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TechnoratiThe American Cult of Consumerism
A Black Friday mob of frenzied shoppers breaks down the doors of a Walmart on Long Island, N.Y., and tramples an employee to death. Four others are injured, including a woman who is eight months pregnant.
Most of those condemning the incident treat it as an aberration, a display of craven greed in an otherwise healthy community. One commentator even blamed the tragedy on the severe pressures and anxieties caused by the economic meltdown.
Perhaps it would be more fruitful to treat it as a symbol of a fanatical, hyperconsumerist ethos, which has come to define us as individuals and as a community.
Trampling incidents evoke images of mindless crowds whipped into a frenzy by an ideology that arouses an uncontrollable, irrational desire.
If there's an antidote to such an ideology, surely it's consumerism, which promises individual freedom, autonomy and rational choice. Yet at its extreme, consumerism creates the same fanatical crowd behavior that has led to trampling deaths at rock concerts, European soccer games, and the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Sadly, hundreds were trampled at the hajj between 1987 and 2004. Those deaths are used by some Westerners as proof that Islam engenders a mob mentality and destroys individual autonomy.
Consumerism, no less than any cult or religion, has the power to level individual difference and independence and render citizens into a homogeneous mass. Advertising companies, celebrity spokespersons, movies and TV shows conspire to render the consumer object - be it a $2 ice cream cone or an $80,000 luxury sedan - into a fetish imbued with magical, if not downright divine, powers. (Consumerism also has its rituals and its holy days, most notably Black Friday itself.)
If this sounds excessive, think of the frenzied desire someone like Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears or Allen Iverson has evoked in otherwise rational people. The primitive, visceral reaction we feel as fans is the same infantile desire aroused by consumer goods.
The consumerist message has become the wallpaper to our lives.
"Enjoy," flashes a billboard-size red neon Coke sign. Enjoy [COCA-COLA] . . . Enjoy [COCA-COLA] . . . Enjoy . . . This is not merely a cheerful suggestion. It's a command.
In the 21st century, pleasure is equated to consumption, and consumption has become an imperative that has all but replaced the moral imperative issued by teachers from Abraham to 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant and 20th-century liberators Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The old moral tradition gave birth to our grandparents' credo, the so-called Protestant work ethic - work hard, sacrifice, and invest wisely in the future.
Today, the country's economic health is measured more according to how much we are willing to spend, our consumer confidence, and less in how much we produce, the gross national product, or even how we invest.
If previous leaders preached self-sacrifice and service, our commander in chief tells us that our duty is to consume. Since Sept. 11, he has consistently told Americans that if we want to help the country, we must . . . buy.
To be American once meant having the right to pursue happiness, where the emphasis is on the road taken toward a goal that is difficult, if not impossible, to reach - at least in one lifetime. Today our right is to be happy. (Enjoy . . . enjoy . . . enjoy.)
Consumerism infantilizes us, alienates us from one another, and makes us apathetic as citizens. What's ironic is that even if you base human worth not on social responsibility but on individual happiness, consumerism still fails us.
A consumer economy only works if consumption of goods provides only temporary pleasure. That is, if happiness is infinitely deferred, so that buyers continue to buy more and more goods and services. By definition, the consumer can never be satisfied, at rest or happy. Which means she will always feel lacking. The pursuit of this sort of happiness creates a vicious circle of growing anxiety and dissatisfaction.
Perhaps what's most dismaying is that so many consumers have become sophisticated enough to know they are manipulated, yet choose to remain passive.
We are like the 30-something characters in Seinfeld, who know they are immature, who know they are avoiding the responsibility of building meaningful relationships and of leading meaningful lives - and who don't really care.
The reason is simple: We are, for the most part, comfortable.
But, given the global economic crisis and the rapid rate at which we are consuming Earth's resources, how long can our little comforts last?
56 Comments so far
Show AllAmericans are so distracted by the infotainment culture of infantilism and materialism that most of us no longer spend the time to figure out who we really are. We allow corporations and the media to largely define who we are and lose ourselves in the process. That inevitably leads to our unhappiness and depression. We're worried about an economic depression when we should be worried about the Great Depression happening in our minds. Humans are social creatures. When we do not meaningfully interact with other members of our species we cannot function normally. The same is true of most animal species of which we are just another.
