Consumerism – Chasing That American Dream!

Consumer Society

Written by Adam Shake

This seems to be the prevailing philosophy in today’s Society.

Not long ago, I wrote an ARTICLE on Affluenza, which is “An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream.“   Affluenza is an extreme form of consumerism, but we all suffer from it in varying degrees. But what I really don’t like is being branded or labeled. Sure, you can call me a man, a father and a husband.  But don’t assume that because I support the environment that I’m a Democrat or because I support gun rights, that I’m a Republican.  But the one thing I don’t like, more than anything else is being branded a “Consumer.”

Sure, we have to consume to survive.  We eat.  But the term “Consumerism” has come to represent something else. From the Encarta Dictionary: Con-sum-er-sim, Noun, Definition:an attitude that values the acquisition of material goods.

When did we get to the point where our own self worth became so low, that we value ourselves based on the things that we own?  Since when did “More” mean “Better?”  Well unfortunately, it’s always been that way.  But with the advent of cheap (price and quality) goods, that masquerade themselves as expensive (price and quality) goods, we have been on a shopping spree.

McMansions are a perfect example.  Per square foot, they give you great bang for the buck.  Per square foot, they are cheap (inexpensive) and as a whole, they are cheap. (Bad Quality).  But damn don’t they look good!  Especially towering over the 50 year old little brick houses in the neighborhood!

But some of us whom are secure in their self worth, don’t value the acquisition of material goods.  We don’t identify who we are by what we own, how much we own or how quickly we consume and replace it.  Some of us Boycott places like Walmart, where we could buy lots of cheap plastic made in foreign countries for super low prices.  Some of us buy quality the first time instead of junk over and over.  Some of us dont need to upgrade every time a piece of electronics becomes obsolesced.

A simple search on Google for the term Consumer, results in 364,000,000 search results. We are a society of Consumer Groups, Advocates and Businesses.  We have Consumer Markets, Products, Content, Trends, Surveys, Price index’s, Reports, Credit Counseling, Coalitions, Confidence, Laws and Digests.  We work to make money to buy things that we consume.  We get home from work and watch television, which in turn tells us consume more.

We dig big holes in the ground to harvest raw materials to turn into “Consumer Goods.”  We use those consumer goods and then throw them into another big hole in the ground when were done with them, and we expect the planet to keep up.  At the same time, if we can’t consume more this year than we did last year, were not moving up or being successful. When we run out of room for our “stuff” we buy bigger houses, bigger cars, fill our basements and attics or we rent storage space to lock it away.  (We cant give it away right? Then our net worth would go down!) We destroy the environment.

Our shopping has become our habit, our hobby, our right and our compulsion. We teach our kids to be just like us, by buying them the latest game system, the best toys and dressing them in the latest fad.  We teach them that shopping is fun, and its cool to hang out at the Mall.

How do we break this cycle?  We must learn to value ourselves by who we are.  (The man, husband, father…) By what we believe in  (God, Family, Love, Friends…) By what we have in us (Trust, Integrity, Loyalty, Values, Ethics, Character, Knowledge…)

If you’re like me, you do judge people by what they own.  But perhaps not the way they would like you to.

As always, don”t forget to Alter the Eco and keep up the good fight,

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