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mitsenehttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDXtETwP7G17BQsO07DecwxuziLgD94O1UD01
You see? this is the kind of stupid bullshit, the kind of mindless, soulless horror of a culture we've been brainwashed into. Getting shit from walmart at 5am is somehow more important than the life of an individual, or the wellbeing of others. What kind of mob mentality are we at, at all points in our lives? The ceaseless beating of the capatilist drum, "Buy. Shit. Buy. Shit. Buy. Shit." Consume consume consume as much as you possibly can at the cheapest you possibly can as often as you possibly can.
We keep consuming as if it fills a void inside us, totally convinced that if we get just that one more thing, that one more gadget or car or somewhat valuable object, we are somehow one step closer to being 'whole'. There is no wholeness in that direction, only more vapidity, as we forget those around us, as we multiply to the point where our neighbors are anonymous and a man crushed under a door at the whim of a mob somehow seems like a reasonable sacrifice for us and our dysfunctional, unhappy families. Even when we are aware what we are buying is made by kids in sweatshops on the other side of the planet, even when we are aware that our pointless cycle of buy-a-new-one-every-year adds more to the ecological garbage heap that'll be our planet in a few centuries, we still do it. Why?? Why the fuck did you go out today? How much did you really need that shit?
But, we don't see a way out. This is what we have been doing and it's what we've been taught to do, and it's much easier to buy and throw away than to look inside ourselves and find out what's really making us unhappy, or (god forbid) contemplate any other method of living.
If you so goddamn dearly want to part with your money, give to a charity. If you so dearly want to get up at 5am for any reason at all, volunteer instead.
Every year it seems like I could be filled more, happily, with the holiday spirit, and yet each year it seems like there's more and more reasons for me to be a fucking grinch. I have no other reason other than family and/or loved ones to celebrate the holiday of a religion whose symbols meaning's have been forgotten, a religion where the actual kind, helpful people who participate are swallowed underneath the loud, bigoted, consuming zealots. I have no reason to be part of a cultural phenomenon where if you don't buy something for everyone who you love, then you have somehow disproved you loved them in the first place.
There is something terribly off about a culture that causes some of its participants to want to reject it entirely. On the most basic level of human sociality, it is common culture which keeps people, families, clans and nations together; like food and shelter, we have to have a common culture and language in order to not feel (or be) absolutely alone. For me to spend my whole life rejecting the basic culture I was born into, there must be something terribly, terribly morally wrong with either it, or me. And seeing as I haven't yet shot up a college or shopping mall, I don't think it's me....
You see? this is the kind of stupid bullshit, the kind of mindless, soulless horror of a culture we've been brainwashed into. Getting shit from walmart at 5am is somehow more important than the life of an individual, or the wellbeing of others. What kind of mob mentality are we at, at all points in our lives? The ceaseless beating of the capatilist drum, "Buy. Shit. Buy. Shit. Buy. Shit." Consume consume consume as much as you possibly can at the cheapest you possibly can as often as you possibly can.
We keep consuming as if it fills a void inside us, totally convinced that if we get just that one more thing, that one more gadget or car or somewhat valuable object, we are somehow one step closer to being 'whole'. There is no wholeness in that direction, only more vapidity, as we forget those around us, as we multiply to the point where our neighbors are anonymous and a man crushed under a door at the whim of a mob somehow seems like a reasonable sacrifice for us and our dysfunctional, unhappy families. Even when we are aware what we are buying is made by kids in sweatshops on the other side of the planet, even when we are aware that our pointless cycle of buy-a-new-one-every-year adds more to the ecological garbage heap that'll be our planet in a few centuries, we still do it. Why?? Why the fuck did you go out today? How much did you really need that shit?
But, we don't see a way out. This is what we have been doing and it's what we've been taught to do, and it's much easier to buy and throw away than to look inside ourselves and find out what's really making us unhappy, or (god forbid) contemplate any other method of living.
If you so goddamn dearly want to part with your money, give to a charity. If you so dearly want to get up at 5am for any reason at all, volunteer instead.
Every year it seems like I could be filled more, happily, with the holiday spirit, and yet each year it seems like there's more and more reasons for me to be a fucking grinch. I have no other reason other than family and/or loved ones to celebrate the holiday of a religion whose symbols meaning's have been forgotten, a religion where the actual kind, helpful people who participate are swallowed underneath the loud, bigoted, consuming zealots. I have no reason to be part of a cultural phenomenon where if you don't buy something for everyone who you love, then you have somehow disproved you loved them in the first place.
There is something terribly off about a culture that causes some of its participants to want to reject it entirely. On the most basic level of human sociality, it is common culture which keeps people, families, clans and nations together; like food and shelter, we have to have a common culture and language in order to not feel (or be) absolutely alone. For me to spend my whole life rejecting the basic culture I was born into, there must be something terribly, terribly morally wrong with either it, or me. And seeing as I haven't yet shot up a college or shopping mall, I don't think it's me....
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no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 06:54 am (UTC)However, we haven't been brainwashed by anyone into being mindless consumers, we just choose to not ask questions or think for ourselves. We choose to turn the TV on and agree with the commercial. We choose to eat the food that makes you fat and rots your teeth. We choose to pour thousands into useless household junk. The consumer is responsible, not the producer. People making a ton of money off a product or service aren't to blame, it's consumers letting the producer decide for them what they need rather than thinking for themselves. I have an inalienable right to say "You NEED my product!", just as you have a right to decide whether or not you actually need my patented butt floss.
If you haven't read Fahrenheit 451, I highly suggest it. It's mistakenly described as a dystopian story about literary censorship, when really, it's a cautionary tale about apathetic consumerism.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-29 05:25 pm (UTC)On a related note, at the warehouse we work at, we use old left-over clip boards from KB Toys (Xpect is cheap). On the back it has marketing tips for the store stock boys. It explains the "impulse counter", the area by the cash register with small flashy items meant to cause people to buy shit they never planned on buying.
I wanted to get pissed at KB toys for such a blatant use of human psychology against people--but I blame consumers. If people just avoided impulse shopping and fad shopping altogether, a huge amount of resource use would dissapear overnight.
Whatever, you saw my last livejournal entry. I make a hair above minimum wage and I'm happy. Why aren't people who make 10 times as much as me 10 times as happy?
no subject
Date: 2008-12-01 03:09 pm (UTC)I remember the fights they reported in the papers & everything. Same goes with video games, electronics, toys of any sort, etc. People are the monsters.
It's hard to put feelings into words, but I know how you feel. I find myself HATING humanity at its most & I'll wallow in my dark corner for days...then I find the smallest thing that makes me happy (like a cheesy joke, a friend's smile or something as lame as buses passing each other going opposite directions haha) & I start to love things all over again. It's hard to live this cool life that I have knowing that across the planet thousands of kids are dying every day....but you just can't constantly think about it.
Breathe, everything will be ok xoxo