Is it a real problem or a meme by the left to hijack capitalism?
>>71624247
I'm for free market and conservative in a way, that I wouldn't change something, that has proven to work. Like many here.
I do consider consumerism a problem, people are obsessed with completely pointless shit, they lose the ability to discriminate between what is relevant and what isn't. "I'm gonna sit 2 days in front of that store to get that Apple trash first". This kind of people will not be able to give anything meaningful to society. They are only free, cause their parents passed on their freedom, they wouldnt be able to fight for it themselves. This is kinda worrying. It keeps people away from thinking about what actually matters.
>>71624613
You don't get to dictate what does and what doesn't matter to other people. I agree that those gooks dying in the snow while waiting for the new iPhone is ridiculous, but they are in their right to do so. These people do give meaningful things to society: they generate revenue for the companies they're buying from, they create news headlines for reporters and they keep the economy running.
>>71624247
Consumerism is what happens when the socialist gerrymanders the free market to eliminate entrepreneurship. That sort of "you didn't build that" model where you as a person are deemed incapable of production per a belief that only public institutions are capable of production whereas persons are merely consumers.
Out reality is formed by what we consume and our standards are that which dictates the quality of what we get, a healthy free market depends on wise buying choices which is an art by itself.
That's our power, without the ability to choose what we consume (as in the extreme from of communism) you also lose the ability to affect your reality, no buying power = no voice.
The left is trying to control certain tendencies but
>>71627246
...But they miss the point.
>>71625341
But that shit doesn't matter though they're not giving anything to society themselves. If you're saying that people are just suckers born with a dollar in their hand and that it's the corporation's job to take that dollar away from you while you do not create anything yourself, then what purpose do you have?
>>71624247
I interpreted this image as "I photoshop therefore I am" until noticing the subject field.
Consumerism is a problem or not depending on your personal feelings towards the modern world. I think most people on /pol/ would agree that worshiping brands and material items is degenerate, it destroys culture and the meaningful things in life, but what is the alternative? We've all grown accustomed to high and comfortable standards of living and consumer capitalism is the cause of this. Opposition to consumerism can only come from within, it shouldn't be forced on people.
I was at a party and some hipster fuck was playing his guitar. He was preaching about how consumerism was so fucking terrible but he was chainsmoking fags. He went through 2 whole packs at the party. I told him he was a hypocritical idiot
>>71624247
It's a meme by the left to discredit capitalism.
If people wanna buy dumb shit they don't need, who am I to stop them?
>>71624247
It's a real problem, but it's not a political as much as a social problem.
>>71624613
Consumerism is a key underpinning of Western power and dynamism. I'm going to channel Niall Ferguson here a bit but I don't think anything's wrong with it.
There are things that can GO WRONG with it, like loose consumer credit abused to fuel consumption with runaway debt.
We have to separate a culture that consumes at high rates from the popular conception of "consumerism" as some use it. Consumerism just means that the population, as a whole, consumes goods. Consumerism, at least its dictionary definition, means a society that promotes or protects the interests of consumers.
Consumption, in general, is good. It means cash flow within an economy, a healthy appetite for goods. To use Ferguson's example, the world's hunger for Western-produced textiles in the early Industrial Revolution fueled the rise of industrial economies in Europe and the westernization of the consuming colonies. This, to me, is a good thing.
Hunger for manufactured goods from the USA and Germany fueled the early 20th century economies of both nations. At this point in history, little of this consumption was fueled by consumer credit. It was people earning and saving to buy goods. It was a healthy cash flow- people getting the goods they want, businesses getting the profits they need to grow and employ more people fueling more consumption and hence more growth.
There's nothing inherently wrong with a culture that covets, produces, and consumes goods. The problem comes when it becomes an aspirational preoccupation and people spend well beyond their means in order to fulfill those aspirations.
Look at what happens to a modern industrial economy that has low consumption, like Japan in the mid 70's to mid 90's. There isn't enough domestic cash flow and central banks step in. Exports are pushed until the margins are razor thin or negative. It's a recipe for a disastrous bubble. Domestic consumption could have stabilized the system with "real" cash flow in the Japanese economy.
