Consumerism and Community in America

We evolved from an agrarian society to an urban one due to the industrial revolution, and efficiencies of mass production. We had prosperity on an unprecedented scale after WWII, and we lived longer and in greater relative comfort as a result. With globalism and worldwide competition, on top of the inevitable economic cycles as well as mismanagement in government and capital sectors, we are taking a big hit right now. There may be no choice for most of us now but to scale back our consumer proclivities, and its just possible that our time on center stage is passing. There will be pain of adjustment, and perhaps for some there may be a movement back to extended family and smaller, more self-sustaining communities and lifestyles, but so long as both the world population as well as our own nation's population continues to rise, there will be pressures on governments to stoke the furnace of economic growth, and feed our consumerism tendencies. Once most have seen Paris, its hard to get them back on the farm.

#1 - E.D. Kain - Sir/Ma'am,  may I congratulate you for being #1 on this public forum, Newsvine!  By that I mean I congratulate YOU because you GET IT!  It seems so obvious to me now, that this is exactly what to do about the isolation so many people feel!  Talking, relating to each other face to face is how it has always been done in the past before the Internet, text messaging, TV, ecetera!

I'm beginning to picture small towns, built around a town square again, where the band concerts are played and the neighbors come to tap their toes and share a box lunch; or an interest once again in the fairgrounds of the past where the fruits of the people's labor i.e. fruit grown on our own trees, vegetables grown in our own Victory Gardens,  livestock raised on our own bit of land,  4-H projects and Boy Scout & Girl Scouts earning their patches for their projects they want to complete. 

Some great things have been lost in our rush to become big cities, haven't they?  Let's keep the conversations going about how to recapture the best of the past, and in the process I'll bet we'll rediscover the beauty of families being together, living around each other even when grown up, sharing each other's burdens and joys.  I was raised in just such a place in Wisconsin, and have never lost those small town values.  GG

ED,

I've read all of this twice now.  It's a lot to digest.  Consumerism, family, community, globalism.  Capitalism v. socialism.  Self-determination v. economic and cultural overwhelm.  I hardly know where to begin.  I'm intrigued by the conversation; but, I tend to work better when a goal exists and I'm not sure there is one here.

Balance, at the end of the day, is probably the key.  The elusive homeostasis.  Under-consumerism (which we are temporarily experiencing right now) has its own problems -- underemployment, recession, deflation, etc.  So, while we have probably gotten to where we are as a result of over-consumption, we must not think the pendulum at the other end of the 'swing' is necessarily better.

As with the conversations going on elsewhere on the Vine re: socialism/capitalism, I think the question is where we draw the line.  deBoer states government measures should be temporary and rare (or words to that effect) which is how I feel about it.  Other lefties (deBoer, too, claims to be one) on the Vine demand New Scandinavia for all, urging us to focus on "happiness indices." 

Your remarks about changes in community have been taken up by public and community planners around the country.  Live/work/shop communities are sprouting up like mushrooms.  Neighborhood planning that includes public/shared spaces are popular, too.  Unfortunately, and ironically, the new frugality will put the quietus on that effort for awhile.

So, those are my ramblings...

told we are worthless unless we are all CEO's, unless we are all driving the best cars and watching our nightly shows on the biggest, flattest , most colorful screens available

We are conditioned... "Rice a roni, the San Fransisco _____".
"I'd walk a mile for a _____"
"____, it's the real thing". I bet you knew the fill in the blank to at least one of these.
We are constantly conditioned by media, billboards, ads on the front page of the local the free paper. We're told by corporate marketing how to think, what to buy, how to live. Marketing is the very axis of all evil... or at least a heavy hitter. It's hard to find a space where there isn't a bumper sticker, or magazine or radio going marketing us into a life style we don't need, really didn't want and most certainly can't afford, financially or emotionally.

