While our multi-national corporations rape and exploit developing nations, our insanely over-funded death machine wages wholesale terror with a vengeance, our power-brokers on Wall Street man the bulwarks of predatory capitalism, our almost infinitely corrupt government protects and advances the interests of a cynical plutocracy, and the corporate media cover their collective asses, we US Americans disregard our consciences (which have been rendered virtually impotent by the inculcation of the notion of American Exceptionalism anyway) and pursue our “happiness” through serial retailing. What better way to inject a dose of instant nirvana into our lives without becoming another of the 300,000 non-violent drug offenders behind bars in the US?
Aside from its legality, shopping’s beauty lies in the ease with which one can attain the high it offers. We merely arm ourselves with a fistful of readily obtainable credit cards (remaining oblivious to the usurious interest to which we are obligating ourselves), jump in our SUVs that were actually designed to be used for public transit but somehow became modes of personal transportation, and head for the nearest leviathan, cookie-cutter retail establishment. (Who knew the stairway to heaven had only three steps?)
Once one arrives, there is a high probability of having a profound spiritual experience, like this for instance:
Entering the mall, you find yourself captivated by a kiosk peddling expensive sunglasses. One pair in particular demands your attention. Initiating a moment of narcissistic bliss, you casually don the shades and catch a glimpse of yourself in one of the many mirrors the vendor has generously provided. Smiling with self-satisfaction, you tell yourself you look “killer” in those $300.00 Dolce and Gabbanas. Madison Avenue’s indoctrination has convinced you that you deserve them and that you need them to show people who you are. So of course, you make them yours. You, my friend, have just been elevated to a higher plane of existence in retailing paradise.
On a really good shopping day, we find ourselves in the midst of an enchanted world where the line between reality and the American Dream becomes an indistinct blur. An upscale mall in suburban America is THE place to be on a weekend afternoon if you fancy yourself to be one of the “beautiful people”—white, at least comfortable financially, attractive, and thus amongst the only people who truly matter in this world.
Yet there is also plenty of room for the rest of us—those who refuse to relax our death grip on the losing lottery ticket that our magical thinking tells us is a guaranteed winner. Why do we refuse to let go of a pipe dream? Because we see ourselves as a nation brimming with Horatio Algers. “The good life” is just around the corner, if we just work hard enough. So potent is this pernicious lie, they will have to pry this metaphorical lottery ticket from our “cold, dead hands.”
Posturing, preening, styling, profiling, seeing, being seen, and best of all, exercising their patriotic duty to God, country, and retailer, the “beautiful people” set the trend for the rest of us. It’s hard to conceive of something more “inspiring” than the most spoiled and privileged human beings on the face of the planet filling their Hummers with bags emblazoned with the likes of Abercrombie, Neiman Marcus, the Limited, Nordstrom, and Saks so they can stay ahead of the fashion curve, play with the latest electronic toys, best the neighbors, and to have more contents to dampen the echoes reverberating throughout their relatively empty McMansion domiciles, which are large enough to house fifty people but often afford shelter to only a few.
Whether we are amongst the “blessed elite” of humanity or not, as US Americans it is our patriotic duty to shop. Shopping was our first “counter-terrorism measure” after 9/11, remember? Our very way of life depends upon our wallets and our willingness to open them.
If we falter in our sacred duty to over-indulge our desires at the expense of humanity and the Earth, dear reader, our world as we know it will be lost to the “Islamic hoards”, “Godless Communists”, and “Hispanic invaders.”
As long as greed, self-absorption, selfishness, and consumerism are so deeply woven into our sociocultural fabric, we who comprise the collective in the United States will exist as a living testament to Victor Hugo’s observation that, “Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.”
http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=124
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