Quote:
Originally Posted by NicholasV
Alot of people are taught to be incomplete, or are incomplete without this teaching, but falsely think they can bury away that void with consumerism by buying new products. They feel something is missing and they always search for as the Dalai Lama puts it: "something new, something more, something more, something more." But it can only be a false palliative. Guy Debord invented a theory of spectacle. To use the Kindle lineup to explain, if I was a e-ink consumerist hoarder, I would follow this paradigm:
1.)spectacle of Kindle 1 > 2.) buy kindle
3.)spectacle of kindle 2 > 4.) purchase Kindle 2
5.)spectacle of Kindle 3 > 6.) purchase Kindle 3
7.)spectacle of Kindle 4 > 8.) buy Kindle 4
In his theory, consumers are taught to lust after what they cannot have, an intangible spectacle, the spectacle of a product, not its mere physical embodiment. If they just wanted the product, they would find their telos after possessing it, but that is not the case, they are left without telos because what they want is the spectacle itself, but that they can never have. So they are left to follow as close to an infinite buying loop as their monetary station will allow.
In the early 20th Century, almost all products were purchased because they served a need. Back then advertising was based on features, utilitarian considerations and the needs they fulfilled. However the nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward Bernays invented a new discipline called marketing and public relations. Thanks to him this trend of utilitarianism was abandoned, to appeal instead to the irrational side. He was paid handsomely by companies to associate their products with a positive mental state, an amazing experience, a sense of being. His marketing paradigm has such a huge foundation in modern society, I absolutely cannot explain well to anyone what Erich Fromm succintly observed that "having is not being." Most people believe what they have, what they consume, constitutes the greater part of their personal identity!
I am gonna make alot of new enemy stalkers for what I wrote above already, so I will close this post out by saying check out the the short 20 min. free Documentary The Story of Stuff. That Doc. will help you understand the social and environmental consequences of consumerism on steroids. If you really feel you need to have so many 4-5 e-ink devices just for yourself, probably you need a type of help I cannot provide. Practicing such extreme attachment to your possessions is self defeating. Probably you will also get extremely upset if any product you own is destroyed or perhaps scratched. I am sure you have seen or heard of materialistic people who have new cars, the car gets scratched and they are pissy and in a bad mood for quite a bit of time over the petty aesthetic condition of a material object. It is best to let go and sell them, give them away instead of adopting a hording mentality. |
Interesting presentation about "stuff". So no more e-readers for me.
I hate shopping anyway & pretty much all I buy for pleasure is e-readers & the e-books. I hate clothes shopping & any other kind of shopping actually. So I don't go to the mall very often. I actually wear my clothes till they wear out. Don't watch t.v. on my 20 year old t.v.set. I guess my biggest buying vice is the e-readers (books) & dogs. Have to rescue them .
Oh yeah & Christmas Cards once a year.
I consume but not all that much. I keep my computers at least 5 years. Only got the one I have now because I couldn't run a lot of things on the 10 year old one I had.
But what will happen if we stop consuming? What will happen to people in other countries if they don't have jobs in production? How do we change this whole thing so that everyone has a chance to live iwth the necessities?