Value Of Emotions In Our Consumer Society example essay topic

Ladies and Gentlemen CONSUMERISM Those who "know that enough is enough", goes the Chinese proverb, "will always have enough". For consumerism, there is no such thing as enough. The language of consumerism is the language of hunger. "Appetite" for products must be created.

As people, we have become materialistic in this modern day world. This is how it all starts LOVE ME - LOVE MY CAR. To me the thing about old people is that everything about them gets smaller. You know, their bodies get smaller... , they move into smaller places, they sleep less time, they eat smaller meals... except the car. The older they get, the bigger their car gets.

They " re all driving these Detroit Behemoths. I've never understood that. And old people have a way of backing out of the driveway. They don't turn form side to side. Their attitude is "I'm old and I'm coming back". ' I have been around a while, now' You watch out for me buddy.

And then once they get out their they drive so slowly. Bruce Dawe criticizes the culture of consumerism in western society, in his poem "Abandonment of Autos". The car is a status symbol. People are prepared to make sacrifices in order to obtain their 'dream car'. Dawe looks at the 'throwaway's society, where consumer goods are designed to stop working so they will be replaced with a new version of the same object.

The abandonment of the car for a new item suggests the expansion of consumerism throughout western society. Dawe refers to a decline in the true value of emotions on our consumer society, where we give the value of emotions in our consumer society, where we give the same emotional value to a car and a living creature. In contrast, Caroline Worton's poem "The Arab's Farewell to His Steed", the Arab finally cannot sell his horse; 'they tempted me, my beautiful! But I have loved too long, I fling them back their gold'.

The recovery of the horse, the final proof that the Arab does the sense the fitness? of things, that he will not give up the animal which has served him so faithfully, but in Dawe's poem, this is deliberate. "If the driver loved his car, he wouldn't have abandoned it in the streets". Not only the car, but Television, is the ultimate consumer accessory. I hate these public service TV spots where they try to get you to sign your organ donor card on your license. 'Little Jimmy here needs an organ transplant. He can't do anything but wait, and hope for you to do something really stupid.

So sign that card and you know, maybe start thinking about that high - powered motorbike for yourself. There's nothing like feeling that wind whipping through your hair, no helmet, flying down the road. Similarly, Dawe describes the continuing situation of misunderstanding of the East by Westerners. He sees this as proof, that the earth is 'not - so- good' an understatement by which he means that it is in fact, profoundly evil. The Not - So - Good Earth, where the containment of the Chinese disaster to the television screen and to dramatic segments between commercials ensures that the Western family consuming it are kept entertained and not disturbed by the human tragedy which is behind the dramatic screens footage.

Television is one of the main promoters of the consumer culture, through advertising. T. V has so much power. The cartoon by Andy Warhol "Shopping is more American, than thinking" is about how a little boy sees and ad on TV and without even thinking goes out to buy the product. Our society has become immoral, where we don't think and head out to buy it straight away. It is surprising that our need to consume and fix things has not realized it yet. Advertising is the form of psychological manipulation, encouraging people to see spending as a high priority.

The national and individual differences between people tend to blur because of the modern consumerist 'ethic', and because American producers have the economic dominance, we are increasingly becoming Americanized. Dawe presents the poem Americanized in the form of mother / son relationship. The mother America has so much absorbed popular culture that she doesn't allow her natural instincts any say. She wont let her child out to play, to be normal.

She keeps him 'sheltered' in an artificial world of her making, a pale reflection of the mass media consumerist world of TV. The world is beginning to look like an American strip mall, complete with KFC, Pizza Hut and the Golden Arches. Picture a world, where material possessions count for nothing, everyone is equal and life revolves around love and peace. Seem Unrealistic? Well that's when compared with the world. We are living in the 20th century, where we eat, when we " re not hungry, drink when we are not thirsty.

We buy what we don't need and throw away everything that's useful. Our present culture, however specializes in inflaming endless lust for possessions with advertisements that constantly convince us that we need MORE. We are convinced that we must keep with or even go better than our neighbors. So we buy another dress, sports jacket, or sports car and thereby force the standard of living. "Our world has enough for each person's need, but not for his greed.".