According to Porritt, the most senior adviser to the government on sustainability, we have become a generation of shopaholics. We are bombarded by advertising from every medium which persuades us that the more we consume, the better our lives will be. Shopping is equated with fun, fulfilment and self-identity. It is also, Porritt warns, killing the planet. He argues, in an interview with The Observer, that merely switching to 'ethical' shopping is not enough. We must shop less.
From pictures of Coleen McLoughlin weighed down with designer bags to branding endorsements by the likes of David Beckham, the image of consumerism as a universal aspiration is ubiquitous. Last week 3,000 people stormed Primark's new flagship store on London's Oxford Street before the official opening time, putting two staff in hospital and earning the description by BBC2's Newsnight of 'a plague of locusts'. There are, however, a growing number of dissenting voices such as the so-called 'Froogles', individuals who use the internet to seek a simpler lifestyle, and organisations and websites which urge people to kick the retail habit.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2052490,00.html
Note: http://observer.guardia...
Stop Shopping...Or The Planet Will Go Pop
Posted on Sunday, April 08 at 14:37 by 4CanadaContributed By
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doing errands, picking up the things we need etc and instead became
shoppers? Personally I do not enjoy shopping. I have been on such outtings
and can only say they leave me drained, they are too noisy, too much activity
for little reward. When I need something I phone ahead and find out where it
is and then I go get it. I especially don't like the malls, they are killers on the
back, the thing I need is usually in the middle of the mall and this forces me
to walk past a million things I don't need but may begin to believe I do.
My sister and I have created a new policy. If we buy something new we have
to get rid of two or three other things. This forces one to consider their
purchases in a different way. Do I really need another black shirt when I have
three at home? Well this one is just slightly different etc etc so goes the
argument. I figured out that so many gadjets are just that...I bought a rice
maker on the advice of someone else, I inherited another...both turn the layer
on the bottom into a hard overcooked layer...I already have a pot which I can
cook rice and a million other things, so what's the sense of this one item
which can only do one thing and doesn't even do that very well? If you check
out your kitchen alone I'll bet you find similar things that are usually a neat
little thing which turns out to be a waste of money.
This article really speaks to the new world we live in, we are producers and
consumers and that is the end of our purpose for the greater profit margins.
None of the new things gives me more time with my family, or gives my spirit
a sense of joy...digging in the dirt with my hands does...no instructions, no
rules, no purchase involved. Unless of course I buy into the new gardening
tool, which will provide a safe distance between me and the dirt I love!
Interesting...
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"aaaah and the whisper of thousands of tiny voices became a mighty deafening roar and they called it 'freedom'!"' Canadians Acting Humanely at home & everywhere
The marketplace is a facinating feild trip!
Whoever named then "goods" had their thinking cap on.
It has the smell of a Bernaise or Ivy Lee advertising
plays a crucial role in the mix telling us whats hot and what we must have
and having is a high! For some it boarders on erotic!
Do the pant make my ass look big?
No your a.......
Jenny Craig
Birks
Jordons
but buy
Ol' Geo. Bush recommended it, Didn'y he?
Its a Throw a way world friends,
I like the monolpoly money we sweat our nether partod of for though. Nice touch!
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"And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan."
* George Bu
The Jones' have a new car, a 450 channel tv, 2 iPods, and are flying to Disneyworld in Florida in July for little Britney's 16th birthday. Tod got a brand new hiphop mobile for graduation, and drives it all the time deafening both his ears and those of anyone within 2 km.
They also make sure that the kids have all the latest fashions and are never without the newest gotta have toys.
Hooray for consumerism and planned obsolescence.
Without an empty shrivelled up ego to feed, all these non-essentials would remain on the shelves and soon be discontinued.
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The two most common things in the universe are apparently Hydrogen and stupidity.
<br />
<br />
Some after ego came advertising to manipulate ego. What we own was defined as status and status was made affordable by credit.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://epsl.asu.edu/ceru/Documents/cace-00-01.htm">http://epsl.asu.edu/ceru/Documents/cace-00-01.htm</a><br />
<p>---<br>"And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan."<br />
<br />
* George Bu
<br />
Bernays added: "It is impossible to overestimate the importance of engineering consent....(it's) the very essence of the democratic process." <br />
He explained further in revealing detail the way things are done now by today's master mind-manipulators: <br />
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in a democratic society. <br />
Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of the country. <br />
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. <br />
This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.<br />
It amounts to thought control by the Corporate Media in a so-called democracy. Engineering consent is the essence of its corruption. <br />
DELIBERATE CONTROL OF THE MASSES <br />
Our primary usefulness to those in power is to buy products, pay taxes, vote for specific candidates and send our young into service. <br />
For most everything else, they want us docile and complacent. In order for us to do this however, there must be motivation, otherwise why would we want to do someone else's bidding? <br />
<br />
please read at the site <p>---<br>"And God said: 'Let there be Satan, so people don't blame everything on me. And let there be lawyers, so people don't blame everything on Satan."<br />
<br />
* George Bu
When we were living in England between 1948 and 55 we had no garbage.
Now, our little community of perhaps 300 people has incredible amounts of garbage and although our shopping is very limited, I have to take 2-3 pickup loads to the dump every year. Which is an absolute minimum per person in these days.
But the problem is not "consumerism", but " economic ideology" causing consumerism, using fraudulent accounting to mislead people into a false sense of euphoria.
I wish these writers would start looking for the causes and not yammering over the effects constantly
Ed Deak.