The question is how to wean Americans off this mental and physical poison that has destroyed our families and friendships here and abroad. We've had it good so long that we feel entitled to have it "good" while others suffer behind the scenes and unreported by the media. If someone is murdered it doesn't matter if you see it or not. It still happens and it is happening all over the world because Americans must have ps3's, big screen tv's and SUVs. Our callousness toward our fellow human beings rests largely upon the shoulders of white supremacy. One third of the white people in the world live in this country so it should surprise no one that the empire takes what it wants from mostly non-white countries and kills many of them in the process. Some say it's an elitist depopulation agenda. I say it doesn't matter as long as it continues.
American minority groups assimilate and adopt the same careless attitude toward foreigners and other ethnic groups. Blacks blame Mexicans for taking their jobs. We blame Koreans for taking money out of our neighborhoods ad infinitum. The issue here is divide and conquer. Americans have been turned on each other using consumerism and the quest for ever more personal belongings. Our hyper-individualism is trumpeted worldwide as the clarion call of capitalism but we are empty inside, completely lacking any spirituality or connection to nature and the universe. Minorities do not usually come to America this way. American turns them into these diseased parasitic organisms once they have been here a generation or so.
Whites in power can reverse this negative trend but they are not motivated to do so because they do not believe there is such a thing as unsustainable growth or that they could ever possibly be wrong. Without sounding like a racist, I believe that whites are missing a vital component of spirituality that connects us all to each other and the universe. This is why whites are always seeking a higher high. They do more drugs than any other group. They have extreme sports. They love engaging is high risk behavior because they are missing that human component that makes life worth living through connection. Until whites address this issue the emptiness of consumerism will continue unabated and spread to the rest of world eventually destroying the entire human civilization.
what REALLy saddens me about america and americans is:
i CAN NOT ACCEPT that americans as PEOPLE, as individuals are ANY worse or more flawed than other people on the planet. americans are people just like anyone. subject to feelings of compassion, and KINDNESS and humility and modesty and hardwork , and WANTING so badly to ShARE what they have with those less blessed than they...
but the policies of their leaders - in industry, in government, in politics, in philosophy, etc....have created in americans as a whole a mentality of "ME" far too much that it has DEFORMED them so severaly as a nation to the great loss of what makes them humane.
AMERICANS DON"T deserve to be TREATED that way by their own leaders for they have great good in them if they were not so corrupted by their own system.
we can see this in the leadership produced by individual americans even if they are fighting against great odds of a MASSIVE cultural, structural system that is inherently exploitative of others and will tolerate NO challenge.
we see this for instance in how americans such as doctors give up entire years of their lives and professions to go where they are needed so badly -- as "doctors without borders" . but instead the USA does its "good work" officially and otherwise -- ONLY as a jsutification for its HUBRIS and its EMPIRE and its ACQUISITIVENESS and LUST for power. and -- in reality -- its FIRST victims are the KINDNESS and HUMANITY of americans themselves.
You are right. Consumerism is the result of production for profit, not of a collective character flaw of 300 million people.
http://www.amazon.com/Criticizing-Capitalism/lm/RQMOI2ITZ079A
Serena..maybe I am trying very hard to look past something like THIS:
"WE AMERICANS ....we carefully nurture a studied attitude of detached indifference to the suffering of others....even if WE are the cause of it". as said by some american poet.
i guess it's just the optimistic, hopeful side of me. i guess i'm just like that Mulder Character in X files -- that says:
"I WANT to believe"...in goodness...:-(
Juliet Shor has written on this subject and shows how children are the targets of the "consumerist" regime:
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Buy-Commercialized-Consumer-Culture/dp/0684870568/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s...
Oh yes, this is very true.
In the video, "Affluenza" (link below), there is a speaker at a conference for kid marketers (16:50 minutes into the video). During the conference, the speaker says this: "Anti-social behavior in pursuit of a product is a good thing." And this is for marketing products to our children!
