Anti-Consumerism
You can read an interesting historical perspective of consumerism in U.S. society from Orion Magazine: “The Gospel of Consumption” — It was this […] concern that led Charles Kettering, director of General Motors Research, to write a 1929 magazine article called “Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied.” He wasn’t suggesting that manufacturers produce shoddy products. Along with many of his corporate cohorts, he was defining a strategic shift for American industry—from fulfilling basic human needs to creating new ones.
The article serves as a useful reminder, in case you needed one, that an important goal of contemporary business and advertising is to make you unhappy. It’s a long article, but it does a good job of describing how we got here.
Could you live with only 100 things? I’ve read about this hardcore movement before on simplicity blogs, but now Time magazine has posted an article about it, “How to Live with Just 100 Things.” The goal of the movement is to drastically minimize one’s possessions, but each practitioner tends to define “thing” differently, which I think is fine — the idea is to rethink one’s knee-jerk accumulation of “stuff,” not to obsessively adhere to a self-imposed rule.
I recently finished reading the American classic Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, which I found fascinating as much for its description of California before it was part of the United States as for its reference-worthy nautical details (I’m working on a nautical fantasy, “Dead Horse,” that may someday turn into a novel). Life as a sailor was a truly hard, minimalist experience. I wouldn’t want to live that way for any length of time. It’s important to keep in mind, when considering simplicity and anti-consumerist movements, that they aren’t condemning ownership and commerce. They’re condemning an ideology that urges people to believe that spending money and accumulating physical possessions beyond what is necessary to live a comfortable life will make them happy.
Nevertheless, reading this article made me question my ownership of about 10 to 20 unusual “things” that I don’t feel right about donating to Goodwill or Salvation Army but would be happy to sell via Craigslist. Perhaps I should take some time to photograph and list them. It’s easy to think, “oh, well, I’ve got plenty of room for this stuff.” And I do, even in a one-bedroom apartment. But that’s not the point. The point is, I don’t need it and I don’t love it, so why am I carrying it around?
drupagliassotti @ July 14, 2008