The biggest weapon against us

[Pogue]

The biggest weapon against the people, against our liberties and rights, is consumerism. The enemy is of course, the capitalists, the politicians in power, the bourgeoisie, those wielding power. But the weapon is consumerism.

Consumerism creates mindlessness and apathy. It's terrifiying to see. People rushing into the latest Primark to buy more slave labour produced clothes, when they already have wardrobes full of the stuff. Consumerism launches a multi-pronged attack - it erodes our wealth, accumulated by selling our time and labour to the rich, and it calms us, blinds us, it is, as Marx said of religion, the opium of the masses.

If someone is feeling down because of, say, work, they consume. If someone is bored, they consume. We all do it. I do it, certainly. We're driven by this obsession - we must have more, just a little, then we will have happiness, its mental. I know all the arguments against it - ethical, economical, environmental (the planet can't take our demands, our selfish 'wants') and all that jazz. I have read Fight Club, seen the movie countless times, I think its brilliant. Most influencial and inspirational text/media on me ever. I read Socialist stuff to do with how consumerism funds the system and ensures our squalor. But I still do it.

Others are not aware of the problems, for them theres no end to it, they keep doing it, without having a clue about the consequences.
The thing with consumerism is that it blinds us, it sedates us, it makes things not seem that bad. Alcohol is a great example - its a release, a different world, a world without certain restrictions imposed upon us by capitalism and society. We can act and speak in ways we wouldnt previously. It's fun. The same goes for most drugs. Video games. A release from life.

We're dying of comfort, as a slogan from May 68 goes. In 2003, in London, we saw 2 million odd people protest against the war in Iraq. A huge amount. Still only a small percentage of the country. This protest lasted all day. After that, nothing. Another, much smaller demonstration, months later. A few thousand turn up. Because it's not our homes being bombed, because we have comforts to return too, we can ignore the problems of society and the world. Becuase most people don't care. Because finding out which mindless idiot has been voted out of the Big Brother house is much more important. People might once, andthis is rare, but they might voice their disapproval of some policy or action. They might disapprove of Mugabe torturing innocents in Zimbawbwe. But they're just too busy to demonstrate, to join a protest group.

The enemy is capitalism. It forces these people to sell their lives for shit wages, so that they want to escape, they want to get drunk and play video games to drown their sorrows. The weapon is consumerism, and it's more dangerous than religion ever was. It's become so that the only way to have fun seemingly is to spend. This disgusts and upsets me, and hampers the efforts of comrades to bring about a better world, and it also leads to death and tyranny worldwide. Is there a way out? I'd like to think so. But it looks bleak.

[Dr Mindbender]

its something of a double edged sword. I feel what youre saying but until the revolution happens we need something to make us feel human rather than mindless labour robots.

Personally i have a soft spot for gadgets and games. Does that make me as bad as some idiot who rushes out to pay gross sums of money on new designer labels? I dont know.

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

*shrugs* I don't consumerism is really that damaging. Consumerism is by and large, a response to a society that is alienating and dehumanizing. When you live a life of "quiet desperation" of course you seek to anesthetize yourself. Some take drugs, others drink, some gamble, and almost everyone buys shit they don't need. Capitalism robs our lives of meaning so we fill it up with stuff. The more we build a worker's movement, the more that this problem will fade away. Though we shouldn't shy away from wanting cool stuff. Socialism/communism should provide more stuff to the average person than before. But we will not waste productive capacity on frivolous things. Capital spends a lot of time telling people to get random shit. Without an artificial demand industry, we won't have roller coaster consumer fads and we will have a lower general demand for consumer goods.

[Pogue]

Well mate, you care about important issues, because you're a socialist. You're conscious of racism, sexism, groups like the BNP, and you're (I assume) active in combating this. In communism, consumerism (within the fair boundaries, of course) is fine because we already have a fair society and there will be no exploitation involved in what you're buying.
And yes we need things to make us feel human - so lets talk and laugh and play sports and the like. Not buy the capitalist's shit.
Consumerism is bad when it becomes your crutch, all that you follow and blinds you from all that is important. It almost always does this - it weakens us all.

[Pogue]

I am focusing entirely on consumerism as a stumbling block on the way to combatting capitalism and fascism.

[Decolonize The Left]

I am focusing entirely on consumerism as a stumbling block on the way to combatting capitalism and fascism.

Consumerism is a telltale sign of nihilism. When one believes that nothing holds meaning, one attempts to fill this gaping hole with goods because goods are tangible, and other people tend to share the appreciation of their value.

