Consumerism: the 21st century plague.

Boa noite, meus queridos leitores! So, how was your weekend? Mine was exhausting. But, here I am again, ready for a new week, full of things to do and newsletters from stores and companies to receive! Of course, I can choose the option “unsubscribe”, but it’s quite interesting to observe that the quantity of newsletters has been growing exponentially! It seems that the owners of the stores and companies really want me to consume. The propaganda is getting more and more aggressive. The problem is that I’m not in the mood to consume lately, and all these newsletters are not helping at all!

This is probably the first time that I’m writing about consumerism on this blog, but won’t be the last! I’m going through deep changes and my environmentalist side is showing up much more often! I’m just tired of people trying to convince me that I need new perfumes, purses, clothes, pairs of shoes, accessories, shampoos, body lotions, nail polishes, etc., because, no, I don’t! Have you ever thought about all the things you have, my dear reader? Are they really necessary? Do they make you feel happy? Are you a consumerist person? If so, I’m really sorry for you and hope you can think about your attitudes. Not only because of environmental reasons, but because consumerism is a meaningless thing! It really is!

Once upon a time, in the beginning of our history, human beings were guided by necessity. So, if they needed food, they looked for or produced it. If they needed weapons, clothes and every type of supplies, they produced them. In a certain moment, people started to exchange things and some human beings became specialized in producing certain items. Of course, from the beginning, a few human beings (stronger, smarter or just evil), exploited others, becoming an elite. And probably this elite had the great idea of creating something called money. Little by little, the most of humanity has lost the capacity and skills to produce their own food, clothes, weapons, supplies and became completely dependant on money and another creation of the elite: industry. Are you able to produce your own food, dear reader? Do you know where does your food come from? Can you cook? Can you make your own clothes and accessories? Are you able to build up a house by yourself? Probably not. So, you depend on this system. More than this: you are a slave of this system. I don’t want my precious readers to commit suicide, but some truths must be said! Nowadays, the most of humanity is completely unable to do something by itself! People are completely dependant on industry and money! Without money, we can’t live in this system! The elite knows that. And they want their slaves to behave well. That’s why they created something called consumerism. Once upon a time, when capitalism was created, people still were guided by necessity. And this behaviour lasted for centuries! My lovely grandparents, for instance, spent their whole lives with the same stuff at home! My paternal granny was able to do everything, from food to clothes! Unfortunately, she passed away when I was a kid, so, I couldn’t be her apprentice! I would love to! … My maternal granny was the prototype of the wise black woman: she could recognize every single plant in a yard or farm! She could make handmade medicines. And, believe me: they really work! I can make a few teas and handmade medicines thanks to her! My grandparents didn’t need to go to the hospital, they were strong and healthy! And, as I told you before, their goods were made to last! I still have a beautiful knitted cardigan, which belonged to my paternal granny. It’s perfect! I think that this cardigan can resist to a nuclear bomb! I remember that my paternal grandpa, a stubborn Hungarian man, wanted to fix up everything! He just couldn’t accept the idea that things break and become useless! Sometimes, we needed to hide broken things from him! *lol* And throw them away, of course. I’m telling you this because there’s a huge difference of mentality, attitude and reality between my grandparents’ society and our society. My grannies got mad if me and my brother didn’t eat everything at lunch or dinner, because food wasn’t something to throw away back then. If my grandparents were alive, they would feel depressed in this modern world, where everything is disposable! My Hungarian grandpa would be insane with all these products made in China, impossible to fix up and made to break in a few months! Unfortunately, things got worse in many ways! Nowadays, the most of people are not able to do things with their own hands. The old knowledge about plants, medicines, recipes is disappearing in many places. And people are not guided by necessity anymore. Especially because our goods are not made to last!

I use to say that this society is based on two things: job and consumerism. People work to consume. And don’t consume because they need something. They consume to be someone! This is serious! You don’t buy exactly products, you buy lifestyles and they say a lot about you (superficially speaking). Here in Brazil, for instance, a person who wears the same clothes more than two days in the same week, is discriminated! We are judged by our look, by the clothes and accessories we wear. So, people consume to build up a self-image! And we all know how hard it is to escape from the necessity to be accepted. When, on Winter, I decide to go out wearing my best clothes and accessories, people treat me like a queen. The same doesn’t happen when I go out in my old sweater, old pants and old tennis shoes. A silly example: you already know that I’m fond of cute stuff, right?! It seems that we are having an “iphone case mania” in Brazil, lately. There are many cute cases for iphone, including Hello Kitty ones . It seems that every fancy girl has an iphone case in São Paulo. The problem is that I don’t have (and won’t have) an iphone. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. I can have a cute case for my smartphone, but they are more difficult to find. So, I need to be strong to resist to the stupid idea that I am not that fancy, because my smartphone doesn’t have a cute case! Is it silly? Of course! But that’s how consumerism becomes part of people’s lives! You feel you are not cool enough, because you don’t have a certain product. Who the hell really needs a Hello Kitty iphone case?! The fact is that we don’t really need at least the half of things we have!

Of course, I’m talking about middle class people, who have a computer to read this blog (I’m talking about me, too). There are many human beings in this planet who not even have clean water to drink! Consumerism increases selfishness. Do you, my dear female reader, think about all the women of this planet who don’t have a pair of shoes, when you want to buy your hundredth pair of shoes? Of course, you don’t! Do you think about how many people are exploited to produce your expensive clothes? Do you know where do your goods come from? No, you don’t. Selfishness is an ugly thing. Of course, it’s not completely our fault. But we really need to think about our necessities. How many things do we throw away every year? How many unecessary things do we have? Have you ever regretted of something you bought on impulse, my dear reader? I bet you did! Why do people buy on impulse? Recently I read an article about it (Impulse buying reaches 85% of the consumers, here is the article, in Portuguese. Yeah! Scary!). Basically, people feel empty, depressed, anxious and insecure, so, they consume. The problem is that consumerism leads to more depression, anxiety and insecurity! As I told you before, it’s meaningless! People don’t consume to have things, they consume to be someone!

Of course, I’m not perfect. I’m made of flesh, bones and desires, exactly like you, my dear readers! I’m a woman, a very feminine one, so, of course I make my mistakes and have my weaknesses! I like expensive brands (Givenchy, L’Occitane, Louis Vuitton, Cacharel, Bourjois). I’m fond of some things, like rings and earrings. I have many things I don’t really need. But, I’m far less consumerist than I was! As I told you before, I’m going through deep changes and they include a whole new lifestyle! I’m completely fond of handmade things, so, I’m making the most I can with my hands. It’s incredible, but my will to consume decreased drastically because of this! That’s why I receive dozens of newsletters and don’t give a damn about them! I don’t need to consume to be someone! And I think that capitalism is collapsing, so, we really need to think about alternative solutions! Life cannot be based on consumerism!

This is only the beginning of a series of posts about this subject. Of course, I will keep talking about other subjects, but this is really important! The natural resources of this planet are disappearing, there’s an economic crisis all over the world, so, I think we really need to think about our attitudes! Consumerism is one of the worst behaviours we can have! It leads to debt, depression, anxiety, insecurity and the gradual destruction of this planet. So, I will talk about it and try to share my personal experiences, tips and tricks to get rid of consumerism! Hope you participate on this discussion somehow! And now I share with you a very interesting video about consumerism, called The Good Consumer. Worth watching!

That’s all for now, folks, it’s late, I’m starving, etc. Sooo, stay tuned! I’ll be back!

Big hug,

Luna