"Society does not fall from heaven fully formed. It's made and constructed by
ordinary people. Deep down, people know the world in which they live is not very
satisfying because they're geared towards consumption. In America, people just
work way too hard. Why? To buy stuff. What for? Because the market system has us believing happiness will come from it. Well, happiness doesn't come from it."
4.17.2005
consumption
Just wanted to share a little quote from a guy I'd consider a media rockstar. Sut Jhally, Simon Fraser University (Go SFU!!) alumnus now at UMass Amherst.
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4 comments:
Is travelling/vacationing a form of consumption? If they are, do you consider them things one should forgo if trying to break the consumption cycle?
Jon
This is hilarious, because I notice that for many people, there isn't much they do other than eat and shop (and work) -- apparently, that's all they need to be happy.
traveling is not consumption. by consumption I mean buying stuff. Buying stuff is fueled by advertising to the point that somehow deep within our psyche we feel that success is measured by how much we can buy. And not just how much, but what, ie what brandname (from company with limitless marketing budget) is slapped on the product folks desire. This very desire is so socially constructed and artificial, yet so many people don't see it.
Well, all I can say is that if you think consumption is bad in North America, Asia is much MUCH worse! When I lived there and travelled around, I felt compelled to buy something...just because! Either they put something in the water, or their marketing teams really do good work :)
Jon
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