Consumerism, or what's important

Curtis first, to lure you in.

I've often felt myself to be a bit out of step with the world. Rarely playing on sports teams, or following pro teams. Not watching much TV. Thinking the recent spate of comic book and superhero movies are boring. Being the one in a group of photographers that is looking in the other direction.

But perhaps the biggest thing that sets me apart is that I haven't bought into the consumerism craze. I actively don't like shopping, even for something that I need or want. I don't like the price and quality comparisons, mainly because I don't much trust the data, and it's often presented so badly. The actual price itself typically isn't an issue, it's what that price buys, all along the supply chain.

I put off buying new stuff while the old is still working. Sometimes that goes maybe just a bit too far. Like the iron that leaked a little. No big deal till I got an electrical tingle. We got a new one and wondered why we put off getting a new one for so long.

Same with a car. We drove a Dodge Caravan even after we hated it, and had a new car picked out. Why? It worked, and put off spending a pile of money. Note, we had the money, that wasn't the issue. It was getting rid of something that was still functional for the purpose intended. Then we found out it was on the verge of total failure, and drove straight to the new dealership. We got a new one and wondered why we put off getting a new one for so long.

The most recent example is a barbecue. Once upon a time at a dinner dance we won some nice barbecue tools, and that encouraged us to update our barbecue to replace the old charcoal burner. We got this one, and as near as we can tell it has lasted us 20 years of regular service, much more in the last few years since the back yard renovations. It's showing it's age, and has become tricky to use what with hot spots and a failing igniter. It was due for a major cleaning at the very least. Probably some service work to clean and tune the burners so they had the proper flame, not the big orange flames. Maybe it was time to replace it, we thought.

We did some research, and were amazed at the choices available. Most of them are far larger than what we want so that helps narrow down the choices. It still took a bit of thinking to decide what we actually wanted to buy. So many choices, all so similar! There was lots of information available, almost too much.  In the end we landed on this one.

I seasoned the grill, and the first things on it yesterday were bison burgers. Yummy! We asked ourselves why we had stuck with the old one for so long.

 I think consumerism is a form of self-medicating. Some drink booze, some smoke or inject other drugs, some go shopping. We see it in the demands lately to 'open up the economy'. It's not like they can't already buy groceries and other essentials. No, they want to get their hair cut and nails done. They want to go back to the mall.

The ongoing virus issue has kept people home, mostly, and they say they're being driven crazy. They're bored. Come on. They have high speed internet, for crying out loud. With a bit digging, and with the exception of the very most recent works, they can watch nearly any movie or TV show ever made, read almost any book, play on-line versions of more games than I can imagine, take courses to learn damn near anything, talk to nearly anyone via high quality video chat, and yet they're bored. Stupid is what I call it, but that's just me. The people living through the Spanish Flue would think they had died and gone to heaven.

These bored people want their normal life back. You've heard it before, say it with me. Their normal life is working too much to buy cheap shit they don't need made by near slave labour in China. And they want it back.

This compulsion to go buy stuff baffles me. Canadians had their pants scared off by initial news of the virus, but now it's getting old. More and more they are starting to tell themselves, and maybe even believing, it's just the flu, everyone will get it, hardly anyone will die, the medical system is on top of it, so lets go shopping.

Somehow we got ourselves onto a treadmill where everyone has to run faster and faster just to make their (perceived) ends meet and not quite actually doing it. Meanwhile the rich just keep getting richer, and want the game to go on. They aren't on the treadmill belt, oh no, they're the ones pushing the buttons, sitting on the attached comfortable chair, nibbling snacks from a table the rest of us can't get at. In real life they are on one of their super-yachts enjoying life, plotting their next move to vacuum more money out of someone else's pockets.

Now, for a moment, the treadmill has abruptly and dramatically slowed down. Just like those treadmill fail videos, there are people scattered everywhere wondering how much they are bleeding, or if anything is actually broken, and if they can get up again.

Some of them won't. They died, either of the virus directly, or because of underlying conditions that couldn't or didn't get treated. Some of them are badly broken, in that they or their business will declare bankruptcy. Some will need aid, and whether that's a bandaid or a splint or CERB payments is pretty much a wash. Some fortunates will pick themselves up, brush off the dust and are ready to get back on the treadmill. Some are still on the treadmill, hanging on for dear life, because parts of the treadmill are going faster than ever. The supply of snacks to the rich table isn't quite as varied as it was and that's about the extent of the damage for them.

Some are standing back and watching the whole show with horror, unable to look away. It's a cliche that you can't look away from a train wreck in progress, and this is the biggest train wreck that has ever happened in our lifetime. (And, and, and, IT'S A CIRCUS TRAIN!!! (I digress.))

I've been hoping that people will take this time to think about what's actually important to them, and where the CSMICBSL falls on that priority list. Is that stuff really important compared to a supply chain that provides groceries that are safe to touch? It's a whole other blog to talk about the improvements in air quality when there isn't so much frantic vehicle driving happening.

Our way of life is built around the mistaken idea that growth is eternal. The ones in charge want to grow the economy, and measure their success by that yardstick, meaning the various stock market indexes. Except, the only things that grow eternally are cancers and viruses.

Agent Smith had it right, you know. "I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure."

Is that really what we want to go back to? Now, while the treadmill is mostly slowed down, we can tinker with it. Maybe we can support some people so they don't need to be on the treadmill doing low value work to support themselves, and we can find out who the Da Vinci of the computer era is. Maybe it's you.

Driftwood of the Day
Same piece of wood, different views.