Consumer Society

Guide to Earth, Part VI.

Consumer society is the most advanced form of civilization, where one has countless opportunities for happiness and self-fulfilment. Consumption is nothing but the next step of our most basic biological instinct. Caterpillars consume leaves, chickadees consume caterpillars, hawks consume chickadees, ants consume dead hawks, and so on. All species could learn to consume in a human way, using petrol, metals and other raw materials, the only qualification being a few million solar systems to provide the resources.

Source: Brigitte Werner, Pixabay

Consumption has long been a feature of advanced civilizations. The Romans were so fond of eating they made themselves regurgitate the food so they could keep feasting. Fortunately, you don't have to resort to such old-fashioned methods, you can simply go for liposuction, or buy a vibration machine. Nowadays you can even be proud of your bulging body parts. The enlightened younger generation wears their XXXXXXXXXL sized clothes skin-tight with proud self-esteem. If you still have an antiquated skinny body image, you have a range of lifestyle programmes, or diet packages to choose from, including foods that burn fat. Isn't it great? The more you eat, the slimmer you get!

Unfortunately, consumer society is the target of much unfair criticism. Some say that the very word “consumer” is pejorative, suggesting passivity. According to these critics, we are like a bunch of baby birds, only capable of opening our beaks begging for food, triggering the caring instinct of parents making them stuff nice juicy worms into our beaks. This comparison is flawed for several reasons. Firstly, salespeople, instead of a caring instinct, possess a conning instinct. You don’t have to ask for anything and they will still stuff your mouth full of worms. Secondly, as modern consumers, we can be very active in pushing buttons, even changing their appearance on the screen.

Thirdly, you don't have to eat worms at all — if that is you wish, consumer society is, of course, happy to oblige — but you can choose frozen pizza or even caviar. And it’s not just food, but anything good, such as rolls of artificial grass that don't need watering. A shower with a fax machine, or a shower curtain with a telephone pocket. A jacket with your name printed on it, so ticket inspectors can be nice and call you Fred when giving you a fine. If you're called Eve, don't buy a jacket saying Fred unless you want to fool the inspector. You can also buy heaps of other valuables: dog sunglasses, musical shoes, an elevator for your cottage, banana slicers and banana-shaped banana boxes, or even pre-peeled bananas in a plastic bag, hairless dogs, tooth jewellery, electric can openers, diet water, a fridge with a computer screen, electric egg cookers, cat-caressing rods, snowball makers, shoe umbrellas or drone umbrellas that don't need to be held, iPad potties, walking sleeping bags, two-person sweaters, disposable cameras, phone beds, hamburger holders, even an impressive tomb at the end so everyone can see that a real Consumer has lived here, greater than the Pharaoh.

Some contend that people don't really want all these useful objects, they are just made fools of by advertising. What a ridiculous thing to say! This may have been true in backward societies, but how could modern, rational, enlightened people be manipulated? The billions spent on advertising are merely to provide information, to satisfy the needs of consumers even better.

Other critics grumble about why a couple should live in a two hundred square metre house, or drive cars the size of tanks. According to them even hopping over to Monte Carlo for dinner is not an essential part of life. Such maligners are clearly motivated by envy. If they could afford to, they'd be driving a Hummer, living in a 300-square-metre villa and flying over to Aldebaran every morning for breakfast. Since they can't do that, they've invented the idea of sustainable development, ecological footprints and all that nonsense.

It is also said that consumer society is nothing more than a modern, I.Q.-reduced version of petty bourgeoisie. This is not true, because in a petty bourgeois society everyone strives to be the same, whereas in consumer society everyone strives to be special. You could say that in consumer society everyone wants to be special in the same way. Our society is based on individuality! In truly progressive countries, you can even buy purple toilet paper or one with Mickey Mouse if you have the calling.

Consumer society has also been accused of being too focused on the material plane, lacking spirituality and human values. The exact opposite is true. In our modern free world you can enroll into a hundred philosophical schools or spiritual courses, including those offering a course in fasting, where you consume nothing at all. A perfect example is a vipassana fasting survival camp, where you do not get to eat, are not allowed to speak, and live in a self-made hut in the woods. All that adventure comes at a properly high price, which is well worth it, as your spiritual level is raised considerably.

Other critics argue that children don't need all those heaps of plastic toys, they are happy to play with pebbles and pieces of wood preferring to run around naked. Well, we're certainly not going back to the Stone Age! Our lives are way more advanced when our children are hitting each other with G. I. Joes and wearing clothes with proper brand names.