But the most simple attack against consumerism is creativity. Do something creative - get outside. You'll find it's vastly more enjoyable and rewording than buying shit and it lasts much longer because you develop. Personally, I write poetry and songs. I also play guitar. Do I like video games? Oh yes, and I've played them for long periods of time in the past. But it was pointless. I gained nothing. But I learned from that and discovered that other creative things are far more exciting, and they make me feel way more human than my player decapitating zombies on a screen....

Think of it this way: when you don't need anything from them (the newest fashion, etc...), they become weak. Consumers are dependent - revolutionaries are independent and unified.

- August

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

Consumerism is a telltale sign of nihilism. When one believes that nothing holds meaning, one attempts to fill this gaping hole with goods because goods are tangible, and other people tend to share the appreciation of their value.

But the most simple attack against consumerism is creativity. Do something creative - get outside. You'll find it's vastly more enjoyable and rewording than buying shit and it lasts much longer because you develop. Personally, I write poetry and songs. I also play guitar. Do I like video games? Oh yes, and I've played them for long periods of time in the past. But it was pointless. I gained nothing. But I learned from that and discovered that other creative things are far more exciting, and they make me feel way more human than my player decapitating zombies on a screen....

Think of it this way: when you don't need anything from them (the newest fashion, etc...), they become weak. Consumers are dependent - revolutionaries are independent and unified.

- August

This strikes me as a bit off. In my book, playing video games for long stretches of time is definitely more fun than writing poetry. Its a matter of taste really.

The issue of consumerism is not how we remedy consumerism, but how we eliminate it's causes. As you said, its a symptom of nihilism. We can't self actualize under capitalism becuase we don't have control, so we buy things. It follows that resistance is our best chance at eliminating aimless consumerism. Building a community in resistance, will put consumerism in its grave.

[AGITprop]

I don't think consumerism is at all the problem.
It is a growing trend among pseudo-leftists to blame consumerism for all the world's problems, even to the point of say its our fault that global warming exists because we are addicted to consumption!

Its simply ridiculous. The problem always lies in the mode of production. Our habits of consumption are a product of the commodities that are sold on the market.

The bourgeois class floods the market with useless crap we do not need. Through the use of advertisement in the mass media, we are led to believe that we need every new gadget all the time, but in reality this isn't true. It creates a decadence in society, I will admit that, but I do not think that it will play a detrimental role in a revolutionary situation, when people already have trouble paying their bills or feeding their families. The latest iPOD will be the least of their worries.

[JimmyJazz]

I basically agree with the OP, although not in specifics. We are definitely a consumer society, as many non-radicals have observed. And the leftist critique of capitalism focuses on production, not consumption. I think a case can be made that capitalism is slightly preferable to socialism from the perspective of the consumer, or at the very least it's just as good as socialism, while from the perspective of the producer it is far worse. So I agree that the fact that we've become such a consumer society explains the lack of mass appeal the leftist critique has in Western societies these days. It also explains why the class struggle has taken on an international character: we've sent a lot of our production overseas, making up for a big trade deficit in goods by profit we draw from the fact that it is largely our (Western) capital that foreign labor is working on.

This essay (http://libcom.org/library/commodity-fetishism-fredy-perlman) does a pretty good job of explaining why free-market economics has more appeal in a consumer society than political economy does.

[Anarch_Mesa]

Its simply ridiculous. The problem always lies in the mode of production. Our habits of consumption are a product of the commodities that are sold on the market.

The bourgeois class floods the market with useless crap we do not need. Through the use of advertisement in the mass media, we are led to believe that we need every new gadget all the time, but in reality this isn't true. It creates a decadence in society, I will admit that, but I do not think that it will play a detrimental role in a revolutionary situation, when people already have trouble paying their bills or feeding their families. The latest iPOD will be the least of their worries.This is consumerism. Modes of production are there because of consumerism demands.

I will further venture off into the fact that consumerism is not the main problem as the above poster said Mass Media is along with propaganda and entertainment to blame for most of our problems, and of course bankers and top end companys help.

[Lynx]

The more I consume, the more I have to work for the bourgoisie. Yet in the United States, people are willing to have zero savings, carry tens of thousands of dollars of debt on credit cards and/or borrow against the equity in their homes. Ergo, they are willing to pay interest just to be able to consume NOW

[AGITprop]

This is consumerism. Modes of production are there because of consumerism demands.

That is actually not true. The idea that everything is determined by the consumer is a myth.

Where does the consumer get to put his input!?

Consumers only help manufacturers make decisions, AFTER the fact that the product has been made.

