There would not be a market for all the goods that are produced in an industrialized economy if consumers were content with the things they bought. Consumer desire must be constantly on the move. We must continually desire new things in order for consumption to keep pace with production...The shaving razor with one blade had to be surpassed by the double bladed razor, which was bested by three blades, then four, and now an absurd five blades on one razor. This is more than just a continuing attempt to make a product better; it is what the General Motors people called the organised creation of dissatisfaction" How can we be content with a mere two blades when the current standard is five? How can we be content with an ipod that downloads 200 songs when someone else has one that downloads a thousand? THe economy as it is currently structured would grind to a halt if we ever looked at our stuff and simply declared "It is enough, I am happy with what I have"
The truth is, however, that we do not tend to experience dissatisfaction as merely a negative. In consumer culture, dissatisfaction and satisfaction cease to be opposites, for pleasure is not so much in the possession of things as in their pursuit. There is a pleasure in the pursuit of novelty, and the pleasure resides not so much in having as in wanting. Once we have obtained an item, it brings desire to a temorary halt, and the item loses some of its appeal. Possession kills desire; familiarity breeds contempt. That is why shopping, not buying itself, is the heart of consumerism. The consumerist spirit is a restless spirit, typified by detachment, because desire must constantly be kept on the move.
Will Cavanaugh Being Consumed, 46-47
"So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and seperated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
Eph 4:17-19
Is that the way you came to know Christ? A rejection of this continual lust for more?
Do the people in your churches resemble the pagans or not?
What are your church leaders doing about it?
I cant count how many preachers I've heard say that consumerism is greedy idolatry, that shopping malls are the cathedral of our cultures Gods.
Well, you have a sledgehammer, go and bust the freakin thing up then!
Why do we allow people to prostitute themselves working in retail?
Or perhaps we are ok with a bit of synchretism in our churches, a bit of paganism never hurt the church did it?
I feel like the church has mostly remained silent and abandoned her people to sad lives of idolatry, as though challenging these really challenging these false gods ( in a real, tangible way) somehow compromises the gospel of grace.
Grove City College stay
1 hour ago
3 comments:
While I agree that many jobs in retail are superfluous contributors to the urge for more that destroys souls and ecosystems, I don't think the entire concept of a market (and so of vendors) is itself idolatrous. And so working in retail is not necessarily a compromise with paganism (though in many cases it may well be).
Advertising, however...
(Great post, btw)
Yeah, there has to be a market, or at least some system of trading things around.
I dont want to give the impression that retail workers are guilty, more that they are enslaved, unless their boss miraculously has some concept of the greater good which would refuse service, even limt consumption
I think of our time at the cafe though. We were a fairly ethically minded business. And coffee isn't a high priced desirable object.
But then it is a bit of a fetish. I heard of some research that said only the first one or two cups of coffee in your life give you increased energy or alertness, from then on your body is in a decreased state and the coffee just brings you back to normal. So what we love about coffee is depriving ourselves so that our desire is tickled and can be fulfilled. And then there is the upselling. Retail is based on giving people what they want, not what they need. It thrives on convincing people to buy what they didn't really want in the first place. All the senses are bombarded in order to create desire. This doesn't just happen with advertising, if a shop is profitable, it will probably be attempting to do this with the whole shopping experience.
As the owner of a shop, I found it incredibly difficult to stand up before the church and tell them to forego a Mars bar or coffee each day or week so that they could be generous to the poor. Or to get organised with their meal planning so they didn't spend so much eating out.
On the flipside it has made me more comfortable with the church asking people for money. Our little box pulled more than a quarter of a million dollars out of the community each year and gave them back....addictive brown water that makes them grumpy if they stop having it. How much better value is the Word of life?
Love your last line. How much better indeed!
As a non-coffee drinker, the whole thing is somewhat lost on me. I heard about the whole caffeine deficit thing early and have never been the slightest bit attracted as a result (also I actually don't like the smell, which may mark me as a cultural neanderthal, but may simply indicate that I've never become addicted...).
But I'm with you all the way on your main point: most of our purchases are unnecessary and indeed the majority of our economies are built on sand.
When I was talking about useful markets, I guess I really had in mind (real) food, essential services and the basics of life (books and so on...).
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