Stuff, stuff, stupid stuff. Consumerism is out of control

[Skidmore]

Why do we need things like these? Who buys this stuff anyway? People starve and die of disease and some dork sat around at work one day and thinks of this crap.

http://dynamism.com/sushidisk/main.shtml

[senseandsensibility]

1. I know this is off topic

but I just spent Friday trying to break my second graders of the habit of using the word "stuff" in their writing. I taught them the word belongings, which most had never heard before. Even at that age, they are quite connected to their stuff....er, belongings.

[Skidmore]

2. I understand your point, but this crap is really stuff.

[senseandsensibility]

5. Yes, belongings actually implies some kind of

dignity or necessity, which is totally absent here.

[Kutjara]

6. I prefer the more classical useage : worthless shit.

Seriously, though, it is surely the hallmark of a society that's lost its way when a large proportion of humanity is concerned with making differently-shaped gummi bears or novelty bottle openers.

I often wonder what the slave-laborers in the developing world who have to make this crap for the jaded consumers of the 'developed' world think of us. I mean, can you imagine what those making Spongebob Squarepants action figures who have never seen the show think the dolls are? What about cocktail umbrellas? I mean, really!

[BlackVelvet04]

But my stuff isn't stupid.

:-)

[larrysh]

4. You know what Bush says.....

When in Rome....do as the Roamanians do!

[Sydnie]

8. As George Carlin says

Your stuff is stuff and other people's stuff is shit ... so therefore, when mixed together, their shit is in with your stuff. :rofl:

[BlackVelvet04]

18. I don't mind their shit as long as it's

good shit.

[porphyrian]

3. You're being a bad consumer...

Now turn your TV back on, order a pizza, and believe what you're told.

[Faux pas]

7. Stupid stuff, for sure......but.....

what were you on that site for? The Good Stuff? LOL just being a smart ass. No flame or slam intended. ;-)

[Skidmore]

10. Saw an article about this stuff in our local paper today.

[Faux pas]

11. Well okay then. LOL n/t

[madrchsod]

9. what!!! throw away my toilet bowl brush

with the disposable head? you`ll have to pry it out of my cold dead hand first

[sendero]

12. Because as..

.. wealth concentrates upwards more and more of that wealth is spent on the superfluous rather than the necessary.

This sort of crap is for people who don't "need" anything but still have cash to dispose of :)

[Raine]

13. Cause Chimp told all of us Americans

it was our patriotic duty to shop and buy 'stuff'. :patriot: :sarcasm:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. What Is Stupid To One Is Appreciated By Another.

And whomever came up with this idea was probably marketing it towards the latter.

I'm of the former.

[SoCalDem]

15. The scary part is that we have people making a living from the selling,

stocking, transporting, and marketing of "stuff" of all kinds.. Where we once MADE the stuff bought and sold, we now import most of what we buy and sell.

That's the scary part..

We are all participants of a mega-ponzi scheme.. As long as we all continue to borrow to buy "stuff", those jobs along the chain are continued, but once we stop buying NEW stuff we are all screwed..

Who remembers a time when you used to take shoes to be re-soled? I do.
we used to have irons, radios, toasters FIXED...

same for TVs..

Planned obsolescence and importation of cheap goods made the repair of items unnecessary and often MORE expensive than just tossing whatever it is into a landfill and buying a new one..

of course electronics replacing mechanical has made it almost impossible to fix stuff too...

we are all on a treadmill...working to buy stuff we don't have time to use because we have to all work and commute so long, we have little time or energy to spend with our toys :(

[Skidmore]

16. Add to that all the stuff we throw away in the mountains we

call landfills. There should be mandatory recycling requirements for some of this stuff produced by these companies. If they want to sell stuff with newer bells and whistles, they should be required to take back the old stuff and recycle parts or materials.

[Bluerthanblue]

17. "the best things in life aren't things".... and,

I believe people are looking to fill a yearning within themselves- when they can't they turn to all sorts of 'things'- drugs, sex, consumerism, religion, self-... you name it-

Consumerism is the god of this country- it is indeed one of the things WE are hated for- and I can't say as if I'm not ashamed of the greed and consumption that makes up America-

Pretty frickin sad, when people have to rent storage units to hold all their 'things'-

The Shakers may have been a bit on the extreem side, but we sure are the other end, and it will not only be our downfall, we allow others to die for lack of the very basics, while spending more money fertilizing our golf courses, than it would take to feed most of the world-

pretty frickin sad......

(The yearning is a yearning for connection- a reason d'etre- in my experience and belief)