The Consumer Trap

9 Responses to “Culture of Death”

1. June 24th, 2010 at 12:31 pm

   Rhonda said:
   

   What is it that they are waiting for? Some sort of “i” thingy? A movie? For me, the only time I’d wait on such a long line is to get a ticket to see Prince perform.

2. June 24th, 2010 at 12:48 pm

   Michael Dawson said:
   

   Iphone 4.

3. June 24th, 2010 at 1:08 pm

   Heavy Armor said:
   

   This is both amazing and pathetic at the same time.

   This is indeed a trap. Apple has, however, conceived the best bait in a while. Most of Apple’s “fans” believe they are purchasing an environmentally friendly, ecologically responsible product (despite ALL evidence to the contrary). Words fail me otherwise.

4. June 27th, 2010 at 2:27 am

   Martin said:
   

   Great photo, good lead-in, but so then where are we? This is the state of our adult society, lined up in comfort to credit-card purchase some small gadget. Yet take a photo of me or you during our day – are we reviving homeless inebriants or causing scions to abjure their coming inheritance? Singing “Joe Hill” around the campfire?
   The sad truth is that we, as collective species, have developed no social system that cannot be mocked for its delusions and insufferableness. You lead your life, I lead mine, but it does not matter how pure and righteous we try to be – the photo indicates the kind of laughable insanity is the dominant state of our socio-economic reality – as it ever was.
   This is where the trillion-dollar post-war education complex has led us – to advanced-degree space aliens lining up for their Beanie Baby?

5. June 27th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

   mike3 said:
   

   So then what should we, _as individuals_ do, to do something better?

   This stuff points out problems but doesn’t tell us the answers. If consumerism isn’t the answer (which I agree it isn’t), what IS?

6. June 27th, 2010 at 12:07 pm

   mike3 said:
   

   How can *I* help stop those wars in Iraq from my position in the poorer part of America’s socioeconomic stratum? The only thing I can see doing is just not indulging consumerism (which isn’t really possible anyway for simple lack of money.).

7. June 29th, 2010 at 4:41 pm

   Vlad said:
   

   Maybe the answer is to buy a mobile phone jammer and make the drones notice the other members of their species nearby when suddenly they are put in that alternate universe known as ‘the real world’

8. July 5th, 2010 at 7:18 am

   Sheldon said:
   

   This is what I don’t get about this behavior. (Assuming one wants or can afford an I-phone) Why waste your time standing in line to be one of the few who first gets one? I mean really, why not just wait a week or two until you can skip the line and get your fucking I-phone? Its not like they won’t make as many as they can to satisfy consumer demand. We all know they will. I don’t get it!

9. July 5th, 2010 at 9:11 am

   Michael Dawson said:
   

   Mike3, the answer is to build an anti-capitalist social movement. There is a range of things you can do in that direction, including getting yourself deeply informed about how the system works. There’s certainly no guarantee this will ever amount to anything, but it’s the only possible answer.

   Building movements or even war protests isn’t something you can completely control as an individual. Most often, you simply have to wait and spread the word as best you can. This is a market-totalitarian society, so the institutions and odds are against us. But are you going to let that convince you to quit?

   As to the psychology of camping out for Apple ware, I think it’s half about the “bleeding edge” personality type that certain segments buy into, and half about addiction, about not being able to wait to try out a new and better version of something that triggers your nucleus accumbens. All intertwined and heavily sponsored and culturally predictable, of course…

Please leave a Comment