It is glaringly, unbelievably, shockingly apparent, that corporate marketers are fostering anti-social behavior in us, especially or children. I'm not sure what, other than an economic (or armed) insurrection against corporate products, will stop this madness.
Another solution is to watch Affluenza, preferably with your kids: http://tinyurl.com/92fr29
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Really, the issue here was not consumerism, but rather mob behvior, and individualistic opportunism. Consumerism in america is annoying, and it does help to throw fuel on the fire, but it was not the cause. This "cultural failure" mentioned below is exactly the issue. The author here is using this incident to condemn something which wasn't the cause, but it's always good to condemn consumerism.
I don't know about the indigenous people in other parts of the world, however I must say the indigenous people of this Turtle Island or continent do not support the concepts that they say are at the root of their very own existence. At the very least they do not practice them. Most indigenous people I know are very conservative and pro-military, "shoot first and ask questions later" types. If this is the people or groups we are relying on for the sake of humanity and the world and then we are all doomed.
For all humanity and all that is in the Universe
I know this is pretty much the truth because of the historical context of the socirities, but not all surely.
To balance the slave society of the Cherokees or the military organization of the Dog Soldiers, Commanche. what about the Navaho's? Isn't there a less war like segment, just as in most societies?
For all humanity and all that is in the Universe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK6B4Uogtso
TV interview by John Perkins -- former CIA "economic hitman" explaining how the USA "gathers as much of the world's resources unto ourselves at the expense of other nations" (General Smedly Butler). ...and how the USA has "gotten away with building this global empire".
I've made references to John Perkins in comments here.
teddy:for those who would like to read transcript, John Perkins has had long interviews done by Amy Goodman and transcripts should be online (and they are always free) www.democracynow.org He was on when the book was published and then later.
OH -- THANK YOU for this -- NYCArtist! i have often wondered how to find this.
Thanks for the link, teddy. I have heard of Perkins' "Hitman" book, but haven't gotten around to reading it. I will now!
I have known that much of the rest of the world's anger toward the U.S. is based on our economic strong-arming. The lie is that people want to come to the U.S. for "opportunity." What they actually want to do is to come here to make money to send home because their countries have become so impoverished due, in no small part, to the actions of U.S. governmental and corporate (which are now joined at the hip) policies.
Gen. Smedley Butler's words still ring true...as do Jeremiah Wright's.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
this is true as well. foreigners who arrive at the USA are no different from those before, INCLUDING the original colonists...just looking to make a BUCK better than where they came from.
the QUESTION that never enters AMERICANS' minds is:
WHAT DID THE USA DO TO and IN those countries as the globe's supreme financial "strong armer" - where these pages are TOO SHORT to list the uncountable methods of how the usa has done that -- to FORCE their economies to REMAIN SUBJECT ECONOMIES to world capitalism "managed" by the USA and England and western colonialists- whose colonialistsm and competitions for EMPIRE among those regions - LEFT THE LEGACIES of poverty and backwardness which we SEE?
do americans REALLY think that a cambodian , a vietnamese, a filipino, a honduran, a peruvian, a bolivian, a venezuelan
DREAMS of LEAVING his home and friends, and country and the beauty of THEIR homelands for the sake of "opportunity in america?"
NO -- that ONLY comes into action AFTER the introduction of the banal propaganda -- and hand in hand, working WITH the DEVASTATIOn of their economies visited upon them BY the capitalism imperialism of the united states.
IN SHORT -0- they are LARGELY the RESULT , as immigrants, of policies that the USA itself SPREAD outwards with DEVASTATING results on THEIR people elsewhere!
americans can not have policies that literally THROW ROCKS and STONES in lakes and pools and oceans out there and EXPECT that the waves will NOT ONE DAY come around to THEIR shores as the CONSEQUENCE of such policies.
if you destroy the house and grounds of your neighbor or someone farther from you -- don't expect that - after DENYING them their own livehihood and safety and security through your own dispossessing of them -- that when they have NO other recourse -- and LOOK at the prosperity YOU have gotten at THEIR expense -- that they want SOME OF IT BACK by COMING to YOUR own house.
