Our Simple Minded Society

Yesterday was known as Black Friday. The day that most retailers earn a great deal of money. People lined up in front of stores in the wee hours of the morning to get bargins and deals on junk that they really don't need to live.

It has caused me to think about advertising. How we have been trained to believe that if we spent money on some item our life will be better. Or we can be fulfilled as a person, or a man, or a mother, or whatever if we buy this thing or that thing.

I really like the commercials that show a person with a problem. The portion of the ad is usually shot in black and white, the person's hair is messed up, and they have a sour look on their face. Then the product is offered, money is spend, and the person is happy. This portion of the commercial is filmed in full color, people are happy, the world is good.

Happiness is not found in a product. You will never be able to buy enough stuff to be happy. You will just go into debt and be miserable. How simple minded we are. How easily manipulated by advertisers. How little we think for ourselves.

Comments

[Brad Spangler]

This is actually an extremely interesting topic, because the closer you scrutinize it, the more confusing it can be *until* one (hopefully) falls back on General Semantics to combat the cognitive dissonance and related despair.

Consider:
"Thrift" used to be considered a capitalist virtue, yet it's now (in common parlance, anyway, even if I prefer to be more precise myself) "anti-capitalist".

Example (second paragraph):
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1891251,00.html

Incongruent? Yes it is, until you recognize that words can have multiple, distinct definitions -- some of which are designed to obfuscate as much as enlighten.

If "capitalism" is held as being genuine devotion to a free market, property rights, productivity and resulting prosperity -- then clearly saving money (accumulating capital) is a "Good Thing(tm)".

But if "capitalism" has nothing to do with a free market and is instead all about using the power of the state to craft market distorting privileges on behalf of a political class -- then accumulation of capital by ordinary people becomes something mildly subversive to the established order and will be discouraged.

Clearly, capitalism[1] is not capitalism[2].

Related reading:
http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/11/creative-crime-of-thrift.html
http://www.bradspangler.com/blog/archives/172

We are material beings and attempting to acquire material wealth is an unavoidable part of that. It is my firm belief, though, that the widespread sense of spiritual ennui accompanying ritualistic purchase of trinkets is the emotional manifestation of a deeper realization. That realization is this -- the game is rigged. You're not supposed to really get ahead in life.

Seem like a stretch? Then try this mental experiment.

Imagine yourself buying some expensive, fancy piece of consumer entertainment electronics that you don't really need.

Seems a little bit shallow and a little bit of a guilty pleasure, does it not?

Now, STOP! Backup...

Instead, now imagine yourself spending the same amount of money buying the tools/equipment you need to set up the home based business you always wanted, and you're filled with hopes and dreams of providing for your family better than ever before and establishing your own economic independence.

Which would be more exhilirating? But which purchase is more likely to happen?

In a marriage without love, sex can be embittering as you realize that you're just going through the motions.

Likewise, in a society that's not a free market, trading becomes embittering as you realize that you're just going through the motions.