I should mention that I commend the Grant McCracken post linked to in the previous post in its own right. He offers a thoughtful critique of “buy local” movements and other attempts to artificially restrict choice for the sake of some kind of aesthetic “purity.”

It really is a vexing question: how much choice is too much? For most of history, perhaps, the problem was scarcity and lack of choice. The fact that we now have an abundance of choice has led in some quarters to a kind of “anti-choice” backlash.

Maybe this really does boil down to the question of identity. As Griffiths points out, forging an identity often means identifying yourself with a certain niche or subculture. The “buy local” people and the purist movie directors Mr. McCracken mentions want to think of themseleve (and want others to think of them) as a certain kind of people. In premodern times your identity was more or less handed to you; now its something you have to strive for.