline-powered cars mandate, you, I and everyone I know would have raised Holy Hell about the lack of choice.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at July 31, 2025 11:32 PM (Gtb2F)
3
Yeah Bill; it gets a bit tedious picking brands sometimes. What I really hate is when brands I used to buy disappear from the shelf and are replaced by some sort of hipster variety "twisted jalepeno mango potato chips" or some such ridiculousness. Or worse the brand names completely crowd out the old stuff. Jays chips,for instance, is a Chicago-based brand that used to be big but has now mostly disappeared from the sshelves here, and that no doubt because they won't pay for shelf-space. We used to have a local brand called Old Vienna which was really good and is very hard to find now. We had a local soda company too (Vess) which is gone, replaced by brands I've never heard of. I would have been fine if they had replaced them with Shasta, but that can't be found either.
On the other hand, as Dana points out, a lack of choices would pretty much cheese us off too. I sometimes shop in Save-a-Lot, a small cut rate store and your options are really limited there. I like the store because it's small but often go to the big chains to shop because there are things I just can't get at SAL.
So I suppose it takes a healthy balance.
As you say the supply problems weren't there until Covid. I get it where imported stuff is concerned, but why are American brands made from American materials in short supply? That I do not understand at all.
On the other hand, as Dana points out, a lack of choices would pretty much cheese us off too. I sometimes shop in Save-a-Lot, a small cut rate store and your options are really limited there. I like the store because it's small but often go to the big chains to shop because there are things I just can't get at SAL.
So I suppose it takes a healthy balance.
As you say the supply problems weren't there until Covid. I get it where imported stuff is concerned, but why are American brands made from American materials in short supply? That I do not understand at all.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at August 01, 2025 07:05 AM (l4Nr4)
4
Dana, you had to sign up for the Blaze? I don't know why; I'm not signed up and read the article. Maybe it was freefor a day or something. On the other hand I might have read it second-hand and simply included the Blaze link. I just don't remember stuff like that anymore.
I agree; that IS uncool. The Blaze is supposed to be there to disseminate information and enlighten and should not require a sign-up. What are they - the New York Times?
Dana I think choices require a range. Other options should be available but not everywhere at once, which is rather where we are as a society.
You're right; we should be able to get lp's and cd's. I remember when cd's came out - magnificent technology. Yest there are otherways of doing it now, but it all requires the internet and you have to pay out the nose. I'm sick of having to go to a central clearinghouse to get anything via the internet. Albums and CD's meant you owned them and they were tangible things; you could hold them in your hand. Now everything is just electrons.
What frosts my begonias is that they got rid of vhs players alrogether. I had like a hundred vhs tapes and they are now worthless to me. And I have even more dvd's and will be furious if they eliminate the players for those.
Dana, a big part of my problems in the grocery store stem from my eyesight; I have a devil of a time finding the right stuff. I so often bring home the wrong thing because I couldn't see the label. Also, I have unique dietary needs and have to read the labels. It's o.k. for things like ketchup (I buy Heinz not because I want to enrich Herman Munster but because they make a low-sodium ketchup and nobody else does, or at least I can't find any.) The dizzying array of choices for each and every item makes it that much worse; I have to go through every item. And then I have to do the math all the time; regular Pace salsa (which I have used on one or two occasions) actually has LESS salt that their "low sodium" version! While it's o.k. for everyday items if I ever need or want something I don't normally use (like salsa) I have to spent ten miinutes trying to read the label and read other labels to make sure it's what I actually need. Drives me crazy.
Price makes a difference too. Always watching that.
Yes, I WOULD be spitting out the other side of my mouth if GOVERNMENT limited our choices; it'snot their business. But I think there is something to be said about sensory overload. I WANT all the choices on the market, do not misunderstand me. But I am saying the author of this essay (which I wish you could have read) made a cogent argument; we have so many choices now and it takes up so much of our time that many people feel overwhelmed. There is indeed a kind of paralysis that comes from having too many decisions to make - even just as consumers. (It also doesn't help that stores are forever moving stuff around too.)
In a state of nature Man had limited choices and we evolved with that. Now we have so many choices and we just aren't biologically or psychologically suited to that. Structure is a necessary thing to us, and most especially social sttructure, the limits imposed by any society. The kind of prosperity we now have is unprecedented, and it's going to take a long time for people to adapt to it.
You may remember Alvin Toffler and his seminal work "Future Shock". He postulated this very thing, that people would be unable to cope psychologically with an ever-changing world. I think Toffler was onto something. I think that world he postulated is now here.
