ajax18 wrote:My God, how long do children have to be children? How could a mother feel that was okay not only for her own son, but other boys as well?
Would you say people need religion? What's the alternative?
You're quite right in saying religion used to be part of the counterpoint to excessive consumer influences in our society.
It is demonstrably true that organized religion has less influence than it used to, especially in many advanced Western countries. Many Scandinavian countries have no strong active religious influence, but their cultures are steeped in many values that could be said to have come from religion: Compassion, taking care of the poor, etc.
But It is not just the fall of religious faith, it also the concurrent rise in values that are
not religious. Capitalism's cultural handmaiden, Consumerism, stokes the values of MORE and ME and NOW. If you can sell more by sexualizing children at an early age... well...there's no law against that, is there?
One of the great ad lines in recent memory is:
Obey your thirst.If there is a prime directive that sums up the message of advertising, that's it. Become a slave to your cravings. Sprite is not being taken up market with this slogan. You're not being asked to be discriminating. You're thirsty?
Drink OurSh*t®
Not exactly the
Serenity Prayer, is it?
We live in a 'late-stage' consumer society. Capitalism is based on expansion, and when food, clothing and shelter have been provided, it looks for other things to provide, things that are not necessities. You don't sell a bidet the same way you sell a water pump. The less essential an item is to your life the more essential it is for a the Consumerist arm of Capitalism to manufacture a reason for purchasing it. The motivation for the purchase becomes more subjective and ephemeral. Arguments are based on circular logic: Tautologically, we become worth it because we're the best, we deserve a break today. The man who drives an Audi certainly deserves a Braun coffee maker. The net result of a late-stage consumerism is that society where fame and consumerism becomes a self-reflecting box of mirrors. People become famous because they are famous. People manufacture fame the way they used to work a loom. People become enamored with sizzle and not steak, with form and not substance.
And slowly life becomes defined by what you consume rather than what you do. Consumption becomes the driver in life, rather than values. Modern authorized garments are Ferrari Caps and Gucci Bags.
'If one is good, two is better' is our motto. Our product will transform you and reward you.
'If I have one life, let me live it as a blond, because frankly, I'm worth it'.
But I think there is more than one way to approach the problem. Religion is certainly one way, and I think religious values can be an important antidote to the excessive influences of Consumerism. But I don't think you have to be religious to see the evils of excessive consumerism.
Let me give you an example:
Franklin Mars, who founded the Mars chocolate company, invented M&M's. His children would ask him to bring M&Ms home from the office. Franklin Mars told his children no, he didn't have any spare M&M's, and that if they wanted some they would have to work for it.
This is a man who is teaching his children to behave EXACTLY OPPOSITE of the way that children needed to behave in order for Mars to become rich. He was asking his children not to believe the snake oil messages from his advertisers.
If you grow up listening to to advertising, you become a passive consumer who believes that personal value comes from the acquisition of material things. Franklin Mars was giving his children a lesson in business and initiative, not religion.
You could argue that there is an inverse proportion between religious conviction of a society and the number of Christmas shopping days.
It's appropriate that in an advanced Consumerist Society we have a man running for President who places the value of his own name at 3 billion dollars.
Anyway, I think that religion can be an antidote for Consumerism, but not necessarily. But Consumerism is something that a lot of people are uncomfortable facing head on. To say that 2 may not be better than 1 in a Consumer Society is a form of heresy. You can view the opposite of consumerism as religious values, and that is certainly one way.