Who cares? I am sick of this consumerism-the market is God mentality

[The Lone Liberal]

There must be more to living than working our collective asses off so we can buy some consumer good. Screw it! In the end the only ones benefiting from our pursuit of the newest, the biggest, and hippest thing is some CEO, Wall Street Stock Broker or one of the Upper Management Minions.

I, have reached a point where I don’t give a damn what some multi-billionaire does, goes, owns. Hell, with the winner-take-all market there is little chance that any of us will ever enter that rarefied air in which they dwell. Personally, I don't care, I'm going after the externalities of life. Those things that bring happiness. From this time forward I am drawing a line in the sand and they cannot have my life, nor, can they have what we own collectively. The air we breathe, the sunset we marvel at, the laughter of children, the smile of a friend, these things belong to me and to you, so f**k off you market oriented prick.

That is my thought for the day.

[stepnw1f]

1. You took the words out of my mouth.

[Cleita]

2. They are alread trying to figure out a way to sell you the air

you breathe. They've done it with water.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. Bad day at the office?

I go for the externalities and the happiness option -- the triplets, friends, other family. travel here and there to a place that sets my mind free.

[Deja Q]

4. I wonder how the concept of money was ever accepted in society...

People forgot that somebody invented fire and the wheel and never put a pentent on them...

When information is free, people innovate and expand.

When everything has a price, people hoarde everything except lawsuits.

[MuseRider]

5. Excellent thought for the day Lone Liberal

I used this reason to help myself quit smoking many years ago. Every time I got the urge and started to jones for a smoke I thought of one of those guys in his 3 piece suit, smoking a cigar with his cowboy boots up on his big fancy desk and I refused to give him one more cent of my money or one more moment of my life. It worked better than any patch or gum could have. Your heart is in the exact place that all of our hearts should be in.

[JaySherman]

6. Welcome to the club

:hi:

Throw It All Away

Music by glen phillips and toad. lyrics by glen phillips.

Take your cautionary tales
Take your incremental gain
And all the sychophantic games
And throw ’em all away

Burn your tv in your yard
And gather ’round it with your friends
And warm your hands upon the fire
And start again

Take the story you’ve been told
The lies that justify the pain
The guilt the weighs upon your soul
And throw ’em all away

Tear up the calendar you’ve bought
And throw the pieces to the sky
Confetti falling down like rain
Like a parade to usher in your life
Take the dreams that should have died
The ones that kept you lying awake
When you should’ve been all right
And throw ’em all away

With the time I waste on the life I never had
I could’ve turned myself into a better man

’cause there ain’t nothing you can buy
And there is nothing you can save
To fill the whole inside your heart
So throw it all away
Won’t fill the whole inside your heart

Help me empty out this house
The wool I’ve gathered all these days
And thought I couldn’t do without
And throw it all away

[JanMichael]

7. Better stop this anti-GREED crap or you'll end up a Socialist.

:-)

[The Lone Liberal]

9. "It is better to die on one's feet ...

....than to live on one's knees."

[JanMichael]

10. "But if ya bowin' down..."

...Then let me do the cuttin'"


PS~ A little RATM quote.

[dweller]

8. small IS beautiful

and there is enough to go around.

peace,
dp

[historian]

11. mall glazed eyes

Ever beento a mall or wal mart and watched the glazed eyes of the people wandering around? They dont need anything, they just want to fill an empty space.

[tobius]

12. who are you ranting at? yourself?

at some point you gave a damn what that billionaire did with his life?

[The Lone Liberal]

13. Oh yea, I wanted the latest and the greatest

But, it was a scam. We sell our souls for the next thing out...and it dont mean a damn. I chased the paper and it didn’t mean a damn. I listened to all the hype and it didnt mean a damn.

In the large scheme of things there is not much that means a damn, at least those things that come with a price ticket. Of course if the market has its way we will all have bar codes and we will have to get our arse scanned before we can crap.

[tobius]

15. Thanks for sharing. nt

[leftyandproud]

16. this all sounds lovely BUT..

you need a house...food...a car...

You have only one way to get these.
Work, earn money, and buy them.

If you want luxuries like flat panel tv's and other cool stuff (admit it...it IS cool stuff!;)..you need to work harder and make sacrifices in other areas. Whether we have money or not, EVERYTHING has a cost in terms of materials and the human sweat used to create these things.
You can't escape it.

[SarahB]

14. We are much more than our stuff

No matter what they want to have us believe. :(

[Malva Zebrina]

17. I have always found the Helen and Scott Nearing book inspirational

when it comes to independant living type things. There is a lot of wisdom in their "Living the Good Life" and other books on the "Good Life" written by either one of them Even though they were written a while ago it would still apply.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0805209700/ref=sib_dp_rdr/102-5740618-6806556#reader-page

http://www.simpleliving.net/resources/authors-default.asp?title=Scott+and+Helen+Nearing

and

http://www.afsc.org/pwork/0202/020219.htm

[Touchdown]

18. Just to add to your reading list is...

Your Money or Your Life. Written by a couple who lived on $6,000 a year (1988 dollars), and were very happy living in the woods of Oregon (doubt $6000 would work in San Francisco, but it was a good book anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140286780/qid=1079105690/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-9899398-3778340?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[IrateCitizen]

21. That is one of the BEST books I ever read!

My wife and I are following the program in it, tracking every cent that comes in and goes out of our lives.

I especially like the way in which they convert money to "life energy" reflective of your actual hourly wage. My hourly wage after taxes actually went all the way down to just over $7/hr -- and my hourly wage on my paycheck is actually around 4x as much!

When you examine your expenditures by the basis of how much of your life energy you're spending on them rather than just how much money, they gain a whole new meaning. You learn to stop pissing hours (or even days) of your life energy away on things that really don't bring you a whole lot of fulfillment.

[kcordell]

19. Yeah Right!

I guess this means you'll be giving up your computer and on line service since they are the products of evil capitalists?

[IrateCitizen]

20. Congrats, you've crossed the threshold -- now do something

I could suggest two books if you're seriously interested in learning how to stop sacrificing the QUALITY of your life for your "standard of living".

Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin -- This is the "it" book on how to find a more truly fulfilling life, even in a culture that champions materialism. It's really a "how-to" manual for how finances relate to this "better life".

Affluenza by DeGraf, et. al. -- This is a book based on a 2-part PBS series that examines the effects and overall costs of our consumer-based culture. It doesn't offer a whole lot of specific solutions, but it is good at tying everything together.

A good place to start on the internet is the Simple Living Network (http://www.simpleliving.net). Here you can gain some overview of the topics these books deal with in more detail.