"I consume;therefore I am" --Descarte?
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> The Consumer Culture was created (and is perpetuated through advertizing) by capitalism whose goal is to get us to borrow,spend,and consume more. The more we consume, tbe greater their profit...and the greater their profit the more tbey can consume The acquisition of more wealth enables ever-higher levels of consumption. Hence the rich have tbe highest level of consumption snd the highest level of waste/pollution production. However this pyramid scheme is based on a fallacy--the false premise that more consumption yields more fulfillment/happiness. This assumption has been proven to be blatantly false, and yet it is so ingrained in society that people continue to believe it to be gospel truth The belief motivates everyone to aspire to acquire more a.d more money/profit/wealth in pursuit of ever higher levels of consumption. Tbis of coarse like every pyramid scheme is not a sustainable paradigm. Those at the bottom of the pyramid are kept on a borrow-spend-work treadmill in a lifelong state of enslavement to debt and work. A.d those at the top in an attempt to gain more profit for themselves exploit ybe labour of those beneath tbem through control of the political syztem(show me a politician who is not promulgating the capitalist dog ma of "growing the economy") Increased consumption results in depleting/despoiling yhe earth of its natural resources,degrading the environment through the production of more waste and pollution, and increased conflict between individuals and nstions competing for finite and dwindling resources results in more violence and wars. We must expose the consumer culture for what it is--a capitalist con job! Tbe real villains in this scenario are tbe fatcat consumers at yhe top of the pyramid who are poisoning the planet.
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> They feel they are deserving of (entitled to) their privileged status and their lavish high-consumption lifestyles. They take for granted thst thry will always be surrounded by abundance and have no cause to live frugally. They are self-indulgent and self-obsessed
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> We can no longer live lavish, high-consumption lifestyles wch plunder the planet of its resources and generate vast amounts of waste and pollution. For yhe sake of the health of yhe planet and future generstions we must live simply and frugally.
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> We need to change our sense of values and our measure of personal success and personal worth. Driving gas guzzlers and taking annual tropical vacations are no longer socially acceptable/enviable symbols of status as our society recognizes thst such lavish lifestyles are raping the planet and are not sustainable.
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> People are increasingly rejecting the prevailing culture of consumerism and materialism long promoted and fueled by capitalist propoganda. It is no longer socially acceptable to accumulate more money to buy more material goods since it has been shown that more material possessions do not augment personal happiness or quality of life. (Cbcradio/the current Feb 20,2018 > "Psychology and the good life"--Laurie Santos) The myth of consumerism has been exposed/busted. People who continue to live a high-consumption lifestyle are increasingly stigmatized for being self-indulgent, irresponsible,and unethical. Anyone who is not reducing their carbon footprint is contributing to the problems of climate warming and environmental degradation.
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> On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 2:54 PM, bill dality >> >> <namtoo@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> >>
baited by desire: >> >> >> >> The "desire for more" is fueled by the capitalist conspiracy (consumerism).
Marketing is so pervasive in our lives that we are not even aware of its subliminal influence upon us. No one wants to admit they are susceptible to marketing hype. But really...would marketers spend all that money if their advertizing strategies didn't work!? >> >> >> >> > > Perhaps the greatest secret to happiness is to know wben you have enough ,and to be grateful for all that we do have. (gratitude is the mother of joy) >> >> >> >> > It is tragically ironic that all marketing continually focuses our attention on what we don't have (and therefore distracts/blinds us from all tbat we are blessed with)and continually encourages us to want more. We are bombarded with advertizing that tries to make us believe that we need every new product in order to be happy. >> >> Actually the surest formula for unhappiness is to continuously focus on what we don't have(therrby becoming blind to all that we have )and therefore to be in a perpetual state of craving/deficiency. (wch condition continually robs us of any feeling of contentment,gratitude,happiness) ---and keeps us ever running on a treadmill chasing after the proverbial "carrot"...but never reaching its false promise of fulfillment. > >> >> >> >> To disregard all that one has and to obsessively and continuously focus on all that one doesn't have is a surest way to make oneslf feel inadequate,miserable and even depressed. >> >> >> >> By cultivating an attitude of gratitude we can find happiness within ourselves and among the people who are dear to us.
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> We don't need all that external "stuff"!
Sunday, November 4, 2018
the "consumer culture" is a capitalist con spiracy
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If you want to reduce consumption, raise yhe interest rate and increase the sales tax on non-essential consumer goods. 70% of the GDP is due to consumer spending!
ReplyDeleteThis will however slow the economy and increase unemployment (i.e. it will kill jobs).
A lot of people would lose their livelihood.
ReplyDeletetis the season :
in protest of thr commercialization of Christmas we should redefine Black Friday and Cyber Monday as " buy nothing days".
These shppping days are intended to kickoff the seasonal binge of spending and consumption.
A deluge of marketing will drive a shopping frenzy and rampant consumption
Don't buy into the marketing hype!
We've been brainwashed into believing that happiness is attained by pursueng our desires.
ReplyDeleteQuite the contrary!
Desires are the cause of our discontent!
Our normal default state is one of happiness/wholeness/desirelessness. Desires rob us of our natural state of happiness. "Wanting more" creates a feeling of lack, deficiency, insufficiency. The mind presents us with an endless chain of desires wch continuously focuses our attention on what we don't have, and distracts us from all that we do have.
All marketing is intended to foment desires.
Its goal is to put the need/desire of a product/service into people's minds.
Our personal worth is not determned by the money we make and the possessions we have accumulated (despite what our consumer culture tells us).
