Consumption Rebellion
I thought I'd share a post from my personal blog that readers here might enjoy. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Hello everyone!
I hope you've all had a good start to the week. Me, I've been on hyperdrive at work! Which doesn't leave a lot of time for reflection, so its good that I had set this goal of writing a post today. Blogging has become a very important way of stopping and reflecting.
A few days ago, Jen of Darkpurplemoon said:To someone like me across the other side of the world who only knows you through your blog - you have a really strong identity, which is creative, strong willed, caring and all out impressive.Awww thanks Jen! You know, I'm always surprised by how people talk about my blog..and I guess by extension, me. :) But it is very nice of you to say these things Jen - thank you.
I wonder though what other people - ie non-readers of this blog - see when they see me and my home? I wonder if they see that I do this out of choice - to avoid human exploitation as much as possible? Or do they think I've fallen on hard times? Or do they think anything at all?
I have a feeling it falls into the latter category. I think that many people see so much stuff that they become kinda blind to how much they can see ("stuff overload"??).
My theory of "stuff overload" can be supported (I think) by the experiences of Alex who wore the same brown dress every day for a year...and she said that most people (especially those at her work) didn't even notice she wore the same dress every day. I also know that I don't really notice what other people wear or have either unless if they themselves point it out to me (and even then I usually have forgotten about it by the end of the week.)"Too Much" Photo by Joe Madonna
So where am I going with this? I am starting to develop a theory (or should I say further develop my original consumption and identity theory).
I believe that consumerism has become a major way for us to project our identity - in this context:The problem, however, is that in projecting our identity in this way we start surrounding ourselves with lots and lots of stuff....and we all develop "stuff overload blindness" (let's call it SOB).
- the me I want people to see; or
- the me I want to be.
And because we become blind to stuff, we then don't understand why the stuff we have do not seem to be projecting "the me I want people to see" or the "me I want to be".
Which leads us to think that our stuff must be "wrong" and so we get more new stuff. And we think "great! this is the stuff that will finally get people to see!!" or "great! this is the stuff that will finally project the me that I want to be!"
But the reality is that no matter what stuff we get, people (including ourselves) still have SOB and therefore won't be able to see for any meaningful length of time what we want to project...
So the whole thing is a pointless exercise which leaves us feeling dissatisfied.
...anyway, I hope I've made sense in this post. What do you think about my little theory?
Wishing you all a good week ahead.
6 comments:
Interesting theory and quite possibly true. I do believe we are overloaded with stuff but there may be different reasons for different folks. I know I am not highly motivated by projecting an image to people but I did grow up with very little so my stuff is kind of a buffer zone against not having what I need or want when I need or want it.
Information overload is the thing that really does my head in at times, including the visual overload that comes from lots of internet browsing. Even when the topic is of intense interest to me and the stories/pictures are inspiring I can become overwhelmed and discontented.
At times, both the material and the virtual need a good prune!
I don't know if it even has to do with "stuff." I remember someone telling me a good quote, which I'm probably going to mangle. But it goes something like this: "You'd worry a lot less about what other people think of you if you understood how little they did." Without trying to paint everyone as self-absorbed narcissists, I think it's basically true that hardly anyone out there in the great big world is actually going to devote any amount of their time or energy thinking about you. And those that do are probably going to be people who care about you quite a lot anyway, so don't bother trying to impress them with surface appearances. The few that spare a thought for you in a judgmental capacity in all likelihood aren't worth worrying about at all.
I like it! Sutff overload is rampant in today's homes! We have cut way down on our "stuff" in the past few years. I actually call us "minimalists". We try to own only what we need and use or what makes us happy.
It is hard at times, to recognize the difference between want and need.
Good post!
Great post.
The continuing lust for things as reflection of self is a major problem for most people. It's stuff as extension of self and categorization of self. It's a "this is my group and what I think is important" type of mentality. We are all exhibitionistst in some way - either behavioral or ethically or whatever...
This has been my summer of purge. The house has been gradually emptied of all things not thought of, used or touched in the last year. Lot's of things went.
I feel blessedly lighter. It's nice!
Media constantly tells us that we 'need' this stuff to be a better, happier people, because 'we are worth it'. The problem with telling people this is that they end up believing that they deserve more stuff and that their worth as people is based on what they have, rather than their actions. This transcribes as a judgement on other people based on what they have or have not got too and the SOB continues.
Thank you so much for all your comments and perspectives! I really got a lot out of it.
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