A 21st century View of the Effects and Dangers of Materialistic Capitalism
James B. Twitchell's musing in this thought-provoking piece came from a deep sense of conscious sobriety from a melancholic Economist living in a capitalist centric society where consumerism and materialism is the order of the day. This thought-provoking piece was to draw the attention of those willing to hear the intrinsic implications and dangers of a capitalist centric society that is fueled and driven by the motivation to consume, possess, showcase, and identify with material possessions..
He explains how that materialism isn't just the order of the day in 21st century America, it goes to a deeper level of it is a culture that people in this generation exhibit. It becomes a value system people imbibe, go bankrupt for, kill for, and die for. How this belief system has gone as far as instigating war of materialistic classism. A battle of who consumes more and have more materialistic things to show off. Materialism is so powerful that the wealth of nations are being ascribed by the amount of materialism you flaunts. That is why people rate places like Dubia so much. It has cut deep into the Music Industry, Movie Industry, Social media (Instagram) and more. I commend the author, cause this piece doesn't only just communicate with a school of thought I already harbor as a person, but it is also the reality that people live in today. How the world has moved to the only things that drive social media engagements to thousands of likes, comments or retweets is based on showcasing your new materialistic possession, be it a new Nike canvas, or an Air Jordan chucks, or a new ride or the electric dirt bike for kids and so on. “Oh look he is putting on the new Yeezy”, “oh see it is the new Givenchy” “Oh bro I want to drive the new Mercedes Benz so bad” on and on. How Materialism isn’t only just making people pursue fickle things but is also making people lose money, go bankrupt and finally affecting our mental humans. People take up arms to kill humans like them based on the drive to show off materialistic things to compete with other materialistic people in the world. How it gives this false utopia. How it encourages laziness and benefits of delayed gratifications. How the world is desperately shying away from intellectual conversations about purpose and essence in life. How the world will not even interact or respect your opinions if you do not have materialistic things to show for. Nobody wants to continue where thought leaders like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Elbert Einstein left off. No one intellectually savvy to challenge their thesis and theories because the world is actively busy chasing shadows and the few who want to take this path are not given the same support or any form of support at all. It's funny how the technology that is being invented today makes humans drive the consumerism culture the more. The capitalist-centric Tech Firm and Cooperations have experts in human psychology come to teach these cooperations better ways they can use in controlling the human ants or cravings. How the latest gadget makes humans more and more intellectually lazy and filled with fickle activities of consumerism.
How Materialism isn’t only just making people pursue fickle things but is also making people loose money, go bankrupt and finally affecting our mental health as humans. People take up arms to kill humans like them based on the drive to show off materialistic things to compete with other materialistic people in the world. How it gives this false utopia. How it encourages laziness and benefits of delayed gratificationsi
What I think the writer tried to highlight better
I think there are two things the writer tried to highlight the more. One is the decadency in the materialistic culture propagated by the west in comparison to the Chinese perceived modest and cheap culture that comes with communist/Socialist policies. The writer emphasized the cultural commitment of each and every citizen of China given the mandate to be useful in one area or the other while receiving fairly average pay while trusting their Government to handle the rest. The idea of not just working but creating value as a Chinese individual, and not putting so much emphasis on the amount of money being paid for creating these values are the hallmark of the Chinese Manufacturing and production Industry almost pitting the country as the world manufacturing monopolistic power when it comes to Production all thanks to her mixed economy. Some school of thought believes that the Socialist pattern of life has made the Chinese a more discipline and contented race on the face of the planet. Though they like other races they also have their flaws as it is a well-known fact that the Chinese show less empathy to their kinds as well as other races, but is surely has raised their standard of living from an impoverished Asian country to the second-largest economy in the world (and soon to be first). Another thing the writer portrayed is the fact that materialism isn’t just fueled by capitalism. It is becoming a social misdemeanor that forces people living in a capitalist centric society to behave in a certain way, a consuming lifestyle that holds no benefit but continuous self decadence. A self-consuming lifestyle where people see money as only a purchasing power to consume (mostly consumer goods and services) and not how to save or invest. That is why the world’s richest man made his money from a capitalist economy by making it easy for people to consume. How the Topic Relates to Millennials The piece Two Cheers to Materialism more like resonated with an idealogy I hold dearly. It's like seeing someone incisively expressing my view of the world order. The writer really echoed some of my deep conscious views of the dangers and implications of the capitalist culture of Consumerism which has wrapped the Western world and some form of carrot and stake methodology has been used by the Western elites to ravage developing continents of the world such as Africa to buy their way of life. Millennials are in the center of this conversation as their life is being driven by this materialistic approach to life. How much you flaunt is now the new intellects or the new blood diamond or the new crude oil or the new science thesis to the larger populace of humans. It is becoming the new normal.Beyond how I could articulate the message James B. Twitchell did a fantastic job in whipping up this reflective piece coupled with the way he infused the notable standpoints of Social Science Father's like Karl Max in driving home his point. A must-read by everyone who is concerned about meaningful living
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