Discuss: The Gospel of Consumption

How berserk life has become where I live:

a government swept into power using regional politics; in particular, one key region was represented by a star candidate whose reputation as a consumer rights lawyer (promising to overturn no-fault car insurance) was unimpeachable. In power, he was promptly stiffed, quit the cabinet and vanished (I tried desperately to contact him after being rear-ended by an irresponsible young lady who, even after the crash did not stop talking on the cell phone. The real world simply does not exist for her, and her mother later claimed I caused the crash - I was standing still, signaling a left turn. Rude passersby told me to stop blocking traffic.).

Much of this article is a bit of a retread, as there have been strong critiques of advertising since at least the 50’s. However, I loved some of the juicy bits. Is there any source on the quoted “gospel of consumption” phrase? Something more specific than “One industial consultant”?

Also, one can hardly blame companies for promoting consumption. They are legally chartered to ever-increase their prophets by any legal means. This is the set-up that creates the rampant materialism, not the other way around.

As a philosophical/theological follow up:
“..
“..Modern techno-industrial society is a product of the ‘enlightenment project’ and is deeply rooted in what philosophers refer to as ‘Cartesian dualism.’ This perspective sees humans as somehow separate from the biophysical world, assumes we are masters of nature and enables
us to act as if society is not subject to serious ecological
constraints...”
http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/faculty%20profiles/rees.htm
George/Yuri

As I read some of other comments
it’s good to see a lot of people
really aware of this madness.

But being a black person in this
country I really see the bad
effects it has on poor black
people trying to keep up
and then the so-called black
middle class trying to keep up,
when in reality black people
don’t control their own means of
production.
This is in relation to all
this excessive consumption
going on all over this country.
We have all this sickness from
large #’s of black people
overeating,drinking and just
going crazy being misled down
the wrong path.

This is a superb article....not only is it well written it is thought provoking and needs to be shared! 

I have always said that we are slaves to the corporate advertising machine.  It is rare for any one individual to have a unique thought with the constant manipulation of information by corporations and the media. 

Happiness is excluded in the corporate equation!

Excellent article.  Excellent comments.  I’ve added quite a few of your blogs to my Links list today.  ;)

I have been working very hard to reduce my own consumption, and I am having a lot of fun with it.  As I own a home (which I happen to love,) I AM still tied into the system, but beyond meeting my basic needs, I really do limit my consumption.

I no longer have television service. I got sick of feeding a monopoly.  When a commercial comes on the radio in the car, I switch over to a CD.  I use Freecycle heavily, and I am exploring freeganism (not for food, at this point, however.) I shop local at every opportunity, and I am working hard to get my side projects up and running.

I want out of the system so badly, and I’m learning a lot from reading and talking with others of a like mind, but more experience/expertise.

Thank you, Orion, and thank you, fellow “Awakened Folk.” ;)

JM

People in general seem to be locked
into a lot of stupidness.
That is the only thing I can say
as I continue to see this madness
goes down.

Exhilarating article. Thank you Orion. I’ve ordered a subscription. Thanks all for the many fine contributions in this discussion. It warms one to see still so much intelligence in this land despite the century-long attempt by today’s form of the mass-manipulative Imperialism of all the ancient and medieval DARK Ages—commerce (industry colonized), to “dumb down” our populace.

If you want irrefutable vindication of this so fine Jeffrey Kaplan piece, including extremely pertinent and chilling aspects Jeffrey did not include, I believe you will be as riveted and enlightened as I was by the scholarly researched, fabulous 1996 book, “The End of Work” by Jeremy Rifkin, in which, for example, he points out, and amply documents the fact that, we have to begin NOW to shorten the work week, for as the book’s title states, the number of available jobs will continue to plummet as technology does more and more of the work, ironically just as our population—the number of People needing jobs—is soaring.

As recall, you will also, fortunately, learn that a 30-hour workweek—the ideal first step, and natural next step in Human industrial evolution, absolutely need not involve any reduction in pay, benefits or job conditions.

Judging by the intelligence I have observed in this thread, I venture to promise you will hugely value Rifkin’s book, and it will vastly more than repay you in insights and invaluably broadened perspective, vision, and hope.

Finally, as some have already implied, the irrefutable mandate for ending a psychotically hyper-productive, hyper-consumptive way of life is the environment, which belongs to our children, heeding the decades-long warnings of not just global atmospheric destruction, but worldwide fresh water depletion, topsoil depletion, ocean pollution, horrifying species extinctions (33,00/year as of 2000), now disappearing produce-pollinating bees, and the bizarrely seldom mentioned deforestation of this wonderful oasis in cold, dark, heartless space called Earth, all these and so many more terrifyingly expanding dangers rarely on the radar screen of our mass media of supposed information and communication, radio and TV, turned into a cultural sewer of nitwittery and irrelevance perfect for keeping the masses attentions focused on buying and selling—marketplace economics, which, as Robert Reich indicated is supposed to support life, not the other way around, or as my own coinage says it, LIFE IS NOT A MARKETPLACE!