Other critics argue that consumption is simply a way of trying to appear important in society. In other words, it is nothing more than a material expression of the ancient desire to outdo your neighbors. Since the price, size and brand of objects possessed can be precisely determined, they provide an easy basis for determining your place in the pecking order. When choosing a man, you can skip complicated intellectual computations to determine which suitor's poem is better, or which one has a stronger moral character. If the car of one of them is a foot longer, obviously his wallet is thicker and he will be make a better mate. The same holds true for other measurables such as horsepower, number of cars owned, rooms of his house, etc. Sometimes it is smallness that shows the rank, for example, at one time a small mobile phone was the thing. Well, there is no point in wasting arguments on such obvious nonsense. Just look at Osho, the famous spiritual teacher, who owned 93 Rolls-Royces, because they were the only ones that satisfied his high taste. You cannot expect the Pope to drive a Ford Pinto, would you? What would people say?

© 2003 Samvado Gunnar Kossatz https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3001538

New goods, and increasingly new experiences acquired by money, are what bring us true happiness. For example, if you want to escape the comfort of home, you can now do so in a comfortable way through a travel agency. And if you're looking for some challenge, you can book an adventure tour, where you'll be guided by experts on a safe adventure. How could it get any better? You will be safe while facing danger! And if you've had enough of the hypocrisy of bourgeois, consumer society, you no longer have to slice your trousers like the punks of old — you can choose from hundreds of pre-slit trousers in the shop. Or, if you want, you can rebel by getting a tattoo — no prison cell required, you simply visit a cultured studio where, for a fair fee, modern machines will be used to engrave your symbols of resistance.

Yes, technology makes our lives more comfortable. Why bother hiking up a mountain in sweat when you can buy a ticket for the cable car? You'll have plenty of opportunity to exercise your muscles in the gym, since you have a season ticket. Why squint your eyes by the light of a fire when you can use LED lights to brighten up your garden? If the glare makes it hard to sleep afterwards, consumer society offers a great array of efficient sleeping pills to choose from. And if you can’t get up in the morning, there's a selection of coffees and energy drinks to refresh you. Consumer society has a solution for everything.

One of the most advanced gifts of consumer society is democracy that you can read more about in our little Guide to Earth. The point is to have choice: all you have to do is get up from your armchair, go to the poll booth, put an X next to one of the numerous excellent candidates and you’ve made your contribution to society. You have done your duty, now you can get to work or go to the Mall to spend your money.

Source: Anja, Pixabay

The Mall or Shopping Centre is the citadel of consumer society, its church, its cultural centre. Here everything is available, meeting all your needs at once. You can admire thousands of artificial breasts, eyebrows and eyelashes, or the muscles of young titans built with formula proteins. Your unconscious mind is greeted by suggestions embedded in elevator music: "Buy, buy, buy…" Enjoy shopping… Why would you deprive yourself of what is rightfully yours…? You deserve it… Buy, buy, buy… Buy, buy, buy…" Malls are the place where all your desires are satisfied. You can try on clothes, pick the best items, flash your credit cards. You can sample the cuisine of countless countries, all with an unmistakable Shopping Mall flavour. Multiplex cinemas are the place to see the latest movie hits. Scarves, hats and jackets needed for a room chilled to minus 18 degrees can be bought on spot, together with the earplugs necessary for the film volume while enjoying the pleasant sounds of popcorn bags and the smell of melted ping-pong balls all around you. Escalators in all Malls are kindly set at 0.5 km per hour to allow you enjoy this heroic environment for longer. Hopefully you will soon be able to move into the Shopping Centre for good to experience the elevated spirit of the place at night. Perhaps the glorious age will come when — for an appropriate fee — you can spend your whole life in this great building.

The deep spirituality of consumer society is also evident from the fact that its biggest holiday is Christmas. It is the time to show your loved ones how important they are to you. The less time you spend with your children, the more they know they will get great new computer games that you're earning the price of. You will also charge their Junior Card so they can order whatever their hearts desire.

Source: David Veksler, Unsplash

Consumerism is based on the great realization that the world is a big restaurant, with the menu thick as a phone book. All you do is sit and keep ordering meals one after the other. The purpose of life is eating. What wonderful luck of our generation that we can live in this glorious age! Unlike with ordinary eating, we will never burst, on the contrary, our appetite keeps growing. Our enjoyment keeps growing! What will happen after we have eaten the world? That, unfortunately, is not a question that consumer society can provide an answer for.