We do not choose what we want produced, we have new things forced down our throats everyday. Once again, they flood the market with useless commodities and make us believe that we need/want them. The fact that needs are met sometimes is purely secondary.

[Holden Caulfield]

i would say that it is 'comsumerism' and the society it breeds that in the new 'opiate of the masses' in developed countries,

even poor people can afford to buy a playstation or something similarm we are addicted to it like a drug it is bad for us yet it makes up feel happy so we spend spend spend and strengthen the system which opresses and controls us,

i think consumers en masse are a herd, look at what Starbucks can do, open too many shops build up a solid customer base then cut back how many properties it has, knowing that the custom will, for the most part, will stay with the chain

[hekmatista]

All animals consume to live, including us. We are (as far as we can tell) the only ones who, to some extent, create the conditions that allow us to do so. Noting that the prevailing system of production infantilizes us to the point of being (mostly) passive consumers is often a starting point for analyzing alienation. Sharing that insight with other people on the job and in the neighborhood can be a starting point for collective action. It becomes effective action when informed by historical materialism.

[Charles Xavier]

All societies, communist or otherwise have consumerism. Its this Pseudo-Left struggle against buying things, that is a big weapon used against us, while some of us are engaging in real mass struggle, trade union organizing, propagating for Progressive reforms and whatnot, theres another group which is telling us not to eat meat, don't buy good looking clothes, look like a bum and eat out of dumpsters. This ideological deviation must be defeated its a waste of resources to place ourselves in these petty-bourgeiois deviencies.

Buying things isn't right or left. Its just how commodity distribution takes place. The real struggle is for the working class who are the vast majority of the consumers not the Consumers.

[mikelepore]

I think the craving for material goods is a response to knowing that we can't afford the important and costly things. We cannot save for our children's education, or save for our old age, or pay off the mortgage, and if we need life-saving surgery we won't be able to pay for it, but we are able to allocate enough money to buy new clothes and electronic gadgets. So we get the unnecessary things that we are able to pay for. We know that the big things will still be out of reach whether we buy the toys or not, so we might as well buy the toys.

[MarxSchmarx]

The issue of consumerism is not how we remedy consumerism, but how we eliminate it's causes. As you said, its a symptom of nihilism. We can't self actualize under capitalism becuase we don't have control, so we buy things. It follows that resistance is our best chance at eliminating aimless consumerism. Building a community in resistance, will put consumerism in its grave.

Thank you, comrade, for this piece of positive advice. Yes consumerism is a problem, buy-nothing-heads-in-the-sand kinds are a problem, George Bush is a problem, etc... The question is what do we do about it. I disagree with GDII that going after this or that leftist tendency is the way forward.

What we need to do is provide alternatives to consumerism. JHG is right on the money, we need to return to people a sense of control over their lives. Protests and teach ins and letter writings - all these are a start, but unless they're followed up they backfire and make people feel even less control. This could start small, like organizing a tenant's union.

however, apart from the illusion of control that consumerism gives, it is also a question of instant gratification. Sadly, our aspirations take hard work. People need to be in the struggle for the long haul, not a few weekends much less a few years. I hate to keep coming back to this, but to minimize burn out we need to envision at least some of our activism to yield results the fastest. Even organizing a union takes time. Perhaps this is why FNB-type work is growing. Of course there are valid long-term projects, but our answer to the instant gratification and illusion of control provided by consumerism is to blend our activism for "big projects" like building the one big union or establishing true democracy with smaller scale stuff.

[ashaman1324]

im not sure how on topic this is
because i have very simple wants and only have a few things i really enjoy.
ive tried to grow my own... plants
and make my own toys and gadgets, this gives me something to occupy my time and a sense of satisfaction afterwards, if theyre not as well made as some made by capitalist giant it gives me something to do and a degree of independance from the market.
i suggest trying it, the more creative the more enjoyable ive found.

[trivas7]

ive tried to grow my own... plants
and make my own toys and gadgets, this gives me something to occupy my time and a sense of satisfaction afterwards, if theyre not as well made as some made by capitalist giant it gives me something to do and a degree of independance from the market.
i suggest trying it, the more creative the more enjoyable ive found.
Good for you. Enjoy! :thumbup1:

[chimx]

There is nothing wrong with consumerism. Commodity consumption is a natural part of societal interaction, and to relate it to Marx's take on religious superstructure is to very much misunderstand marx

[trivas7]

Many radical religious fundamentalists and secular conservatives agree with you entirely, Joe. It's not for nothing the USA has been called the 'Great Satan'.

[chegitz guevara]

As long as people go to bed with full bellies and can take warm showers before they go to work, they're going to be able to put up with pretty much everything else.