And when I say everything, I do mean everything. Mindless consumerism pollutes the world, causes divorce, creates massive economic instability, causes depression and anxiety, wastes resources, promotes corruption (both political and religious), famine, and even death. The list goes on and on and on.
Let me give you a quick and incredibly basic situation where one seemingly simple toy can cause so much devastation. Your child who continuously reminds you that he or she wants the new piece of plastic toy because they saw it on TV in an advertisement. That cheap piece of crap in made of plastic, which will take it about 1,000 year to biodegrade after your little pride and joy discards it a week after you paid for it. Somebody had to get that oil in order to make it into plastic. In order to do that they had to use more oil and machinery in parts of the world where a government had to be bribed and once natural lands and people are then displaced. That oil is then shipped to a processing plant (more resources used) where it is made into plastic by people who don't get paid shit doing work that they hate and once again creates pollution. Then it gets shipped to China (you know those people who taking our jobs). They are then employed in a sweat shop doing the exact same repetitive motions over and over again until somebody jumps out of a window and then the others finally get pissed. Instability ensues, the government comes in and throws some smoke bombs, yada yada yada, you watch the evening news, you feel bad for a second before Honey Boo Boo comes on. That piece of shit piece of plastic then gets encased inside more plastic and cardboard (which goes into our landfills) and gets put on a ship (more resources being used) and makes its way to the good old USA where an advertising company will prey on your child to buy something that they think they "need" and waste more of the money that you worked for, at a job you hate. You then go more into debt because you put it on a plastic credit card.
This credit card debt, along with boat debt, student loan debt, mortgage, and a lack of savings causes you and your spouse to get into fights. You stop having sex, he buys you some jewelry in order to get laid, the problem gets worse. On top of this, the poor bastards working retail at Macy's and Wal-Mart now have to leave their families on Thanksgiving night in order to go work, so that you can "save" money by going in early on Black Friday, sorry that's Thursday now.
Now it's easy to pick on your kid, but you're just as bad with your Starbuck's coffee and blood diamonds dripping off your neck, ears, and fingers. The process follows the same pattern as the one above, it's just more expensive this time. And let's be honest. Why did you want that in the first place? To show off to your superficial friends who gossip behind your back? Because "I work hard. I deserve it!". Men can be even worse. If you haven't reached middle age, it's coming, at which point you can go borrow $50k on a sports car, so that soulless women half your age will look your way. Maybe a big boat, that you will romantically dream about at night as an extension of your penis? "I'm going to go fishing every weekend!" sure you will...
So how do you stop this? Ironically it comes from the industrial world. In Japan a method of manufacturing was developed over decades, referred to as "lean". This philosophy essentially reduces waste in the manufacturing process. One of the first steps that they look at is how to do less and still maintain the integrity of the product (in this instance the product is your life). Example, don't put 5 bolts on a product when 4 will do. You save time, parts, and labor. Cut out the crap in your life from the start! Less is more!
The more you own, the more those things own you. Buying a TV now means that you have to get cable, which also means that you probably need Netflix and will also use more electricity. Then you will need to sit on your ass all day in order to watch this mind numbing entertainment. Sell the TV, cut the cord, cancel the subscription, and ride your fat ass to the library to check out a book. Your family will now not be bombarded with advertisements saying that they need to buy the latest thing in order to be happy. Stop the cycle from the start. I promise you, you will be happier!
What sparked all of this was when I walked into SAM's last week and saw the Christmas display that takes up an area larger than my house. It's not even Halloween people, WTF??? Like I said, consumerism destroys everything...even religion.
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