Fernando MonteiroThe Madness of Consumption Capitalism
June 26th 2009 13:48
In the middle ages common people were just happy with finding enough to eat and a roof to keep them warm. That would suffice. This is not to say that it was good, no, life then was hard, but to establish a contrast with today’s consumption society.
Today, after the industrial revolution and the emergence of the welfare state, we all engage in the generalised consumption of many goods. We buy too many gadgets which are only interesting for a moment after being purchased. We buy large houses and large cars to ensure that everybody knows our status, which is certainly higher than that of the Joneses. We buy also certain other status items such as the recreational boat, the leather sofas, the trips overseas and, who knows, one day a weekend in the moon too.
Not content with the above, we also stuff ourselves up with food of all kinds, industrially processed foods, lots of fat and red meat dishes, too much chips and other fried foods, too many sweets and so on and in the end we find ourselves suffering from obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease. But we consume a lot, that we can be sure of.
Our current society has become a consumption machine loaded with industrial factories in strategic places whose sole purpose is to make us possess their products. If you just turn on commercial TV, you will be swamped with countless advertisements each one shouting louder the message that you have to buy their product now. Some people even turn on the commercial channels to know what goes on in the commercials.
Marketing and commercials are for me and for the most part a bother, yet most people want, with their abiding purchasing, to follow the move of the herd. Most of the phenomenon of consumption capitalism is based in most people’s herd mentality – doing as they see others doing and being the best at it. Industry makes millions, retailers make millions, banks make millions and we consume obligingly.
Consider this little statistical piece: the population of rich, developed countries, which is around 25 per cent of humanity, consumes 80 per cent of the resources of the world. We definitely are consumption mad.
When I was a youth my hero was Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi moved millions of people and compelled the British Empire to give independence to India. Yet, his only possessions at death were his sandals and his glasses.
Today, when the average person in our society moves home he needs several truckloads to carry his possessions. These are the proof of our success, the mark of our social standing, the label of modernity. A dispossessed person compared with this is nothing. It’s only when we suffer a fire, a flood, when we are burglared, when we suffer a car accident that we realise the precariousness of our asset consuming behaviour.
In this fake sea of consumption capitalism, how should the true man be? The true man should stand in the two legs of his human inner dignity, his spiritual essence, his inherent respectability. But in our consumption society we want to think of ourselves as better than our next door neighbour by having more possessions and consuming more than him. And indeed, most people’s need to possess, to compete and to follow is enormous.
I wonder where this will lead us to.
Today, after the industrial revolution and the emergence of the welfare state, we all engage in the generalised consumption of many goods. We buy too many gadgets which are only interesting for a moment after being purchased. We buy large houses and large cars to ensure that everybody knows our status, which is certainly higher than that of the Joneses. We buy also certain other status items such as the recreational boat, the leather sofas, the trips overseas and, who knows, one day a weekend in the moon too.
Not content with the above, we also stuff ourselves up with food of all kinds, industrially processed foods, lots of fat and red meat dishes, too much chips and other fried foods, too many sweets and so on and in the end we find ourselves suffering from obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease. But we consume a lot, that we can be sure of.
Our current society has become a consumption machine loaded with industrial factories in strategic places whose sole purpose is to make us possess their products. If you just turn on commercial TV, you will be swamped with countless advertisements each one shouting louder the message that you have to buy their product now. Some people even turn on the commercial channels to know what goes on in the commercials.
Marketing and commercials are for me and for the most part a bother, yet most people want, with their abiding purchasing, to follow the move of the herd. Most of the phenomenon of consumption capitalism is based in most people’s herd mentality – doing as they see others doing and being the best at it. Industry makes millions, retailers make millions, banks make millions and we consume obligingly.
Consider this little statistical piece: the population of rich, developed countries, which is around 25 per cent of humanity, consumes 80 per cent of the resources of the world. We definitely are consumption mad.
When I was a youth my hero was Mahatma Ghandi. Ghandi moved millions of people and compelled the British Empire to give independence to India. Yet, his only possessions at death were his sandals and his glasses.
Today, when the average person in our society moves home he needs several truckloads to carry his possessions. These are the proof of our success, the mark of our social standing, the label of modernity. A dispossessed person compared with this is nothing. It’s only when we suffer a fire, a flood, when we are burglared, when we suffer a car accident that we realise the precariousness of our asset consuming behaviour.
In this fake sea of consumption capitalism, how should the true man be? The true man should stand in the two legs of his human inner dignity, his spiritual essence, his inherent respectability. But in our consumption society we want to think of ourselves as better than our next door neighbour by having more possessions and consuming more than him. And indeed, most people’s need to possess, to compete and to follow is enormous.
I wonder where this will lead us to.
| 50 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
