Success. The drive. The great motivator. The American dream. The big house, the fancy car, the six-figure salary. And stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. So much stuff, in fact, that it compels one to build trophy homes in previously uninhabited wild places to stick it away for the occasional conjugal visit.
We Americans consume. That is what we do. We are programmed to want more, need more, not be able to survive without more, more, more!
Our economy and thus our society is dependent upon this drive. So much so that in a time of crisis, we are guided by our political shepherds to give in and become assimilated by the marketing megalomaniacs as part of our patriotic duty. Yes grieve, but not for too long, for it is time to get out and buy stuff! No, it doesn’t particularly matter what — this country requires your unbridled, indiscriminate devouring of crap to retain peace, stability and security. It is the call of consummate consumption.
Now, Americans have an excuse to give in to their compulsive desire to hoard anything manufactured. A desire ingrained by a useless system places so much emphasis on the dollar that those with the highest net worth gain positions of power from which they further our sick dependency on wealth.
Someone owns everything. Corporations devour each other like mongrel dogs gnawing on the rancid bone of opportunity, hiding behind logos and brand names so far removed from their true agendas as to render them incognito as they dupe the consumer into sponsoring their corrupt deeds.
You cannot escape it. Look around you right this moment, and see how many brand names, product names or other forms of blatant advertising you see in your immediate surroundings. Amazing, is it not? We are so accustomed to seeing a corporate logo on everything that we tune it out, letting our subconscious devour the chum smeared throughout our daily lives baiting our indiscriminating dollar.
Spend a little time researching who owns the company that made something, and whose exorbitant prices you have paid in order to advertise on their behalf, and you may be surprised to find other rackets into which they are sticking their greedy little fingers. For example, with no effort at all, you can pull up the internal document from Nike detailing the brutal exploitation of Vietnamese workers.
Through a little Internet research, (God bless the anarchy of the electronic age) you will discover that household favorites such as Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Cheez Whiz, Tombstone Pizza, Fruity Pebbles, Oreos, Maxwell House Coffee and Cool Whip are all brought to you by Philip Morris, the very same conglomerate that brings you 51 percent of America’s cancer-inducing emphysema sticks.
Yet still we consume habitually with little thought to who our dollars are supporting, because we have been told that spending is good, regardless of what you are buying or why — don’t think; spend!
It does not have to be like this.
The action is simple, the message is profound. Set a goal for yourself, and simply buy nothing for however long you think you can manage - gradually increasing that period of purchasing hiatus until you can go months or more without adding a dime to the coffers of blood-sucking fat cats. For those who seek support and safety in numbers, join the global movement in Buy-Nothing Day and purchase absolutely nothing for 24 hours following Thanksgiving — traditionally the day of least restraint in America.
Our country’s economy be damned - do not give in and consume for capitalism. A system that requires we fund some businessman’s private empire in order for the nation to survive can never serve the interests of the common person. In fact, it is this devotion to the Ameri-corporate imperialism that is largely responsible for much of the turmoil we are witnessing in the world today. Now is the time to break the cycle.
Buy local, and only when necessary, or buy not at all.
Taking a stand is that easy, and it costs you nothing.
Loren Bell is a student of the natural histories and the humanities. He can be purchased at reached at lbell@ttu.edu.
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