Consumption Pressures

A long time ago, a friend sent me a link to "The story of stuff". After watching their presentation, it galvanized an idea that had been on my mind for quite some time that began with a bit in Fight Club (of all places). The idea is presented when Tyler Durden rants "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f*cking khakis." Later he also says "F*ck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may." Regardless of how you might feel about the rest of the movie, I think there's something to this.

Think about it this way; imagine for a moment the number of people in marketing. Picture everyone involved in the idea, writing and creating all the TV, radio and internet commercials and ads that you view (even unwittingly) every day. Think of them as an army, with the sole purpose of getting you to buy more stuff. Remember the fact that many of them study psychology in an effort to get you to bend to their will. Their big tactic is to make you feel like an incomplete person until you purchase whatever they're selling. This continues endlessly so that you will never feel complete. Ever.

That's the "offense." Now picture the defense. How many people do you know who try to convince you not to buy something? Add all those people together (I've only got a couple) and put yourself on the opposing side of all those marketers. Seems like no contest huh? Well, being aware of the problem is certainly a step in the right direction. I catch myself saying things like "If only, I had a surround sound system, I'd be all set" all the time.

But it's not true. You can be a complete person without surround sound or a 52" HDTV or the ladder back birch chair. That doesn't mean you shouldn't but those kinds of things, because the human need for entertainment and comfort shouldn't be discarded out of hand. But make sure you're buying them for the right reasons and not just because some smiling pretty face on the TV says you aren't a person until you do. Make sure you can afford it before you buy it, and don't feel bad about yourself if you can't. If it helps, take a moment to think about all the things you do have and all the people and intangibles in your life that do make you happy, because those are the things that will make us far more "complete" than that BMW.