The Real Trap of Consumerism

with every passing moment a chance to buy something is at your fingertips

that new pair of pants you just saw on Instagram

the latest gaming PC that your favorite streamer uses or the newest line of

Teslas to make you feel like you're saving the planet all bombard

you with visions of what you could be in the Imperial core

buying things has become

the stuff of life

to feel good you shop

if you're bored you browse things to buy if you want to be ethical

you don't stop buying

you just need to find the right brand to buy from seemingly

our whole lives are wrapped up in the Vicious Cycle of working

all day and then spending

all of our money to fill the void in our lives

consumerism is a problem that runs rampant

in imperialist countries like the United States

it's right up in our faces at every

moment it can be easy to see this conspicuous

spending and claim that overc consumption

is the source of many of our environmental

problems consumers are after all

the ones making the choices

at the checkout counter

they're the ones voting

with their dollars but today we're going to dive into this mistaken

World viiew consumerism is not the property

it's a trap it's a symptom of much larger and more Insidious

problem of capitalism that lurks

in the shadows today we look at the real problem with consumerism

and how we really combat

the outof control waste and accumulation

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me spend enough time on the internet and you're bound to buy something

how could you not when Amazon offers free shipping and an option to click

just one button to speed you through the checkout

process or when the new Online Marketplace

Teemu offers rock bottom prices

for basically any good you could ever want

consumerism in the US has risen precipitous

ly with total retail sales more than doubling

since 2013 indeed the percentage of households

with two or more cars

has increased dramatically from 22%

in 1960 to 59%

in 2020 while the average home size expanded by

149% from 1,595 Ft to

2383 ft in 2022

and when families run out of space to put all their stuff

they've turned to storage units

in the United States an estimated

14.6 million households rent additional

storage to keep all of their additional

stuff this generates the Self Storage

industry $29 billion in Revenue

every year and all this growth hasn't been to accommodate larger families

because the average family size has actually decreased

by 16% from 1980

and this expansion of consumption

has had disastrous effects

on the environment despite being home to just 5%

of the world's population

the United States 15.7%

of the world's total fossil fuel energy

in the United States between 30 to 40%

of food gets wasted through a combination of on-farm

loss Transportation store overstocking

and lack of atome planning

the average American emits

14.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide

equivalent every year which is more than triple

that of the global average

of 4.7 yet despite

unprecedented consumption rates and a glove

of almost every Gadget and Appliance

imaginable flooding the market people in the United States aren't that happy according to

the General Social Survey

only 25% of Americans

are satisfied with their life a percentage that's slowly declined

since the 1970s and plummeted

during the pandemic in part this is due to the vast inequalities

that cleav the United States

as some fill up their oversized

homes and storage units with stuff

many struggle to survive

over 42 2 million people rely on food stamps to put food on the

table while More Than 650,000

People experience homelessness across

the country as the famous quote from Economist William Gibson

goes the future is already

here it's just not evenly

distributed even for those who do enjoy

excessive and conspicuous consumption

of the newest Tesla

or Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro

more consumption and more income

don't NE necessarily lead to more happiness

a phenomenon that has been deemed

the easterland Paradox a concept that claims that after basic needs are met

economic growth and higher incomes

don't necessarily lead to Greater happiness

with all this in mind it's clear that the capitalist

Hub of the world is on a dangerous

path a path that is not only leaving us overworked

in debt and unhappy

but is also driving us headlong

into a ruinous Collision

Point paraphrasing scholar Timothy Jackson

Diana Stewart and fellow re archers write in a paper that considering

the biophysical limitations of the earth

extreme resource and material consumption

on a finite Planet

means it is not a matter of if the economy will contract

but when in short the Imperial

core is consuming far more than is sustainable

for human well-being and the plant but is consumerism

really the problem are the consumption

habits of the masses

really the driving force

between our environmental and social ALS

these are are the crucial questions

ones that hand us the keys to what KL Marx calls

the hidden Abode of

production behind every dollar spent on that butter melter you saw on Tik Tok

or that automatic pot stir you saw on Instagram

lies a corporation a company eager to offload its product into your hands to

generate profit the core engine of capitalism

is its constant demand for capital accumulation

capitalists must incessantly expand

their productive capacities through new Technologies

and decreasing labor costs to create the most commodities

for the lowest prices

if they fail to do so they get eaten alive by other more capable

owners who've managed to create more products

at cheaper prices this process of constant

accumulation and expansion creates

over production production that generates

piles of Commodities that must be sold to the masses

to continue the cycle of capital accumulation

because exchanging products for even more money is essential to complete the last leg

