Submitted by Billy Talen on November 23, 2009 - 12:10pm.
Dear Karen
Let me quote you: "But if we don't spend the whole economy will collapse and then we'll be in real trouble. What is the solution to this dilemma."
Consumerism, like all systems, seeks to keep itself alive at all costs. We've been told for years that we must shop till we drop for normal living to be possible. That's a bluff. We routinely hear apocalyptic horrors - if we should ever dare to stop shopping. Consumerism wants us to never EVER question the basis of the consumer economy, which is that deadly cycle of cheap labor/fossil fuel shipping/heavy marketing/debt and waste and many would add -- climate change and war. That is - necessary? Because it isn't Communism - it is inevitable? Do we still hear "Well it's the best system we ever had in the world?"
The defenders of Consumerism all work for that system. They are the talking heads who keep saying that there is only one game in town - corporations and their Wall Street game. They believe that we will never be radical Americans ever again, because there's no need. And if within a Democracy we start believing that real change is necessary, Consumerism then wages war on that Democracy. A good example is the "green-washing" movement in corporate marketing, which is a broad attack by Consumerism on the possibility that we would ever ive sustainably with the earth.
Karen, our economy IS flopping. It is going down because it needs to devolve and we need to begin trading, manufacturing and servicing in a much different way. And Consumerism can never be sustainable, because of what it does to people, yes, but also because of what it does to the life of the earth, of which we are a part.
Karen, don't be afraid -- you can stop shopping because there is life after shopping.
Karen JL's Last Two Sentences
Let me quote you: "But if we don't spend the whole economy will collapse and then we'll be in real trouble. What is the solution to this dilemma."
Consumerism, like all systems, seeks to keep itself alive at all costs. We've been told for years that we must shop till we drop for normal living to be possible. That's a bluff. We routinely hear apocalyptic horrors - if we should ever dare to stop shopping. Consumerism wants us to never EVER question the basis of the consumer economy, which is that deadly cycle of cheap labor/fossil fuel shipping/heavy marketing/debt and waste and many would add -- climate change and war. That is - necessary? Because it isn't Communism - it is inevitable? Do we still hear "Well it's the best system we ever had in the world?"
The defenders of Consumerism all work for that system. They are the talking heads who keep saying that there is only one game in town - corporations and their Wall Street game. They believe that we will never be radical Americans ever again, because there's no need. And if within a Democracy we start believing that real change is necessary, Consumerism then wages war on that Democracy. A good example is the "green-washing" movement in corporate marketing, which is a broad attack by Consumerism on the possibility that we would ever ive sustainably with the earth.
Karen, our economy IS flopping. It is going down because it needs to devolve and we need to begin trading, manufacturing and servicing in a much different way. And Consumerism can never be sustainable, because of what it does to people, yes, but also because of what it does to the life of the earth, of which we are a part.
Karen, don't be afraid -- you can stop shopping because there is life after shopping.
Amen?