Material world

Yesterday I went to Powerbooks, bought Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (sp?). I'm one-third through the book. It's a good read. The author goes behind the scenes exposing the what really makes up that Big Mac and Fries meal. He writes of the psychological marketing tactics sleazily employed by the bigwigs in the industry, and how far they would go to protect their vested interests (read: money). Though I dont really like fastfood (I'm more of a home-cooked meal and natural, organic fare sort of eater), this book all the more solidifies my stance on avoiding those cheap, greasy, manufactured meals. I'll be quoting from the book once I get to the juicy parts.

Currently I find myself gravitating towards non-fiction reads on world cultures, especially about the brainwashing psychology behind consumerism.Up next on my list, Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. I guess I'm trying to gain a new perspective on the acquisitive culture imbibed by the targeted markets these days. I dont want to get sucked into the epidemic, but sadly I'm already struck with it. I'm kind of initiating a grassroots, back-to-the-land, naturalist movement as my prime philosophy in life right now. It's just sickening how we live in a world of commercialism and fakery.
Take retail therapy for example. The way I understand it, when something's gotten you down, the only way to medicate it would be to buy something to cheer you up. Materialism has reached its peak in this day and age, and I'm trying to find the reasons behind it. Being a victim of this mentality myself, I hope to eventually break free from this once I realize how this is all a psychological game played by sneaky executives who dictate and control their consumer pawns on what to be.

At a time like this, the fine line between commodity and luxury has definitely blurred. (I'm speaking at least in the case of middle-class households. With the rich, there has never been any line. For the moneyed, every luxury is a necessary commodity.)

How this behavior is manifest in a regular middle-class family.
Thinking about it, the people around me are victims of the same phenomenon.

When I buy shoes (my weakness), I realize that I'm not buying footwear for the purpose of not having bare feet. Rather when I buy shoes, I'm actually buying temporary happiness that comes with prettily clad feet. Just last summer I bought 4 pairs in a span of a month and a half. The square toed backless medium heeled mocha pump lined with a 4 petal sythetic leather applique pair of shoes that I got, I've only worn once, for less than 3 hours. What made me decide impulsively that I had to have that pair the minute I saw it? Because it was cute. Because I needed to fulfill my conquest in search of the perfect pair. Even if at the time of most recent purchase I thought I found it. This fascination will never rest easy as long as the shoe racks brim with pairs that scream out "buy me", and as long as I yeild to that urge. When I purchased my laptop, I was buying the feeling of really being immersed in the age of technology, grasping technology at my fingertips, which seemed so cool to me at that time. My parents would kill me for this, but the real reason I wanted this laptop so badly was that it has a white exterior and it matched the white colored theme of my room. I made it out to seem that the Compaq was waaay too heavy for me to lug around at school. Portability was the main issue, and at 7.5 lbs, it failed to meet that criteria. And I succeeded in fooling them to think that it was too much of a burden to carry given my frame.
I even went so far as to complain about shoulder aches because it was too heavy.
Do I feel remorse for my tactics? Not really. I find this laptop easy on my back at 2 kgs, and I love having the feeling of sporting a sleek, white gadget with wireless access. Plus, it goes well with the white tables and walls of my room. Next up on my list? A white 29" plasma tv, a white dvd player,...the list goes on. I will never reach a state of contentment. Its always more, more, more.

When my dad bought his latest car, he was buying the thrill of speeding 200km/hr with an engine capable of doing so, yet still being secure enough not to slide off the highway. Or what about the time he went on a sneaker/rubber shoe buying spree? He still had perfectly functional pairs of Nikes, Asics, and Adis, and had even stashed away his prized suede Sparcos. But he comes home one day with 2 new pairs of sneakers. One was spalding I think. The other I forgot. But so what? Did he really need anymore shoes? I think his footwear buying-binge sort of reflects his hoarding mentality. Its not that the stores would ever run out of sneakers...

As for my mother, I have reason to assume that she is the family veteran at retail therapy. Everytime she needs emotional consoling, she shops. Even if she's just bored, shopping is the answer. How often does she come home with bags of clothes? I think its at a weekly basis, on the average. She buys sandals and open-toed slip-ons at the rate of 2 pairs per month. Everytime she buys a new bag, she'd like to believe it's because she needs one, but she's just paying for the experience of hunting for new arm candy every 2 weeks or so, and the thrill she gets out of it. And yet she struggles to pay her credit card bills. I know its the time of the month when bills arrive when she gets crankier, bitchier, bossier and more difficult to deal with than she already is. That's when I especially maintain my distance lest I get in the path of her volcanic fury.

In this setting, we pay for the novelty of a new purchase, the thrill of aquisition. I guess shopping is a way to relieve one's boredom. At least in our case.

Normally I'm a sensible shopper, choosing to use my cash wisely with stuff that I only need. But there are times that I just have to have something. And this is exactly what I need to control. I am a product of this age of mass marketing coupled with cues from celebrities, stylists, fashion rags and society in general. Merchandise is displayed in shop windows to lure the consumer into impulse buying. Its not like I have no choice, because I can always take a step back and think about the effects of image marketing on my spending habits.

Sometimes I wish I could just give this all up and live in a farming/agricultural village in the south of France, Tuscany or Naples, or stay in a white stucco home in the Cyclades (mykonos, santorini, delos) with a walking distance of 500m to the sea. They do have a population shortage over there, dont they? Sort of just to get away from the chaos of modern industrialized society and be enveloped in earthy, old-world European charm....


ITS TIME TO BREAK FREE. Seriously.