of the money invested into Commodities

and sold for even more money cycle

also known as MCM

in a sense consumption

is a release valve

of production it expands

and contracts but never creates

the flow of goods

as scholar Alan schneberg

notes consumption cannot be the leading factor in the expansion of production

increased consumption May permit expanded

production but it does not generally

cause it unrestrained capitalist

production then is the root cause of what we see

as the alses of consumerism

according to the average person living in the capitalist stronghold of the United States

and indeed most economists

however corporations are merely

responding to Consumer demand

this is a skewed

view of reality the true culprits

of all the stuff in our houses

and our landfills and in our atmosphere

is over production companies

like Best Buy for example

Supply a false Freedom

when you walk into their store the range of Brands and products on their

shelves might make you feel like you freedom of choice

but in reality you are only served

cameras laptops or phones that generate

profit or allow corporations

to stay competitive factors that are often determined

much more by labor costs raw materials

and transportation Logistics than consumer demand

in the housing market for example

most people want affordable

comfortable living spaces yet the buildings

developers construct are often

luxury condos or TurnKey

Mansions dwellings that are unaffordable

for the majority but break in extensive

profit for real estate companies

so capitalists produce Goods based on factors

outside of the realm of consumerism

that being said they still need people to buy their stuff

to complete that cycle of money commodity

more money capitalists must sell their products on the market to the masses

regardless of whether their products

have actual use or not so instead of focusing on producing

things that are actually useful

and necessary capitalism has built a massive

apparatus that Manu manufacturers

false needs and desires

here lies the true trap of consumerism

to assure the continued

success of their businesses

capitalist manufacture desires and needs

we believe that it is wholly

inherent wants needs and desires

that are driving our consumption

that it is human nature

when in fact corporate forces

are constantly whispering in our ear

consume consume consume in 1919

hry Ford and his fellow capitalists

were scared a rising insurgence

of anarchist and socialist movements

seized the hearts and minds of Americans

across the country labor strikes walkouts and protests

seeking a better workplace

threaten to disrupt The Profit making machines

of Ford's car making factories

then Ford had an idea a double-edged sword wielded

against the worker to maintain

the status quo Ford

and his fellow industry leaders

as onean paper describes

decided to reduce the chances of a worker

reion by giving workers

increased wages Bank credit and more Leisure Time all for the purpose of encouraging

increased rates of consumption

as we've already seen

producers required the endless

consumption of their Commodities

to stay competitive and profitable

within a capitalist market system

capitalist must keep consumers on an endless treadmill

of consumption to reap maximum

profit and continue accumulating

Capital this leads to the real trap of consumerism

the manufacturing of what Marxist scholar Herbert maruse

deemed false needs to offload

all the useless gadgets

new iterations of the same Tech and just general junk onto the masses

capitalists have to make us believe that we actually need the latest iPhone

or the Slap Chop or that latest Tik Tok Trend

rather than just want it this is where the vast apparatus

of advertising comes into play with ads like this

sadly he isn't meat but if he stopped using lady scented body wash and

switched to Old Spice he could smell like he's meat

and this making New

Traditions going going sharing old

stories that's my recipe

for magic companies assign

emotional value and meaning to objects whose actual value stems from the labor and