Sioux Rose
TED MARKOW: Very good point. I have friends who really believe the US is a generous, humanitarian sponsor of programs of social uplift in other regions. They are clueless (and for the most part prefer to remain that way as the dream is so much easier to live with, than the reality) about the types of endeavor that Perkins so well relates. And how about Bush with the abstinence only programs eviscerating intelligent family planning programs for the poor? The list is too long and depressing to mention, but if any good deeds are done in foreign policy, they are largely the "karen Hughes" bandaids placed over the massive wounds resulting from cutting into the fiscal entrails of another people.
"They are clueless (and for the most part prefer to remain that way as the dream is so much easier to live with, than the reality) about the types of endeavor that Perkins so well relates."
Sioux Rose,
Agreed, though it's hard for me to blame people in other countries for living in a dreamworld re. the U.S. when the majority of Americans live in an even dreamier world. It does appear as if the American propaganda machine is far-reaching and very subversive. I guess that's what applied mass psychology is all about.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Tirdad Derakhshani wrote:
Most of those condemning the incident treat it as an aberration
COMMENT:
Not.
In my salad days decades ago with money tight and needing auto tires, I went to a Gimbles Department Store sale at opening time and found a large crowd of women tightly pressed together waiting for the doors to open. The crowd wasn't patiently standing still, but a back and forth pressing for advantage made the crowd seem like some pulsating organism.
What I saw that morning left me open-mouthed in wonder: an employee unlocked the door at exactly the opening time then jumped back out of the way, but even so the heavy door slammed in upon the poor fellow as if it had been hit by cannon fire, knocking him to one side as the horde of shoppers poured into the store.
Once the crowd was in the store, I stepped inside and forgot for a few moments why I was there, so riveted by the scene in front of me: a mass of well-dressed women pushing, shoving, elbowing, body-slamming, grabbing clothing off the tables and out of each others hands. I recall two women trying to jerk a blouse out of the other's hands and seeing the blouse suddenly rent in two. Incredible.
There wasn't any economic crises to explain this beastly behavior in those days, only a sick lusting after consumer goods. This incident doesn't represent an economic failure it represents a cultural failure.
I have seen such things too. It would be understandable if it were rice during a famine, but I have also seen people engaged in pushing and shoving and tug of war over clothes at Filenes, as one example. Decency and manners in public places are catching, so we should behave in a polite and kindly way towards one another in public.
You are right, it is a cultural failure. Although I am 100% for the ordinary person and the poor, and believe their faults are minor compared with those of the elite, we don't have to gloss over faults. You don't have to be a saint to deserve human rights. But low behavior should be called out because it is an obstacle to uniting to change things that need to be changed.
Joe
regarding famine.
notice that often, the structural flaws of capitalism FORCES UPON societies --whether they are politicaly or economically capitalist or not (by this i mean "surrounding" otherwise NONcapitalist nations with the global capitalist structure of hoarding in order to artificially introduce "scarcity") - that the DISPLACEMENT of large populations from their traditional livelihoods into population centers that can not support them creates famine.
what is the REAL cause of famine in africa? it is not because africa does not have tillable land - or "overpopulation" - it is because of "market forces" introduced by western societies since 2 centuries ago that installed "scarcity" through mal-distribution - through destruction of traditional livelihoods and through the manipulation of the means of production, access, and distribution of resources, such as food, that africa ACTUALLY COULD produce AND have a SURPLUS OF after supporting its population.
let's take the worst other cases:
NORTH KOREA.
they have mismanagement through their communist dictator. but WHY was north korea ISOLATED? because the capitalist system can NOT ABIDE another economic system that rivals it in the IDEA of RESOURCE DISTRIBUTION and control . north , no country can possess ALL that it can possibly DESIRE or need in order to be "among nations" , unless they went back to the medieval ages and resorted to the old ways of sustenance, from which they have ALWAYS survived anyway.
