Consumerism Sickness

  I find the book “Culture Jam,” by Kalle Lasn very interesting. There is a lot of truths about our American culture in this book that everyone is aware of, but no one really cares about. I find myself laughing out loud at some points. For example, on page 18 the quote is, “If you look like a TV star, or a model, a desirable mate will be available to you; if you don’t, it won’t. Try telling me that living with that message your whole life hasn’t changed the way you feel about yourself.” I think the reason that I laughed at this is because it’s mean, but there’s a sense of truth behind it. You have the people in America that don’t care what they look like at all or what people say about them. Then you also have those people who need the latest fashions to feel like they fit in, and those are the people who care what the whole world thinks about them. You have to find a happy medium and be comfortable with yourself. When I read the first paragraph of Noise on page 13 I sensed a feeling of disbelief. It says as follows, “In 1996, the World Health Organization declared noise to be a significant health problem, one that causes psychological changes in sleep, blood pressure, and digestion. It’s now understood that noise doesn’t have to be loud to do damage.” After reading that quote I remember saying to myself, really?. I agree with Lasn with what he says on the bottom of page 9 and top of page 10. To shorten it up, Lasn basically says that writer, Jim Windolf’s point is that “Americans are turning into annoyingly self-absorbed hypochondriacs. Our pain is valid, and if we think we are sick, we are.” People will do anything to get attention. It just seems like in today’s society people make excuses, and will blame anything for their bad health habits. For instance, Supersize Me, a documentary about the world’s largest fast food corporation known as McDonald’s is blamed for the obesity epidemic spreading across America. It’s the people’s own fault for choosing McDonald’s to eat at. If you eat it like once a month then you are not going to get fat. On the other hand, if you have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, than you should expect to gain weight and not blame the restaurant itself. All it’s about is making the right choices. Some say that the media forces and influences people to eat at fast food places like McDonald’s. A quote from page 19 of the book that backs this up is, “Every day, an estimated 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials are dumped into North America’s collective unconscious.” I feel like commercials do influence our decisions, but you should know when enough is enough and tune out the commercials, or not watch as much TV. Netflix is another alternative to public television because there are no commercials. Also if the media is negatively affecting our culture, and they know it, then why don’t they do something about it? But they won’t do anything about it because the money is all they care about. Everyone desires money so they can buy all of the things that they want. We as Americans are said to be a consumer driven culture. We buy new things, we sell the old ones or throw them away. On page 11 of the book there is a quote that describes our culture. It says this, “ More than anything else, it is our meditated, consumption driven culture that’s making us sick. So it sounds like consumerism is to blame for everyone being crazy, or maybe it’s just us. On page 6 of the book there is a short passage that wraps this all up & this is what it says; “To “ecopsychologist” Theodore Rosak, our rampant, oblivious consumption at the expense of the planet is, simply, a sickness-- one no less harmful than the disorders catalogued in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV), the encyclopedia of modern psychiatric complaint.” This was interesting to me because I’m a psych major and I learned about the DSM in my psych class last year. Anyway I think this quote is saying that consumerism is a sickness, just like one that you would find in the DSM.

This link is very interesting. It deals with McDonalds.

http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Over-Consumption..._5434