Rejecting Consumerism in Times of Recession
February 11th 2009 05:35
I thought this article, written by John Huxley for the Sydney Morning Herald, was just smashingly good:
And now for the good news
I for one noticed a real increase in materialism over the past few years, and this article reassured me that I was not going mad. Have you listened to recent popular music? There is very little message of any substance behind it, instead it's mostly just about "good times". Well what about us who weren't experiencing such good times? Advertising and media likes to propose the idea that there's all this wealth and spare time that we all have. It might be true to an extent, but what about living authentically? What about, instead of making all this excess money, we do something that we believe in? That matters to the world? The problem with consumerism is that it's alienating. In fact, this is its strength as well as its weakness. By alienating people, advertising is able to lure people into its product with the prospect of re-entry into society. Look at all the ads going on at the moment, just about any of them! How about this one: "WANT LONGER SEX?" The message is simple: if you don't take our product, you may lose your relationship due to lack of skills in the bedroom. Lying fucks.
It's fitting that the car industry seems to be the one hardest hit by the "financial downturn". Why? Because cars are the least useful products in existence, at least the expensive ones. As soon as you pay over about 12 grand, your dollars start to go towards the cause of status rather than utility, purpose or even style. And what is the pursuit of status? The pursuit of separation: the desire to be better than (separate from) others.
Personally I wish all those big companies weren't bailed out at all.
And now for the good news
I for one noticed a real increase in materialism over the past few years, and this article reassured me that I was not going mad. Have you listened to recent popular music? There is very little message of any substance behind it, instead it's mostly just about "good times". Well what about us who weren't experiencing such good times? Advertising and media likes to propose the idea that there's all this wealth and spare time that we all have. It might be true to an extent, but what about living authentically? What about, instead of making all this excess money, we do something that we believe in? That matters to the world? The problem with consumerism is that it's alienating. In fact, this is its strength as well as its weakness. By alienating people, advertising is able to lure people into its product with the prospect of re-entry into society. Look at all the ads going on at the moment, just about any of them! How about this one: "WANT LONGER SEX?" The message is simple: if you don't take our product, you may lose your relationship due to lack of skills in the bedroom. Lying fucks.
It's fitting that the car industry seems to be the one hardest hit by the "financial downturn". Why? Because cars are the least useful products in existence, at least the expensive ones. As soon as you pay over about 12 grand, your dollars start to go towards the cause of status rather than utility, purpose or even style. And what is the pursuit of status? The pursuit of separation: the desire to be better than (separate from) others.
Personally I wish all those big companies weren't bailed out at all.
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