but how does North Korea survive? through support from china but that can only go so far. what is lacking is the TRADE with the rest of the world. how is it that it can NOT? ECONOMIC BLOCKADE is the answer -- FROM capitalist USA and nations who get so uppity and righteous about "human rights" in a communist dictatorship while THEY practice WHOLESALE famine inducing policies TOWARDS a country they simply don't like because its leaders won't let them exploit it for its OTHER resources of mineral, AGRICULTURE control, and cheap labor.
take Cuba - they don't have famine- but are "just getting by" -- partly because they are NOT as isolated - and can trade more freely with south american nations that exchange with them what they each need or want from each other withotu further coercion as to what KIND of political system they have.
now --
take a so-called "free country" under the sponsorship or control of the USA :
Philippines - which was ONCE considered the "breadbasket of southeast asia" for having a great agricultural system : how did the philippines become one of the LARGEST IMPORTERS of RICE - its BASIC and most natural staple?
US CONGLOMERATES entered - IMF entered, demanding removal of government subsidies for small farmers, buying up their land , giving up titles to US corporations, transforming former landowners or tenants or tillers into "outsourced" labor working on land they ONCE owned - and rendered that country UNABLE to feed itself! as a result. the secret? ECONOMIC BLOCKAGE or SUBTERFUGE by a capitalist system from "outside". this is called "outside forces" basically invading entire regions .
try that same method in Oklahoma , Kansas, Nebraska -- and you'll begin to see AMERICAN Corn , wheat growers UNABLE TO FEED THEIR OWN FAMILIES.......
capitalist "laws of scarcity" - artificially introduced and blaming "mismanagement and overpopulation" - are like the "grand lie" of Josef Goebbels and Adolf Hitler:
"it is no big accomplishment to make the people do your bidding....alln you have to do is take a grand lie , reduce it to the understanding of the lowest intelligence among the people.....REPEAT AND REPEAT AND REPEAT UNTIL IT BECOMES THE TRUTH...it doesn't matter if it is capitalism or socialism or fascism or another dictatorship..it works anywhere".
in THIS case -- the "scarcity" principle INTRODUCED by capitalism as a FOUNDATION of LIFE -- is its BIGGEST LIE. it is the basis of capitalism's "wealth creation" - by removing PLENTY and its POSSIBILITY from the majority -- and "create wealth" by HOARDING IT in the hands of the few. this goes from monetary policy to FOOD, from production to distribution.
if people remember this principle of ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY which is a basis of "wealth creation" in capitalism......notice the RESULTING CONTRADICTION in it:
once it arrives at this "scarcity" of goods -- and of course wealth distributed more equitably among populations....having DEPRESSED the value of people through scarcity for which they must "compete" (whether jobs, wages, "credit", housing, education, health care, food, clothing..etc.) - and having produced a mass of people that are actually POORER - but which must continue to be "consumers" of the "scarcity" that capitalism induced -- what does capitalism DO with its OVERPRODUCED goods?
it lowers prices, right? for competition? WALMART appears .....
and it creates in this PLENTY -- a NEW scarcity-- the LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE to be in keeping the the NOW POORER state of the population...and on and on it goes down to the BOTTOM LINE.
We are being manipulated, but we do not have to go along with it. I taught my children this when they were four years old and they got it (after one or two crappy toys broke right away).
We should repeat this to our friends and relatives. Of course the current economic crisis will be the most effective means of curbing excessive consumption, and essential consumption too.
Joe
joe -- you gave your children the greatest gift after giving them their life. the gift to THINK for themselves for which they will always love you and be grateful to you forever.
When I hear the dire economic news, I silently cheer. Yes, it is affecting many people adversely, but the way we consume is affecting many more people (including other species) much more adversely.
What is not sustainable will not be sustained. This economy, this culture, is not sustainable.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
"We are like the 30-something characters in Seinfeld, who know they are immature, who know they are avoiding the responsibility of building meaningful relationships and of leading meaningful lives - and who don't really care.
The reason is simple: We are, for the most part, comfortable."
This is true - very true.
