Is consumerism capitalism’s modern day opiate of the masses?

Is consumerism capitalism’s modern day opiate of the masses?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtu.be/KVmBBtLGg2s
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

I don’t think so, I think it’s more the result of the profit motive and corporations constantly wanting to sell as much shit as possible. A better analogy for the opiate of the masses is pop culture.

Go be a cultural marxist somewhere else, commie.

The only problem is conspicuous consumption. And buying expensive things to signal your value. Even planned obsolescence isn't necessarily a problem.
As an example, my sister's place has the same AC it's had since the 60s. It never broke, it's not at all energy efficient, and is about as effective as someone blowing air through a straw.
Since it never broke he never replaced it with something that used a third the power and was 3 times as effective. Stuff breaking forces people to upgrade

...

Was her place her own or was she renting? If she was renting then the profit motive is arguably responsible for her AC not being replaced since the landlord clearly didn’t want to pay for it

>The only problem is...

so the idea that a human beings personal identity, values and morals, their culture, are literally marketed to them from an early agw, doesn't seem like a problem to you? it never bothers you that instead of getting advice, support, satisfaction, and all the things humans need they get as a consumer product instead of their family and community?

No social media is

She was renting yes.
But the old maxim goes. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Is there rent control where she lives? That explains it ifs o.

What does rent control have to do with it?

Some may call it shallow but consumerism gives our life meaning. We are defined by our products

>human beings personal identity, values and morals, their culture, are literally marketed to them from an early agw, doesn't seem like a problem to you?
I don't think that these are marketed towards to people per say. The identity values morals and culture are all taught socially.
Marketing may embrace these as a.kesms of signalling the target audience of a product but that doesn't mean they are the vector by which those values are spread. The idea that someone changed their opinion on gay marriage because of Chik Fil A is ridiculous

Actually no.

As a means of signalling

>be American
>literally get brainwashed into consuming
>be ok with this

So I guess nobody’s life had any meaning before capitalism then right?

I love how socialism is supposed to be liberating, but then tells me that I can't spend my free time doing whatever the fuck I want, if that means consumerism.

I like playing video-games all day, it makes me happy.
I couldn't give a fuck if left-wingers think it's "opium for the masses".

It’s an Americanism not a capitalist idea

>it never bothers you that instead of getting advice, support, satisfaction, and all the things humans need they get as a consumer product instead of their family and community?
I don't think that is the job of the products
I don't want relationship advice from Tide.
I don't want a washing machine to tell me that I can do it.
I don't know anyone who wants these things from products or gets these things from products. Except from Netflix (which is just another form of story telling) or chocolate for stress relief

>if you criticize degenerate consumerism, an offshoot of capitalism, then you’re a socialist

#woah

Correct.

IT’S ALL MOST HARVESTING SEASON

>I love how socialism is supposed to be liberating, but then tells me that I can't spend my free time doing whatever the fuck I want, if that means consumerism.

That’s not what they say, in fact there’s a saying that “communism is free time and nothing else”. Marx wrote extensively on how the greatest evil of capitalism was how it kept people too busy slaving away in factories to actually enjoy their lives. The criticism of consumerism is more about how it doesn’t allow people to choose for themselves, it systematically urges people to express themselves through consumption and shamed them if they choose a different path.

It was either that or our faith
But having a mustang is cooler than being Anglican

Ancient Greeks found meaning through the doctrine of self improvement and the exploration/exercising of human capacities.

This, the dialectic of enlightenment literally bitches about consumerism and how it turns art into a bunch of trash.

>implying /pol/ reads or has any actual understanding of their enemy’s ideology

Consumerism is more like caffeine. Consumerism is capitalism's motivation, its goal, its "libido".

People could easily afford to smoke weed in a commune like hippies, which I assume is your idea of a utopia, yet instead they continue to work to obtain more and more. Because consumerists gain more control over the economy they influence it more and consumerism is promoted in a positive feedback loop.

Any kind of spending can boost capitalism, consumerism is just the most conspicuous. As Keynes noted, when this breaks down it can be replaced by government spending to increase aggregate demand, assuming of course the reason for a recession is a panic and not fundamental reasons.

>Shill Adorno's views
>I'm no commie socialist I swear guys
Bet you listen to jazz you little pinkie shit

You're taking money from people at gun point and forcing them to spend it on bad investments.
youtu.be/KVmBBtLGg2s
If they were good investments private investors would be spending their money on it.

stop using words you dont understand pathetic american cripple