The consumer culture has so infiltrated our brains that we take it for granted and do not question it :
Money is the means of fulfilling desires and work is the means of acquiring money...and so we find ourselves on a lifelong treadmill of work,borrowing,spending,etc. ( Help the economy; be a good consumer! Borrow,buy,spend,shop! Repeat! ),... only to find in the end that we have expended/dissipated our lives in pursuit of a lie/mirage.
We have been deceived.
The happiness and fulfillment that was promised was all just so much deception.
"buy this car to drive to work;
Deletedrive to work to pay for this car"
-- the band Metric
"The richest man is not be who has the most,
Deletebut he who needs/desires the least"
--unknown author
perhaps some day a simple minimalist lifestyle will become the socially-accepted norm, but as long as yhe present consumer culture prevails, people will admire and aspire to a higher level of consumption (and therefore a higher level of waste production),and a higher standard of living.
ReplyDeleterefusal to work toward this goal would set one apart as "lazy" anf lacking ambition. We continue to measure a person's success and social status by their material wealth/worth
Yes it will take a revolutionary change in people's thinking, values, and lifestyles to reject the dominant consumer culture of today.
ReplyDeleteBut that is the change that must take place.
smoking and drunk driving used to be ubiquitous, but no more.
We can change!
Society can reform itself.
We just have to belireve that all those consumrr products yhat are doing so much harm to the environmrnt are not going to make our lives better!
Conscious, socially responsible consumers will reject yhe marketing premise that their products will make our lives better.
A simple harm/benefit analysis will clearly show that the harm far exceeds the benefit...and it is therefore in our self-interest to reject the consumer hype
even the most deeply entrenched cultural traditions and customs can be changed
DeleteSocietal values and attitudes do change...and what is normative behaviour at one time ,can be judged/stigmatized as being anti-social and unacceptable at another.
DeleteAs more and more people directly experience the negative impacts of global warming they will demand change!
Changing behaviour is challengi g..but not insurmountable!
Deletecorporstions are finding that their environmental and ethical profile is assumig a greater importance in their marketing strategies
Deletea global economic recessiom is tbe best thing that could happen to the planet in terms of slowing climate change and saving the biosphere from rampant degradation.
DeleteEarth's ecosystems are the unforseen beneficiaries of the Corvid-19 outbreak.
Efforts to stop tbe spread of Corvid-19 and deal with this global health crisis are dramatically changing human behaviour in ways that unexpectedly benefit the planet's health.
In response to public health official's prescriptions to minimize direct personal contacts and physical social interactions(social distancing/self-isolation ),people are adjusting their lifestyles and work habits in ways thst also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their carbon footprint.
Flight restrictions have drastically reduced air travel.
Factory closures have reduced atmospheric pollution.
People have stopped buying/spending/consuming nonessential goods--sending the economy into a tailspin.
People are re-assessing their values/priorities and the importance of material/economic pursuits.
The preservation of human health and wellbeing takes precedence over the pursuit of wealth/profit.
The rich and priveleged face sanctions and societal backlash for taking "fun in the sun" vacations during a time of crises. ..
DeleteOntario minister of finance, Rod Philips, denounced and fired for ignoring public health advice by taking non-essential vacation trip during pandemic while others make sacrifices
Paying the price for non-essential travel:
DeletePoliticians engage in socially unacceptable behavour
Jetsetting MPs and MLAs who violated public health directives by travelling on vacations shamed and forced to resign in response to public outrage!
Santa Claus is a hoax perpetrated by the consumer cult to get children indoctrinated, immersed,and engaged in the consumer culture from the cradle to the grave. Once a child's mind is poisoned with yhe belief that happiness is to be attained by pursueing one's desires (like a donkey enticed by a dangled carrot), they'll be "good consumers" and stay on the consumer treadmill till the grave.
ReplyDelete#don't lie to your children
Commercialization of Christmas./materialism and greed
DeleteCan we please. agree that Santa Claus does not exist , except as a fictional character foisted on us by greedy capitalists promoting consumer spending and gift buying!
The evidence is in: if the earth is to survive catastrophic climate change, the economies of the world can't continue to grow infinitely. Maintaining the status quo makes ecological viability impossible. But imagining a world without capitalism also seems to be impossible. Doing so would require fundamentally rethinking our idea of prosperity and how we value work.
ReplyDeleteIn lecture and conversation, mathematician and philosopher David Schweickart asks whether there is another way forward for capitalism, one in which the choice isn't between the economy and life itself.
Ideas
David Schweickart tells us why a viable alternative to capitalism is urgent.
LISTEN
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1472776259576/
Is there a viable alternative to capitalism?
ReplyDeleteWe are so immersed in consumer propaganda that like the proverbial /legendary fish that is unaware of the water it lives in, we cannot conceive of any other way of being.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-rethinking-capitalism-may-save-the-planet-1.5084547
What's an economy for?
ReplyDeletesome economists think that humans are cogs in tthe economic machine who exist to create wealth/capital and push forward the economy.
rather than yhe economy exists for the people
the capitalist economic system is based on maximizing profits.
Consumers are the means to achieving that end.
The more they can be motivated to consume, the greatrr the corporate profit.
Marketing is about fomenting desire, influenving consumer spending, and thereby augmenting profit.
Neoliberalism is an economic philosophy that supports a free market,deregulation,government austerity, and privatization of business and services. It's a dog-ea t-dog ideology that favours the rich and powerful and locks more and more people into a dehumanizing cage of poverty.
ReplyDelete