Many here know this, yet I wonder how many of us know how to unhook ourselves from this comfortable life, even while we know it is killing us.
I'm trying, but it isn't easy. Still, I'm doing what I can to consume less and build relationships. These are the things (simpler living [actually, living within Nature's boundaries] and community) that have kept humans alive for millennia, and what will sustain us after the collapse, should we be lucky enough to survive.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Very funny observation and good plan.
Joe
Ted- I don't know if this would be helpful, but one thing that has helped me to want less, is to realize that I already have more than I need. I have moved a lot in my life (cross country, inter-country) and in the process, have lost or have had to leave behind many of my belongings, some of which I thought meant a great deal to me. But I survived (of course) and actually began to enjoy the freedom of not being attached to these things. I make it a point now to go through closets and drawers and clean out whatever I have not recently used, trying not to get too sentimental, remembering that what I am not using, someone else definitely could be. I do this several times a year and I must say, it has really helped me to want less as well. Please understand that I say this only as a person who is also trying to consume less and not as someone who has conquered all of their consumerist-demons. I don't mean to come off as preachy, if I did.
I've been simplifying, too, cleaning out once or twice a year, and always trying to be aware of people who need things I'm not using. One good way is to keep checking your local freecycle -- people are always requesting things, and you may find that they help you reevaluate your true needs.
It's funny, but I always thought that the goal of simplifying would be to make things simple -- as in *less* work. :) It is a lot of work to keep resisting the barrage of advertising and keep recycling, through city recycling or give-aways, the things I really don't use.
Not preachy at all, mx321.
I have been simplifying my life for many years, and continue to. I have read books and done seminars on living lightly, and am doing so...to an extent.
Still, I know my footprint is so much bigger than those of the rest of the world. I understand how my life affects the larger picture and how much more I need to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Still, at times, I find it difficult to keep going. Not that I ever want to live the high-life, but I don't seem to be able to get to where I want to be - which is kind of a vague place anyway.
And, it seems to me that many others are in the same boat as I. There are very few models out there for sustainable living, compared with a whole culture that screams at us 24/7/365 to consume, consume, consume. And this is what makes it particularly difficult to buck the trend - we are brainwashed to consume from cradle to grave.
What I am doing is joining with others to learn to live simply, to garden and grow as much food as we can, to support local growers, to buy locally, to eat locally, etc. Yet, at times, I feel like I'm pissing in the ocean to raise the tide.
In the end, I know what I'm doing is good. Not perfect, but good. And the more sustainably I live, the more I want to go in that direction. So, in my naivete, believing that what I am doing matters, I will keep simplifying.
BTW, good on you for doing what you do. You're right, it is constant work, this simplifying.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
good for you ted.
"A consumer economy only works if consumption of goods provides only temporary pleasure. That is, if happiness is infinitely deferred, so that buyers continue to buy more and more goods and services. By definition, the consumer can never be satisfied, at rest or happy. Which means she will always feel lacking. The pursuit of this sort of happiness creates a vicious circle of growing anxiety and dissatisfaction."
I think this would preclude being "comfortable", but I won't haggle about that.
What is really weird is that we are continually being told that this is the way things *should* be. If we create enough consumer anxiety in the world, coordinated into one "free market", we will have achieved the goal of a "paradise" of anxious and dissatisfied people, the "true and only heaven"...ahem. It is called, in marketing legerdemain and in the "sincere" pontification of politicians, "spreading democracy".
Of course, the choice of products or brands is not exactly what democracy is about.
Beyond the anxiety and dissatisfaction, another factor (mentioned by the author) is important. It is the "infantilism" engendered by consumerism. Bells, lights, noises -- the consumer is fascinated as an infant is with such things. The commercial and media landscape looks like a big cartoon.