raw material costs needed to make that product

this process not only obscures

exploitative practices employed during production

but also allows companies to set higher prices

because the commodity is now imbued

with certain politics and values

Tesla has been extremely

effective at this task its brand imbus

its cars with ideal of luxury

clean and sustainable futurism

these values in turn mask the exploitative

practices throughout Tesla's supply chain fellow YouTuber yabn

cheeky describes this process of value formation

through the example of a chocolate bar advertisers

consciously understand that purchasing

patterns directly correlate to personal

values therefore the chocolate bar

becomes a locally grown eco-friendly

soy infused chocolate bar with a hipster biodegradable

wrapper and from whose every purchase 2 cents go to starving

Sri Lankan children now what's the actual difference between

this world saving chocolate bar

and just a chocolate bar

almost none made in the same Factory with the same ingredients

and for the same profit motive in short the advertising

industry Works tirelessly to wrap products in values like happiness

power connection or sustainability

because they know it's much easier to sell a product to someone based on

appeals to their principles

rather than just describing

the utility of the commodity

this value generation apparatus

otherwise known as the advertising

industry has become an essential

lever in the capitalist

machine advertising Revenue has nearly doubled

since 2012 with spending on digital display advertising

in just the us alone

reaching $ 63.5 billion

in 2022 but in the age of social

media it's not just advertisements

directly from companies that are pushing us to buy to boost our happiness

or save the planet

your favorite streamer or Instagram star is constantly

influencing you to buy stuff

regardless of whether they're paid to or not even I support myself through ad

Revenue which I'll get to later on in the video this has disastrous

consequences for our mental health as we constantly

strive to fulfill those false needs generated

for us especially as corporations

wield algorithms and data collection to hone in on what product will best seduce

you into buying in essence

every day a social media advertisement

is placed in front of you with a product that you never even thought

about buying but because of Data Tracking and algorithmic

decisions that product now Wiggles

its way into your head like an earworm

and you can't stop thinking about how your life would be better

with those slippers or that new watch

as a result the good life becomes synonymous

with consuming things happiness is equated

with having products even streaming

services keep you hooked and numb with features

like the autoplay button

it allows you to constantly

consume content and search for that next dopamine

hit giving you a short-term

high but in the process we stay up way too late which leaves us

tired and burnt out in fact in 2017

Netflix's CEO very bluntly

claimed that their biggest

competitor was sleep all of this advertising

leads us to believe that the current system

we live in actually

benefits us that keeping up with the Joneses

going deep into debt to buy a new car or going on a shopping

spree is the answer to our loneliness

alienation and disconnection from the people and places

around us as Diana Stewart

and her co-author right the ruling

class benefiting from the labor of others

perpetuates ideas that mystify

elude and deceive workers into falsely

believing that they benefit from the current system can move up in the system

and have freedom in the system as as well as that no other system

is possible this is especially

Insidious in the realm of politics

many of us have become so distant from the cogs of capitalist

production and so entrenched

in this advertising ideology

that often political activism

has been boiled down to voting with your dollars

this narrative is exactly

what the fossil fuel industry

has been hard at work creating

for over 40 years through its popularization

of carbon Footprints Recycling

and individualization of action

when we as worker consumers

are plated into believing that the most effective

means of change is to transfer

our money from one capitalist

to another the owners

of production have won

they've distracted us from what's actually a threat to them Collective organizing

labor agitation Union power walkouts

and Strikes activities that directly disrupt

the cycle of capital

accumulation as scholar Douglas Kelner writes

capitalists wield image and spectacle

to manipulate people into social Conformity

and into behaving in ways

functional for the reproduction

of capitalism in essence

consuming not only perpetuates

the endless cycle of production

and capital accumulation but it also pacifies

the masses by narrowing

the possibilities of a good life to the purchasing

having and watching of more

stuff so if we know the root causes

of consumerism how then do we escape

it we already have have the means and capacity

to fulfill everyone's basic needs

worldwide let that sink in we already produce enough food to feed everyone

globally but we're wasting

nearly a third of it we already have the technology

to create renewable energy for everyone on the planet

but we're nowhere near that level

we can build a world where everyone lives a good meaningful

and environmentally ethical life but that world

will mean an end to shopping

at timu or Shen

it means no Amazon

oneclick purchases it means

an end to incessant

advertising and here is where I struggle

I am complicit in that manufacturing

of consumer desire my channel is run on the manufacturing

of false needs my livelihood

is based on getting you to become a nebula member or signing up for

ground news does it make it better if I actually like those services

and use them or that nebula is adree and based on membership

Revenue I tell myself

yes because I live under this massive apparatus that is capitalism

but that doesn't feel

good to me perhaps I could end YouTube ads if there was more patreon

support but at this moment it's not financially feasible

at the end of the day I have no good answer to how to

live under capitalism while also struggling

against it in a sense

this is capitalism at work it insidiously

corrupts the very messages

of those working to dismantle

it blaming those who must live within it for living

within it but even if I did cancel all ads

my action would only be like spooning a small drop of water out of

a vast ocean this is why we need more than just individual

vote with your money approaches

ideally a mass Revolution

would upend our current capitalist

system and the adoption of full worker

control of all companies and production would take root

Democratic planning through worker

consumer and Community councils

would mean an emphasis

on producing for actual planetary

and personal needs rather than manufacturing

false needs for profit

of course this kind of worker-led

socialist economy could be a ways off in the future we will need to

build mass power globally

if we are to see it come to fruition

this is why we need to employ non- reformist

reforms like restricting and regulating

advertising on the road to building

that power to beat back the manufacturing

of false needs we need to restrict

the reach of corporations

in our everyday lives

this could start as simply reinstating

child advertising laws that were Stripped Away under the Reagan Administration

or tamping down on social media and influencer

marketing we cannot sit by and simply hope that encouraging

everyone to buy ethical

green or just less stuff

will somehow work to solve the multiple

crises in front of us especially

as mass marketing and over production

Peck at individual consumers

to buy buy buy

to truly escape the Trap of consumerism

we must approach the problem from the route we must erode

power through regulation and non- reformist

reforms and then event

dismantle and reimagine the factories and offices of production that manufacturer

our desires and on their Rubble

build a world based on useful

Goods a world where the stuff we make facilitates

rather than alienates our connection

to people and the planet

in an effort to depend less and less on YouTube ads and in video

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