consumerism sucks

if you look in the fields of a farm thats been owned by the same family for about the last 70 years or so, chances are, youll see their first 1946 ford pickup truck just sitting there. pretty rusty, miles away from getting a warrant and most likely home to a racoon or two.

but still pretty good.

when the industrial world realised that they were selling products that consumers would only need to buy one of, they got smarter. and a lot more sinister. they started selling products that were actually designed to become faulty over time, forcing consumers to purchase more products. a stab in the back of all the loyal customers in the name of money.

schick sells disposable razors. doctors will sell you medicine, but not the cure. mobile phones seem to conveniently be updating right after you buy the lastest $7 billion dollar sattelite equipped magic nokia.

wu tang said it best with Cash Rules Everything Around Me, this greed is everywhere. what a sad world we live in, governed only by our selfish instincts in the pursuit of a very hollow, material happiness.

i hate how people of our modern society have to try to find meaning in their lives through commercial culture. we're all fucking drones shackled to the timetable of capitolism with our wristwatches, bending over backwards in the hopes of accumlulating financial wealth. wealth that means nothing anyway. we live a meaningless lifestyle in a hollow world, and the beast just looks to be getting stronger.

i think this resentment of consumerism has fuelled many a mans angst. american beauty is a direct criticism of living in a "perfect" world, and tyler durdens monologue half way through fight club succintly summarises the sentiments of many:

"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

bring on project mayhem, i say.