Worth is an attribute of our upbringing. My parents didn't teach me that CEO's were the top of the national org chart and to be envied or emulated. They didn't spend a minute explaining what I should be or emulate. They tried to instill a sense of ethic (right and wrong),

We are taught to emulate pop-stars and business executives rather than poets and heroes

Again, we are conditioned to think a way marketing people would have us. School taught me how to learn, how to study. Marketer condition us on the what.

We have lost our sense of community and locality

Not all of us have. Where I live, urban area near a large city we actually look down on the city and prefer our neighbors over a commute to downtown. Many of us still walk each night.

We ignore local politics in favor of the big, flashy national elections, even though in an ideal world, the election of our mayor or sheriff would have at least as much of a personal impact on our daily lives as the election of our next President.

Fortunately where I live local city politics is less of a hassle, we have a city manager, not a mayor

Money, we are told, and fame are surest ways to be successful

Told, but who listens to the people who are in it for a buck on telling us what to believe.

have to cut spending. Plain and simple. I have to set limits.

I have, my energy bills are 2/3rds less than last year. I fill my gas tank every third month. My neighbors work together to help on projects instead of blindly calling contractors to do the work. We have an active PTA, Boy Scouts and many community projects - which I often see my neighbor at.

The constant barrage of ads and materialist assaults on our sense of self say otherwise

Yup. I agree 100%.

We weren't asked to go give back to our country. No indeed, the best way to do this was to go spend our money at Sears and Best Buy.

Actually talking to my neighbors frequently, we discuss our community and where to buy things. We have a Sears, but prefer our mom and pop stores to keep local businesses alive, even having to pay a few dollars more to do it. We view our Sears as an outlet for Chinese goods. Been there lately, Craftsman Tools are all made over seas now. We prefer Dewalt, an American tool maker.

We no longer sit on our front porch for entertainment, hollering back and forth with the neighbors, or trading stories in our front lawns. Most people don't even have a front porch. We no longer walk to the corner market. Most people don't even have a corner market

Not in my neighborhood. People do sit on their porches, or steps or sit down for hours on their front grass and talk to people who are walking around. I personally know the owners of my local markets and make sure to buy my milk or locally made bread from them.

just think change should emerge in a grassroots, community-first way<

Yes, it scales better. Local can survive national crisis. Local is diverse. Local is fresh produce. Local is your neighbor.

I've lived on the northern east coast, the mid west, northern mid west, southwest, west coast and now live in the pacific northwest. I've seen community and big city. I prefer local and accountable.

My parents represented both sides of the equation you've discussed. On one side, grandfather was a president of a large national corporation. On the other side, a family of rural farmers, hunters and community leaders. I can see and understand both sides. I prefer rural heritage and community over mass marketing, conditioned behavior and a sense of values which I neither want or want to pay for. It's like a drug, why pay for something to make you feel something you are not?

We have become a nation without restraint, fed at the trough of greed and materialism, told we are worthless unless we are all CEO's, unless we are all driving the best cars and watching our nightly shows on the biggest, flattest , most colorful screens available.

Couldn't agree with you more.  I am an environmental consultant and I know I could make more money if I chose to work longer hours and travel more.  But I choose not to because I want to be successful as Ralph waldo Emerson defined it:

What is Success?

To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;

To leave the world a bit better, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;

To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded

Greetings Viners, let me get one thing straight here, ED and I do not generally set horses, if ever and due that "silly", bratty grudge holding reason {I am a 14 year only child, giggle}, I almost did not comment here but, due the absolute near-genius of the piece, I was compelled to.  I went back and forth on the Vine today looking for something else to catch my interest, p*ss me off or that drew to my personal humanitarian choice of reading and writing, to no avail.  Kinda magnetic, this one, and I don't expect anyone else to feel as I do and I don't care! 

