Consumer Culture: The Frenzy of Black Friday
Unconscious influence of media frenzy, and the following glut of consumption… A familiar story for typical consumers today who already have so much and do not demonstrate either awareness or gratitude for these blessings. This thought-provoking post from Seth’s Blog rakes up the issue of unconscious consumption incited by media’s influence.
Black Friday, of course, is a con.
But it’s also a symptom of a terrible trap we’ve set for ourselves.
Consider the joy a little kid has the first time he spends his own money to buy an ice cream cone. This isn’t something he does every day, it’s not something he has to do, it’s not something he’s trying to get over with. Instead, the entire process unrolls in slow motion. It’s consumption, no doubt about it, the last step in a long industrial/agricultural/marketing system. But at least this last step is special beyond words.
Now, consider the mall. The mall, today.
For the three billion people on Earth who have never experienced air conditioning, window displays and the extraordinary safety and wealth that the mall represents, a trip to the mall is mindblowing. For the typical consumer, egged on by a media frenzy and harried by a completely invented agenda, today is nothing but a hassle.
All that time, all that money, all those emotions spent for not one good reason.
It’s more about what you didn’t get on sale, or how many more people you need to “cross off” or just how much shiny but useless stuff you can grab faster than the next person. A reversal of 100,000 years of not enough to a brief few decades of more, more, more.
Every person reading this today has access to more wealth than the last King of France did. An astounding array of choices, a bounty of available connections and emotions.
Don’t let someone else scam you into being unhappy.
