Consumerism

My link today is actually going to be a link to the documentary that I just finished watching. It is the one mentioned below with my bottled water post. LINK . Oh and I also want to link a documentary that I watched the day before yesterday. LINK. I really encourage you to watch these. And while I am at it, I saw another documentary in London called The Age of Stupid. That's good too. It is about an hour and a half. Even though I am not talking about the privatization of water or the environment per say, in this post, I am talking about consumerism which is related, closely, duh. I think these documentaries (except the Walmart one) are the best examples of why consumerism is "bad." Of course, if your anti-consumerist in America, that makes you a communist. Yea, idiotic. My point is, I can not write a post about how all consumerism is bad and how everyone who every buys anything is going to hell. That's silly.

I can hate capitalism and consumerism but that doesn't make me any less of a capitalist or a consumer. I live in a society where it is impossible to be anything else. I have watched three documentaries in the last 2 weeks that were environmental and also economical. And I say they were economical because they all tackled the issue of consumerism. The reason why we are having climate change is because people know how to consumer and not conserve. And this has been placed on western societies by companies and advertisements and oh...selfishness and prejudice and the inability to think. All of that good stuff. I am a victim of it! You will not here me say that I don't go shopping or I don't get warped into this idea that the more I have the better. We are told this everyday! Its a very difficult task to fight it but I am committed to doing so.

Even if we weren't talking about depleted the worlds resources for the smallest percent of the world population, what were also talking about is the exploitation of people. We are told to consume, consume, consume. It fucks us and it fucks other people. But yet, we continue to participate in it. Every economic system looks great in theory, I know that. I am not saying that capitalism shouldn't exist. What I am saying is that there are serious problems with it. Capitalism cannot exist without a loser and a winner. Capitalism also cant exist without rampant consumerism. It's just how it works. So, I actually will talk about the badness of consumerism in all three documentaries (that I have linked above and that you should watch).

The documentary about Walmart (Which owns Asda, so yes, your contributing) and their evils. Aside from how their employees. Actually, I think its interesting that the doc didnt even get into that, but anyways. To make it plain and simple. Walmart clears out small businesses in towns, puts up its superstore and makes suppliers compete with costs from the East. Whats REALLY ironic is that there are people that lose their jobs because of Walmart and end up havign to work an shop at Walmart because their arent any other options. Prime example, you work at a company that makes tvs. Walmart comes in. You want to supply Walmart with tvs, Walmart wants to buy them for the same price that they are buying them from China, you cant afford it, you go out of business, their isnt anywhere to work, you now work at Walmart. Now, aint that bout a bitch. And what reaalllllllyyyyyy kills me is that Walmart screams America while they wipe out American businesses and put their money in China, who America has a large ass debt too. I remember learning a year ago or so that the Chrysler building in New York is owned by China. LOL. That shit is too funny. I have to check on that to make sure it is true.

Then we have flow. That talks about the privatization of water. I wont go into too much detail about this because I think you should watch it. I will say...how in the hell does anyone own water? Water is a natural resource that people will die without. What really gets me, is that these companies will plop down on land, take the water for free, bottle it and then sell it back to the people in which the water really belongs to. And people just buy that water up like Jesus handed it down himself.

This is why consumerism is bad. Because people don't think. People don't believe in being smart consumerists. And I dare say that if you really want to argue consumerism, being a smart one doesn't exist. I can decide never to drink Dasani because its bottled water and it steals water but as soon as I pick up a Coke or a Sprite or High C Orange, I am paying Coca Cola to make fucking Dasani. You cant be a 100% smart consumer. But a little bit helps. Supply and demand. Stop using something, less will be made, price will go up, hopefully less people buy it and so on and so fourth. But consumerism exploits people. The countries where water is being privatized are brown. Yes, their stealing water from America but they are PRIVATIZING water in fucking Ghana, Thailand, Ecuador, seriously. This is too fucking much for me. Next thing you know, somebody gonna ration out the sun for a unreasonable price.

I feel like I am all over the place here. But it makes me so angry. We are ruining the world in so many ways. So many ways. If we continue to consume, we will speed up climate change and run out of resources, but I guess its good getting a start on privatizing water, because then the people who have money will buy it and those that don't, wont. And then that will solve the problem of who gets the rest of the resources. And apparently, it will solve the problem of non-white third world countries by wiping them out.

Oh heres another LINK. It's about consumerism and its effects.

I love this statement.
"I can imagine it, therefore I want it. I want it, therefore I should have it. Because I should have it, I need it. Because I need it, I deserve it. Because I deserve it, I will do anything necessary to get it."

This is how people think. And the last part is the one that really fucks everybody over. It doesn't matter who you exploit, whose resources you take away, what you do to the environment, you need that new purse or that new toy or that new whatever, that was made in China for 2 cents a fucking hour, that Americans lose jobs over, that workers in China cant demand better wages for, that isn't biodegradable and that you wont have longer than a month. Seriously. It's crazy.

Okay, this is disorganized and long. But I don't care. This is a uk org about consumerism. http://www.enough.org.uk/

I need to figure out, everyday, something I can consume less of. I don't think anyone can be perfect and I don't think all consumerism is bad. Buying a shirt because you like it and want a new shirt is fine. Buying 10 new shirts, everyday, because you feel pressured to be like everyone else in a culture in which everyone is like everybody else, is problematic. My problems with crazy consumerism is more than the environment and more than the economy, (and lets not forget the people it exploits) its also about people. I think today, more people get their self worth from the things that they own than who they really are. And that's why consumerism is perfect. Tell people they need more so they can be perfect, when perfect isn't achievable, so then they'll never stop buying. Crazy.