Self created reality in which consumption is necessary

by JPAB

Thanks to development we can have it all these days; there doesn't seem to be many desire left which can not be fulfilled via consumption! But do we actually need these desires, are they truly ours? No, they are not! To sell commodities artificial desires are provoked, and slowly spin a web full of false needs which maintain each other. A popular technique for companies is to first create a problem due to products, but than offer the solution in the form of another product.

For example, companies like Nestle and Unilever advertise their unhealthy products such as chocolate and ice cream. People eat it and become fat, but than both of these companies also have for you the solution to become thin again: a product to lose weight! Slim-fast and Jenny Craig. If these unhealthy products are not sold in the first place, than the weight loss products wouldn’t be necessary either.

Large industries like the music business and fashion, helped construct an artificial beauty ideal via their products. An ideal which is so unreal hardly anybody can live up to its standards. But than different industries offer the solution for you in the form of more products to help you actualize this beauty ideal, namely anti wrinkle lotion, more fashion, hair products, plastic surgery etc. And for what? Too live up to the standards of an ideal which is only a cultivated illusion of the mind.

What about healthcare? It is proven that many of the additives in food and drink create illnesses, ranging from ADHD to cancer. We know this and we could do without additives and most of the goods which contain them. But additives make sure transport costs stay low, food doesn't expire and it looks smooth and pretty. No additives would be less profitable for companies. Even sadder is that the products which contain the most unhealthy ingredients and additives are the ones which are promoted the most, because they provide the highest profit margine. Illnesses are created; people get sick or allergic, what to do? No worries, there is a solution. Spend more money by buying medicines for all these created problems. Because there is a massive industry to make sure you can be helped. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to make sure food and drink stays healthy and pure, so scientists can use their brains to develop medicines for diseases which are harder or impossible to prevent.

Do we really need an Ipod? When I received a Discman it didn’t make me happier than when I received my first walkman. Are we actually becoming more satisfied, or are all this newer versions fulfilling the same (mostly artificial) desire over and over again by making you believe you need this newer version as well? Can one ever be content if the entire surrounding tells a person he or she needs more, more and more.

Due to this large web of artificial desires many people are under the impression they actually need everything which is offered and should be so thankful we reached a state of development where we can manufacture all of them. Of course there are products in healthcare, architecture and other areas which are useful, but that is a rather marginal part compared to all the not useful. Most of these products do not contribute to anything; they fulfil created necessities in order to keep us consuming. It keeps us distracted from the things that really matter in life and it also clouds our judgement.

In the mean time nature is being destroyed to produce all of this. Rainforests are cut down, destroying the lungs of our planet. Eliminating still undiscovered ingredients for medicines and leaving hundreds of tribe’s homeless. Soil gets impaired resulting in erosion, oil and recourse reserves are sucked dry. All over the world huge amounts of trash start to pile up and contaminate earth. Millions of people are being exploited and hundreds of thousands of children became disabled while cleaning up trash full of intoxicating chemicals, like I pods, laptops, mobile phones etc.

If we learn to deconstruct this self created reality, we can realize that we are better of without most of what is offered. We could than shift focus to developing the few commodities which are actually useful, and spare nature and exploited people a lot of harm.

Source: JPAB