It would be more accurate to say, though, that in consumerism human development stops in a pre-adolescent or adolescent stage of development before the development of full maturity and personal responsibility. (This point has been noted by many writers.) Consumerism is blatantly designed (manifested clearly in advertising and much of popular media) to arrest development in a dependent stage of life. I think this accounts for much of the rage and hopeless frustration of people of all ages (adolescent and beyond) in consumerist society. A rich life of joy and value can only be lived as each stage blossoms in its time, but the mask would come off consumerism if people began being responsible and thoughtful - that being part of the evolution of character. (The issue of dependency is also where the real antithesis of consumerism and democratic principles can be seen.) Is there much that is more purely *evil* than cutting off the routes of fulfillment of human beings...in other words, institutionalizing the blighting of people's lives?
I think this ties in well with Sioux Rose's remarks on another thread about the religious aspects of dependency which, IMO, are cynically manipulated by those who particulary benefit from the culture of consumerism.
Good comment. So many ads are about not being good enough. But buy our product or service and you will be thin, fit, healthy, have a full head of hair and be surrounded by friends.
Consumerism creates a high fructose corn syrup world. It makes you crave. It has no nutrition. It makes you fat. It is in everything.
Joe
Interesting comment about high fructose corn syrup, the toxic sweetener that really does pop up in a huge variety of foods (sometimes dubbed "natural sweetener)."
By the way, I recently saw a few TV ads sponsored by corn growers encouraging people to eat foods containing high fructose corn syrup, claiming it is just as good as sugar "in limited amounts." If anyone believes that, I would like to sell them the Golden Gate Bridge.
"What is really weird is that we are continually being told that this is the way things *should* be."
Yes, this is called lying. Our whole culture is based on lying. We tell ourselves and each other that this is the way it should be, that things are so much better than they were before, so that we can no longer tell the truth from the lie. Hell, we can't even be honest about the price we charge each other ($12.99 or $1.75 9/10).
This system is all about lies. However, the lesson of the ages is that what we know in our gut, what we feel in our hearts, is the truth. The ageless lessons of life - truth, honesty, fairness, sincerity, integrity, living within our means - these are the things that abide and that we should fix our lives on. We have lived the lie long enough. Time for the basic lessons to be relearned.
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
This rampant ride of materialism is coming to an end. The frenzy we see today is the last surge of our great experiment of consumer culture. The recession is now a recognized reality. The depression is imminent, and already here for millions.
In the next year or two, when the ripple effects of the economic collapse have reached out across the entire working class, we'll clearly see a division in the population. People will divide into two camps.
One will spend like there's no tomorrow, for there soon will be no credit to back their shopping binge. They will display a Consumer Bunker Mentality. Buy, buy, buy, for tomorrow we may die.
The other group will be the sensible ones who realize that priorities have changed. They will spend on the essentials and try to conserve what they can.
And if things don't turn around, the first group will self-destruct.
http://davedubya.com
>> And if things don't turn around, the first group will self-destruct.
Sadly, no. The first group will require a bail-out from the second group or, lacking that, will take what they need at gun-point.
I have to be missing something here. Surely if you produce a lot of things that have value and save enough for emergencies you will live well.
No? I have to spend all my money to live well?
No? After I have spent all my money I have to borrow every penny I can and spend that to live well?
No? After nobody will loan me any more money the financial wizards will work their magic so that I can borrow more money and spend that so I can live well?
And they do this by themselves borrowing 700 billion dollars from US who are already up to our ears in debt, and a week later telling us they don't know where the money is?
Something awfully screwy is going on around here---Elmer Fudd
"God rest ye merry merchants may ye make the yuletide pay..." - Tom Lehrer
"There is a column published in a Pennsylvania newspaper that Mr. Derkshani authors that reports regulary on the lives of celebrities."
Oh yeah, we have a "society" section in both of our major local papers. As if we're supposed to care about their galas and balls and whatnot. It's disgusting.
"The reason is simple: We are, for the most part, comfortable."
Well I'm not so sure about that, especially considering how most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and how the little trinkets they treat themselves to often put them in debt up to their necks. They're on shaky ground too. I think Americans are just better at keeping up appearances. They can hide their poverty and lack of stability easier.
The author's line of thinking actually imo plays into the hands of conservatives who dismiss the notion of American poverty.
How many right-wing pundits have we heard say, "See, even people on welfare have TV's east 3 meals a day and have designer shoes on their feet."
