It has always struck me as one of the great ironies of
history, or perhaps a cosmic practical joke, that one of the most powerful
forces in the last 100 years is a company that sells sugared water – Coca
Cola. With a current market cap of about
$250 billion and an empire that spans the globe, Coke is indeed the real thing
if we are to believe that wealth and power are the real thing.
Living in Atlanta, one meets a lot of Coke employees. There is almost a cult-like loyalty that is
nurtured in the more senior executives.
Visiting the Coke museum is fascinating, as it somehow convinces one
that Coke truly has some kind of proud spiritual element, that it has changed
the world for the better.
Well, it has certainly changed it in one way – it has made
countless millions obese and diabetic!
We are a consuming world.
Materialism may sometimes get a bad rap in our folk songs and our church
services, but that is mostly a smokescreen of self-deceptive lip service. We love to consume. We baby boomers spent a few years rebelling
against it, but we quickly abandoned that affectation and went all in on
consumerism. Indeed, we consume far more
than our depression-era parents ever did and we no longer even pretend to
subscribe to any higher principles that might limit our consumption.
Consumption is the basis of our economy, right? More consuming means a healthier economy and
lots of jobs. It seems almost disloyal
or unpatriotic to avoid spending up to the very edge of our income. And it appears that many in our culture go
well beyond their income, as credit card debt and home equity loans climb to
staggering heights.
But we don’t need to do any deep contemplation or
rationalization about the topic, because we are brainwashed on a daily basis
and expertly manipulated and coaxed to each new purchase. Guess where the biggest two juggernauts of
the modern tech area get their revenue – advertising! Facebook and Google may offer social media
and search services, but their business is advertising. Constant, subliminal, creepily personalized
and relentless advertising. Every
service and technological marvel they offer is wrapped in an inescapable package
of ads.
And the other, even larger leviathan of our modern consumer economy is Amazon. Every wish fulfilled and to your doorstep in a day or two! Give us our daily Amazon delivery and allow us to fully indulge our sins, and lead us into every temptation, for thine is the power and the glory!
We bemoan the materialism of our world, or at least some of
us do, but the great majority of us keeps on buying. We find no substitute for the pleasure of
acquiring new toys or spending freely to seek out new experiences.
The life of an ascetic has a certain cerebral appeal. We know deep down that we would benefit in
many ways from a less acquisitive lifestyle.
But our friends and family are beckoning for us to join them at that
expensive restaurant or on that next trip.
And we do really look much more fashionable in that new outfit! How can we take up that new hobby unless we
invest in the appropriate accoutrement?
How can we stay fit without a health club membership and a few nice exercise
machines at home?
Let’s face it, we are indentured servants to our culture and
its mantra of ‘SPEND’. It will take more
than a few years of counterculture posturing to move the needle in any
significant way. But maybe the earth
itself will rein in our out-of-control consumerism? Perhaps it will demand immediate payment on
the debt we have run up in natural resources and pollution and insist that we
balance the ecological budget. Mother
Nature has been a very forgiving banker up to now, but we may have tested her
patience beyond its limits.
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