Marie Kondo took the world by storm with her ‘revolutionary’ tidying up ideas with her bestselling books. On January 1st, Netflix decided to drop “The Art of Tidying Up With Marie Kondo,” bringing even more people on board the KonMari train but also causing many people to lose their minds when Marie Kondo ‘made’ people get rid of their books in an effort to clean up and take back their living spaces.
Except she didn’t???
I haven’t finished watching the series nor have I had the privilege of reading any of her books but based on what I have seen and what I know about her books, nowhere does she explicitly state you should get rid of your books and everything else you love.
I am a lover of reality shows that focus on lifestyle so when I dove into Tidying Up With Marie Kondo I was expecting the kind of reality TV that usually airs on American TV. Tons of drama, crying, etc, etc. Tidying Up With Marie Kondo has such a completely different vibe though – in the way The Great British Bake Off is so vastly different from anything on Food Network.
Marie Kondo is one of the few, if not the only, host of a show like this that doesn’t ever pressure people to do anything they don’t want to. She doesn’t talk down. She doesn’t judge.
If people criticizing her for wanting everyone to throw everything out took more than a second to watch and appreciate what is happening, they’d understand that.
Marie Kondo wanders from home to home giving people the tools they need to tidy up and have that lifestyle they have always dreamed of. She sits down with people and helps them re-evaluate their relationship to the items they own. She does not want you to throw out things you love dearly in an attempt to make space and have a house that looks right out of a magazine, Marie Kondo wants you to get rid of stuff for which you have no use and that brings you no joy. And honestly, she doesn’t really want you to do that either. You are in charge, not she. You can keep whatever you want to without any judgement from her because the ultimate goal is not for your house to be rid of stuff, its for you to reevaluate the stuff you own and your relationship to your stuff.
SO NO. MARIE KONDO DOES NOT WANT YOU TO THROW OUT ALL YOUR BOOKS. IF YOUR BOOKS BRING YOU JOY (and don’t @ me with literature does not solely exist to provide joy, that is not what this is about), YOU GET TO KEEP THEM.
There is legitimate critique about the show out there too and I don’t mean to disregard that, but if you are shitting on Marie Kondo – the nicest woman ever – because you think she wants you to throw your books out, you need to reevaluate what it is about Marie Kondo that pisses you off more than anyone else who does the same.
The unreasonable standards Marie Kondo and her show are being held up to really show that people are willing to find the pettiest crap to criticize non-white women about. I am not here for that.
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