There are so mighty fine writers and contributors here:  Mr. ED is certainly among those ranks.  (oh yeah, I'm sucking up - :)

And what makes this even more special is, it is plain simple fact, near-fact and truth and truth should prevail!  There were so many favorite lines TO ME in this i.e:  > snip:  We have become a nation without restraint, fed at the trough of greed and materialism, ……..and in a sense strive to transcend our humanity through artificial gains, through that promise of an American Dream which has grown ever shallower in the face of unbridled consumerism. ……..We ignore local politics in favor of …….What all of this leads to is a culture of easy promises which manifests into a population overwhelmed with high-interest debt, run-away levels of depression, and rampant materialism. We trade in tradition and values for the rat-race. ………Plain and simple. I have to set limits. …….Our culture says otherwise……We no longer sit on our front porch for entertainment, hollering back and forth with the neighbors, or trading stories in our front lawns.  ……That's real America--and it's an idea, not a geographic location, or the arbitrary colors red or blue on a map. ……..There is no easy way to escape a consumer-driven society. But it's about time conservatives started talking about it. <end snip

It is almost as if he were begging us on some level to return to that which worked!  To understand the simple concept that many times, less is indeed more, but not tramping on progress.  If you did not understand the construction of his words and the earnestness of which he put pen to paper, and take something, anything, one thing from this; then you are relegated to never ever see the forest for the trees.  In any reading, on whatever level we do read, we ought to bring something into ourselves from the author.  If you have failed to do that then you are guilty of non-caloric intellectual intake. 

And I approve my post, rest my case and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  And now ED our fights may continue.   :)  You don't get off that easy just because you impressed me - giggle as my profile says, I'm not easily impressed or intimidated but... Well Done. Thank you for enhancing my day.  And if plagarism were not illegal, it would be "borrowed"  (smile) but I have emailed it for discussion with my kids, grandkids and personal family/friend circle, in that they can see that much of what I preach to them might not be so out of touch in the long run.  cya!

Your right. People have become so immersed in the rush of daily life. Work more,have more,spend more. Everyone works now. No one is home anymore. Children have no one to go home to. Parents hang keys around their necks,and tell them to stay out of trouble. They spend their time home watching tv or playing video games. Drive through any neighborhood. How often do you see people out talking with their neighbors? How many children do you see out playing with each other? Times have changed,and maybe not for the better. When I was growing up everyone knew each other. Everyone watched each others kids. You couldn't do anything without your parents knowing.We were raised by the community. People now feel that If they buy their children the best of everything,sending them to expensive schools,and fancy cars makes up for the fact that these children would be just as happy if they had a loving parent at home who cared about them is all they really need. As the story goes no one has ever died wishing they had spent more time working.

Off topic, but is the icon you are currently using Hamilton?

My wife and I have talked about this also, We decided to move to a rural location, we make less money but we are so much more happier with less, we spend time talking, walking and doing things that are simpler and more fun, we go to the library, we sit on the proch and travel less.

Less is more when it comes to a better life.

Thanks for reminding us why we did this.

If you really stepped back and took a look at what many have become, it is a country of people with good intentions who were misguided by the common "goals" that had been thrust to them by the rest of the community. Where are the good days when you went to your neighbor and congradulated him on the new raise and the new car, instead of going to work 25+ overtime hours to get a better car.

We are now a nation of competitors instead of teammates going for the common good. No longer is it socially acceptable to be happy with what you have even as others progress "ahead" in terms of wealth and fake happiness. The American dream has been constued so far off the path from owing a path of land and making some money to fulfill you life to getting the be all and end all of your economic life, which can never be achieved so we are now a nation at war with each others wallets to see who can amass the most amount of goods, as this will somehow benefit each other because we will strive to suceed, as they say. But instead, we are pitted in a battlefield of currency and social standing.

Joe- A very good point. The people that control this rat race are the ones who can afford to send out the products and make the ads that bring people in. And in todays culture if you speak out, you automaticaly are deemed a radical, a hippie, or a hermit of some kind who was one of the few that didn't "suceed" in society.