-
-
Search
-
Controversy over ‘clutter’ in the halls of Congress
According to The Hill, Congressional staffers have been mandated to remove clutter from the hallways outside their offices. Items that are considered “clutter” include signs honoring soldiers who fought overseas. The instruction to remove the objects isn’t going over well with some members of Congress. The new policy was put in place by Cheif Adminstrative Officer (CAO), Dan Beard, who is worried that the displays outside of the offices will impede people’s exit in the event of an emergency evacuation. The policy is also an attempt to bring House members into compliance with the American’s with Disabilities Act that was passed in 1990.
The controversial issue is the removal of items that honor fallen soldiers:
[Rep] Pomeroy said the CAO should make an exception for the easels honoring dead military servicemen and women.
“I feel particularly bad for those who have to take down the posters of the guys who lost their lives in Iraq,” Pomeroy said. “In my opinion, we want to honor our fallen heroes in every way. That’s the sort of thing that should continue, so if they were to have one exception, that would be it.”
The CAO so far is not budging. While sympathizing with the desire to honor military men and women, a spokesman for the office said it is still necessary to remove the posters from the hallways.
“While we recognize the meaning and significance of the easels honoring our fallen servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan, we would hope that members also recognize the very real need to keep our hallways safe for disabled persons,” said Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the CAO. He suggested that members move the displays into their offices.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Clutter down under
The Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article on the study of clutter by the Australia Institute. The study found that women find clutter more distressing and are much more embarrassed by clutter than their male counterparts. The study also found that nine out of 10 Australians have at least one cluttered room in their home and the average home has three or more cluttered rooms.
The article also does a great job of categorizing clutter. From the article:
The items that constitute clutter are extremely varied and depend on the circumstances and personalities in each household. And there are several different categories of clutter, depending on the nature of a person’s “attachment”‘ to things, our research showed.
Emotional clutter has sentimental meaning but little financial value. It could include children’s toys or drawings, unused or unwanted gifts, school or university notes, or the personal possessions of absent loved ones.
Just-in-case clutter has little or no sentimental value but since it “might come in handy one day” it is kept for some time. Examples include old bills or bank statements, tools or stationery.
Bargain clutter is free or very cheap items acquired at sales, from friends or family or “by the side of the road”. Certain personality types tend to be especially attracted to bargain clutter.
Bought clutter consists of impulse purchases that never end up being used. It commonly includes clothes, fashion accessories and electronic items and is strongly linked to wasteful consumption.
I’ve always assumed that Americans were above and beyond everyone else in the clutter department, but this study shows that our friends down under also struggle with clutter. I’m not entirely sure what the statistics are for the average American household, but I’d venture to guess that our clutter problem is a bit higher. Again, that’s just a guess.
The article also goes on to offer a point of reflection useful for us all:
The alternative to cluttering up our homes is simply to avoid acquiring unwanted or useless items in the first place. Among other things, this requires a more conscious approach to shopping: buying what we really need and will use.
It also requires a healthy skepticism towards commercial messages trying to convince us to buy things that we don’t really want. If we follow these principles, perhaps we can reclaim our homes.
Popularity: 24% [?]
