Consumerism
 Consumerism  (dumbing down, deception, statecraft, Social engineering)    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Interest of | • Michael Moore • Thorstein Veblen |
| Consumerism creates the illusion of inclusion or belonging to the in-group of rich and successful people | |
Consumerism is the focus on consumption of material goods. Corporations, not people are seen as producers, people are the consumers who need material good for their satisfaction.
“[T]he human animal is a beast that dies and if he’s got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting.”
Tennessee Williams [1]
Functions
In Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich describes school as "the reproductive organ of consumer society".
Consumerism there to "create the illusion of inclusion in a world where every need is served", of belonging or soon to get close to a "first world" standard of living" which is portrayed in the media by soap operas of "rich and successful" people. [2] [3]
| An animated short |
“What if consumer products were fabricated to be actually disposable rather than just conceptually so?”
Alistair Dabbs (24 May 2019) [4]
Consumerism encourages [instant gratification]] with the acquisition of more and more goods.
Related Quotations
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Carlin | “The latest disaster for the rest of the universe is that the United States is going to go to Mars. Okay, aw yeah. We’re going to go to Mars. And then of course, we’re going to colonize deep space with our microwave hot dogs and plastic vomit fake dog shit and cinnamon dental floss and lemon-scented toilet paper and sneakers with lights in the heels and all these other impressive things we’ve done down here. Let me ask you this, let me ask you this. What are we going to tell the intergalactic council of ministers the first time one of our teenage mothers throws her newborn baby into a dumpster huh? How we going to explain that to the space people? How we going to let them know that our Ambassador was only late for the meeting because his breakfast was cold and he had to spend half an hour punching his wife around in the kitchen. What are they going to think when they find out – it’s just a local custom – that over 80 million women in the third world have had their clitorises forcibly removed in order to reduce their sexual pleasure so they won’t cheat on their husbands. Can’t you just sense how eager the rest of the universe is for us to show up? Can’t you see them out there?” | George Carlin | |
| Escape From Evil | “Most people would agree that the word "alienation" applies to modern man, that something happened in history which gradually despoiled the average man, transformed him from an active, creative being into the pathetic consumer who smiles proudly from our billboards that his armpits are odor-free around the clock.” | Ernest Becker | 1976 |
| Peace | “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.” | John Lennon |
References
- ↑ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- ↑ Psychopaths among us, quote from thera {cn}}
- ↑ Konsumterror (Ger), film on consumerism[citation needed]
- ↑ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/24/lets_make_laptops_from_radium_hows_that_for_planned_obsolescence/ The Register