Most of the people who shop at Wal-Mart do so because they're not so well off.
I also really doubt that we're as self-absorbed and apathetic as people would like to think. The polls show that most Americans want progressive reform. We always have, but we're often trapped in our own lives, running a treadmill, chasing a carrot.
God gave human beings freewill so they themselves may choose to do good or evil. God also gave human beings the ability to repent their evil actions upon the earth. God also gave human beings the ability to forgive the evil actions of other human beings toward them.
Doesn't look Epicurus or his followers are any to bright about God? Our Native Tribal prophecies, the prophecies of the Israelites, & the prophecies of other peoples state as time progresses this world will become more & more of an insane asylum. The only way human beings could prevent their own destruction at their own hands by either their modern day weapons, or their destruction of the earth would have been to have lived pretty much like the Native tribes used to live upon the earth year in & year out.
God's far brighter than human beings just as most people of Native hertage live in your world, but aren't a part of your world. I keep waiting for the people who love to boast about how smart they are upon to earth to solve all the problems they created. If Vegas were laying odds that our European visitors to Turtle Island will be able to solve the problems they themselves created I wouldn't bet on this thing.
Life is good.
There were just two demonstrations at that WalMart because the store ignored the problem the year before:too few security workers. Why does WalMart's part in this get ignored?
Nice point!
Check this out: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1056487665981560376 It's "What Would Jesus Buy?", a documentary that follows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on their cross-country tour as they try to save us from the Shopocalypse, and the fires of consuming debt. Variety called this movie "Seriously hilarious!" and it is. It starts playing when you click on the link, and is free, without commercials. Watch it with your kids! Consumption is destroying our world, and our souls. This very funny movie can help us get back on the right track! Change-a-lujah!
There is a column published in a Pennsylvania newspaper that Mr. Derkshani authors that reports regulary on the lives of celebrities. The "celebrity worship" that this sort of reporting fosters ultimately fuels rampant consumerism because it feeds the readers' desire to emulate the fabulously rich lives of these celebrities.
If the media stopped reporting on the personal lives of celebrities, regular citizens might find something more worthwhile to read about- such as the subjects found on Common Dreams- and be less enticed by lifestyles centered on excess.
When people pull back from spending money on toys and junk, and instead try to save or spend frugally, the headlines read "Consumer Confidence Low" and the moneyed elite become panicked. Maybe consumers have plenty of confidence, in themselves, to start making wise choices, saving, and buying less junk.
"Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends."...Janis Joplin
Nothing exists.
Years ago there was a movie in which Xmas was re-named Commerce Day and the purpose of the day was to glorify consumerism. And can anyone really argue that is exactly where we are at today? Xmas long ago ceased to be about religion or peace and love.
Personally, I'm hoping the entire consumer culture crashes and burns. Not that I wouldn't love to be rolling in dough and having tons of money to selfishly spend....but I can at least still acknowledge that such a situation strips us of our humanity.
The question is...how do we get our humanity back? How do we start again to value each other based on who we are, not how much we can afford to spend and display?
I was wondering when someone was going to use the Walmart incident as an opportunity to compare consumerism to religion. Nice piece.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" -Epicurus
Consumerism IS the religion of capitalism. it is the religion of the USA. Capitalism and Consumerism are one and the same - or like twin ideas of something that behaves like Locusts - consuming everything in sight until there is nothing left but a desert....but it's worse than locusts since THEY at least give back something to the environment . capitalism leaves nothing "behind" in its appetite for consumption and with it -- destruction.
What happened to buying stuff to "grow the economy"?
When you buy at places like Walmart you are really "growing" the bank accounts of the owners and of the wretched factory bosses offshore. You might be extending the working life of the poor stiffs employed by monsters like Walmart but only marginally.
Buy local. Support regional companies with a stake in the national and local economies, not national or multinational companies that have depressed wages and spending power locally all over the world.
Funny you should ask, ezeflyer. Here's the classic story of stuff that will explain it all: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
"All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace." Alexander Pope
Nice video! Thanks Ted.
That's a good video, thanks.