"Instant gratification has us in a stranglehold. So much so that we don't want to fix things anymore. Just replace them. Don't like your nose? Get a new one. Don't like your job? Get a new one. Don't like your spouse? Get a new one. Whatever happened to commitment? To standing by our decisions."
Back in the days Greeks used to talk philosophy. "Why I'm here?", "What is justice?" or "Is it fate or choice?" were the kind of questions people were passionate about. Christian christianized them to; "What purpose I was created for?", "What is my responsibility to the less fortunate?" "What does God want from me now and how I can fulfill it?"
WAKE UP it is America!! welcome to THE Consumption Society. Gradually, ideas like "Instant Gratification" replaces "Respecting ones Legacy". Questions like "What is new?" replaced "How are you and how is your family?". We are pressured by peers, media and education to embrace consuming what is new. I hate it when people are identified like "The guy who owns a Lexus 2008?" or "The girl with iphone" as if the most interesting and fundamental characteristic of the person is his car or her phone!
So far I have been hammering the society left and right for being based on consumption, but what is wrong with that?
This will take us to a fundamental question. Am I defined by what I "consume" or defined by what I "produce"?. Is it what I "take" that adds value to me or what I "give" that adds value to me? Do I care for others or it is always me, me and me? building one's self on consumption makes one selfish. The more serious problem is making us perceive others as tools to fulfill our consumption desires. we don't value people for who they are, but for what they can offer to us. You can see that clearly in personal relations, a couple get together to fulfill some consumption desire, such as acquittance, sex or social appearance. Once the desire is fulfilled, there is no room for commitment or sacrifice.
Here is the irony, I got the first paragraph from a Hyundai commercial!
Think about it.
Back in the days Greeks used to talk philosophy. "Why I'm here?", "What is justice?" or "Is it fate or choice?" were the kind of questions people were passionate about. Christian christianized them to; "What purpose I was created for?", "What is my responsibility to the less fortunate?" "What does God want from me now and how I can fulfill it?"
WAKE UP it is America!! welcome to THE Consumption Society. Gradually, ideas like "Instant Gratification" replaces "Respecting ones Legacy". Questions like "What is new?" replaced "How are you and how is your family?". We are pressured by peers, media and education to embrace consuming what is new. I hate it when people are identified like "The guy who owns a Lexus 2008?" or "The girl with iphone" as if the most interesting and fundamental characteristic of the person is his car or her phone!
So far I have been hammering the society left and right for being based on consumption, but what is wrong with that?
This will take us to a fundamental question. Am I defined by what I "consume" or defined by what I "produce"?. Is it what I "take" that adds value to me or what I "give" that adds value to me? Do I care for others or it is always me, me and me? building one's self on consumption makes one selfish. The more serious problem is making us perceive others as tools to fulfill our consumption desires. we don't value people for who they are, but for what they can offer to us. You can see that clearly in personal relations, a couple get together to fulfill some consumption desire, such as acquittance, sex or social appearance. Once the desire is fulfilled, there is no room for commitment or sacrifice.
Here is the irony, I got the first paragraph from a Hyundai commercial!
Think about it.