You can't slow progress, and you really don't want to in the end. But we need to find a happy balance, a range where everyone is comfortable and yet everyone gets what they want. I forsee a time when stores start restricting their options and go back to the way it used to be a few decades ago. Specialty stores would exist to fill the gaps. But I know smaller stores are popular now, especially with old timers (a condition in which I find myself increasingly) and there is a market for it.
Years ago I worked as a grocery store manager and we had a "small" store. It was HUGe by 1950's standards, but small by today's standards. Our products were limited. But we did a gargantuan amount of business out of that little store. So did the other small store in our little chain. THAT store prompted the owners to build a big, new supermarket to replace it. Guess what? The supermarket never did all that well. It became a drag on the company, and they went out of business.
I predicted that at the time. I argued that we should simply give up the big bruiser stores and focus on the smaller market. But the higher ups knew better and they pushed the super centers because "that's the wave of the future". Sadly they were going into direct competition with chains that were well funded. Our company failed.
In a number of respects that was because we were trying to be all things to all people. We could have owned a niche if we had been smart. And all that goes back to trying to offer too many choices; oftentimes people just want to run in and run out.
I agree; that IS uncool. The Blaze is supposed to be there to disseminate information and enlighten and should not require a sign-up. What are they - the New York Times?
Dana I think choices require a range. Other options should be available but not everywhere at once, which is rather where we are as a society.
You're right; we should be able to get lp's and cd's. I remember when cd's came out - magnificent technology. Yest there are otherways of doing it now, but it all requires the internet and you have to pay out the nose. I'm sick of having to go to a central clearinghouse to get anything via the internet. Albums and CD's meant you owned them and they were tangible things; you could hold them in your hand. Now everything is just electrons.
What frosts my begonias is that they got rid of vhs players alrogether. I had like a hundred vhs tapes and they are now worthless to me. And I have even more dvd's and will be furious if they eliminate the players for those.
Dana, a big part of my problems in the grocery store stem from my eyesight; I have a devil of a time finding the right stuff. I so often bring home the wrong thing because I couldn't see the label. Also, I have unique dietary needs and have to read the labels. It's o.k. for things like ketchup (I buy Heinz not because I want to enrich Herman Munster but because they make a low-sodium ketchup and nobody else does, or at least I can't find any.) The dizzying array of choices for each and every item makes it that much worse; I have to go through every item. And then I have to do the math all the time; regular Pace salsa (which I have used on one or two occasions) actually has LESS salt that their "low sodium" version! While it's o.k. for everyday items if I ever need or want something I don't normally use (like salsa) I have to spent ten miinutes trying to read the label and read other labels to make sure it's what I actually need. Drives me crazy.
Price makes a difference too. Always watching that.
Yes, I WOULD be spitting out the other side of my mouth if GOVERNMENT limited our choices; it'snot their business. But I think there is something to be said about sensory overload. I WANT all the choices on the market, do not misunderstand me. But I am saying the author of this essay (which I wish you could have read) made a cogent argument; we have so many choices now and it takes up so much of our time that many people feel overwhelmed. There is indeed a kind of paralysis that comes from having too many decisions to make - even just as consumers. (It also doesn't help that stores are forever moving stuff around too.)
In a state of nature Man had limited choices and we evolved with that. Now we have so many choices and we just aren't biologically or psychologically suited to that. Structure is a necessary thing to us, and most especially social sttructure, the limits imposed by any society. The kind of prosperity we now have is unprecedented, and it's going to take a long time for people to adapt to it.
You may remember Alvin Toffler and his seminal work "Future Shock". He postulated this very thing, that people would be unable to cope psychologically with an ever-changing world. I think Toffler was onto something. I think that world he postulated is now here.
You can't slow progress, and you really don't want to in the end. But we need to find a happy balance, a range where everyone is comfortable and yet everyone gets what they want. I forsee a time when stores start restricting their options and go back to the way it used to be a few decades ago. Specialty stores would exist to fill the gaps. But I know smaller stores are popular now, especially with old timers (a condition in which I find myself increasingly) and there is a market for it.
Years ago I worked as a grocery store manager and we had a "small" store. It was HUGe by 1950's standards, but small by today's standards. Our products were limited. But we did a gargantuan amount of business out of that little store. So did the other small store in our little chain. THAT store prompted the owners to build a big, new supermarket to replace it. Guess what? The supermarket never did all that well. It became a drag on the company, and they went out of business.
I predicted that at the time. I argued that we should simply give up the big bruiser stores and focus on the smaller market. But the higher ups knew better and they pushed the super centers because "that's the wave of the future". Sadly they were going into direct competition with chains that were well funded. Our company failed.
In a number of respects that was because we were trying to be all things to all people. We could have owned a niche if we had been smart. And all that goes back to trying to offer too many choices; oftentimes people just want to run in and run out.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at August 01, 2025 07:06 AM (l4Nr4)
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