consumerism.
Warning! This is one of the few pages on this site that highlights something negative. In general, this site will take the high road and explore primarily those things directly relating to inner peace, self acceptance, and wisdom; however, in an effort to fight ignorance, we will blow the crafty camouflage off of some real monsters. One of the most dangerous of these in modern western societies is consumerism.
Is it better to follow a path of conformity, or is it better to wholeheartedly embrace one's eccentricities?
"To be nobody but yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting."-- e.e. cummings
"Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a false messiah."-- Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, by Richard Bach"
...I watch and I wonder and I think. I think of the old slavery, and of the way The Economy has now improved upon it. The new slavery has improved upon the old by giving the new slaves the illusion that they are free. The Economy does not take people's freedom by force, which would be against its principles, for it is very humane. It buys their their freedom, pays for it, and then persuades its money back again with shoddy goods and the promise of freedom. "Buy a car," it says, "and be free. Buy a boat and be free. Buy a beer and be free." Is this not the raw material of bad dreams? Or is it maybe the very nightmare itself? (Jayber Crow, by Wendell Barry)
"...Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, 'I love to go and see all the things I am happy without.'"-- After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, by Jack Kornfield
...Realizing your power to choose and to change your directions at any moment, without regard to external pressures or ideals, is like rising up toward the surface of the sea after a long submersion. This power may intoxicate you as you see attractive alternatives to your present situation. You may feel tempted to change your relationship, your career, or any area of your life that feels difficult or frustrating. Soem new choices may be appropriate or even overdue, but the heroic choice often means taking responsibility for where you are now and participating fully and intentionally, with greater presence and passion than ever before. (from the chapter 'Reclaiming Our Power', Laws of Spirit, by Dan Millman)
In general, what one sees and hears on television is a big lie. It really is nice to be without cable television for a change. However, I do miss The Learning Channel, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and several others.
consumerism defined.
- Attachment to materialistic values or possessions: as in deplored the rampant consumerism of contemporary society. Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
consumerism links.
- Psychopathy and Consumerism: Two Illnesses That Need And Feed Each Other --
Excerpt: ...A psychopath or partial psychopath has an impaired capacity to form intimate, trusting mutually satisfying relationships with other human beings as a result of impaired attachment in the earliest years. Unable to find pleasure and satisfaction from others, the psychopath or partial psychopath must turn to things -- goods and services, toys and travel -- to fill the emptiness within. The emptiness of the hollow man must be filled, and consumerism has learned how.
It is said that a culture creates the kind of people it needs. Maybe we're into frequent separations and changing, shared, paid caregivers in the first three years of the lives of our children so they will grow up with an insatiable need to shop till they drop.
If you're unable to obtain satisfaction from BEING, which is based on love and the pleasure of sharing, then the HAVING MODE, as Eric Fromm put it, is your only choice. 'The HAVING MODE, concentrates on material possession, acquisitiveness, power, and aggression and is the basis of such universal evils as greed, envy, and violence...' ... - Overcoming Consumerism --
Excerpt: ...Consumerism is a pattern of behavior that helps to destroy our environment, personal financial health, the common good of individuals and human institutions. This site details ways that you can help defeat consumerism, save money, work less and lead a more satisfying and environmentally benign life while helping to restore the economic self-sufficiency of your community. Another goal is to showcase Resources that can help the reader become a better- educated citizen and grassroots activist starting from any level of commitment and knowledge.... - Runaway Consumerism --
Excerpt: ...'More, more, more' is the maxim of the consumer society, a maxim that is spreading fast from its neuralgic centre in the USA to the remotest corners of the world. The trend-setters are the rich and super-rich, whose income and numbers have exploded in the past 20 years. A recent poll showed that one third of Americans would like to join the six per cent that have 'really made it'. They estimated they could do this with an income of US$102, 000 (1994 dollars) - twice the amount they said they needed just five years earlier. As globalisation spreads, people everywhere begin to share the same wish-lists. And the same brand names are there for whoever can afford them... - Behind Consumption and Consumerism --
Excerpt: ...The United Nations has a most shocking set of statistics on consumption disparities:
Today's consumption is undermining the environmental resource base. It is exacerbating inequalities. And thedynamics of the consumption-poverty-inequality-environment nexus are accelerating. If the trends continue without change - not redistributing from high-income to low-income consumers, not shifting from polluting to cleaner goods and production technologies, not promoting goods that empower poor producers, not shifting priority from consumption for conspicuous display to meeting basic needs - today's problems of consumption and human development will worsen.
... The real issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects.
... Inequalities in consumption are stark. Globally, the 20% of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures - the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. More specifically, the richest fifth:
- Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%.
- Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%.
- Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%.
- Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%.
- Own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1%.
Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen.
(Emphasis Added) -- Human Development Report 1998 Overview, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
... - Consumerism and the New Capitalism --
Excerpt: ...The traditional cultural values of Western society are degenerating under the influences of corporate politics, the commercialization of culture and the impact of mass media. Society is awakening from its fascination with television entertainment to find itself stripped of tradition, controlled by an oppressive power structure and bound to the credit obligations of a defunct American dream...
