Thread by @sidewayskoyote

I love Jason, but I think there's some room for discussion in here. And we both are probably stating things in less than objective terms.

The first thing to consider, is timeline:
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https://twitter.com/cognazor/status/1514313882155855872

I think that if you are being introduced to cottage core or getting your thoughts together about it in 2022,  All you are seeing is the consumerized version of cottage core. 
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What you're gonna see is wish and overstock and pinterest. Ad revenue and click sites.

That's the way the modern consumerist marketing Internet works - what google has done to the net.

You think it costs a whole bunch of money because you're being sold an idea & a product.

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Go back to 2018 or 2019 .... Go back to the middle of 2020 into the middle of 2021 when people were starting their escape.... People were talking about cottage core as an aesthetic and something to build and not something to buy.
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It's not something that takes multiple generations. Most of what cottage core actually has going for it isn't even multi generational. I mean maybe you'll wear a dress 500 times and it'll still look like new and you'll hand it down to your granddaughter... but probably not.
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Fences and paint and decorations don't last forever either.
Nothing about this aesthetic is stone castles that are supposed to last for millennia
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It's a lot harder where I live. Where Jason lives someone can go out and develop a cottage core aesthetic on an off the grid property with about 3 seasons and $7000. That's a small cabin but it's a cabin... bumping it up to $10000 makes it really nice. 
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But it's mostly just effort and making things look good and planting your plants in an attractive manner. and doing the fang schwing on your cabin.

If you think about it cottage core is sorta like "white trash core" just not falling apart or has a little maintenance. (sorta)
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There are definitely some deeper issues around this though. For example I've been having a conversation with someone for whom the idea of cleanliness & beauty is so fraught with issues that I am expecting him a statement that people shouldn't bathe more than once a month
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otherwise they have... The sin of pride in personal appearance.
Beauty goes against, takes away from the importance of "threat to life". The existential threat about food security or whatever. There's no time, there's no time to make things nice in the struggle for survival.
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So there's that. It's seen as bad for whatever reason. More deeply- it's western yeomanry. And that's just evil.

(And yes a lot of our community is very addicted to this threat model where you can't have happiness/peace. Your survival must feel threatened at all times. Ugh.
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But it goes much deeper. Cottage core is in essence a Western traditionalist yeoman rural farming & pastoral aesthetic. And that's really hard in this space because everything about the West is evil.
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Thanks to Jason (I mean that very sincerely) I've looked at a lot more small farming stuff around the world in present & history, lately. You know what? outside of (some) western tradition small farming generally kind of sucks. Full of sharecroppers,serfs, and slave farming.
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The path that we're looking for that moves us forwrd into a happier life with small farmers doing great things is based, in some part, on the very western independent yeomanry that forms part of Western tradition that is absolutely hated by many (notably crisis advocates).
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And I think that's right up there in the middle of this DO and #homestead twitter debate the last day or two.

That, and the aforementioned consumerism.
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Of course, for me, cottagecore (and cottagegore, since I have this one daughter....) relies on thrift stores more than Bed Bath & Beyond.
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